Beetlejuice

The character Otho, portrayed by openly gay actor Glenn Shadix, is depicted with stereotypical 'style, sass, and an association with weirdness' commonly found in queer-coded characters of 1980s cinema. Beetlejuice also subjects Otho to 'pseudosexual' torment. Additionally, in the animated series, Beetlejuice frequently transforms into a female persona, 'Bettyjuice,' and uses she/her pronouns, demonstrating comfort with gender fluidity, and in the musical, his pansexuality is confirmed by the creators.

Adam and Barbara Maitland's death occurs early in the film when their car plunges into a river, a scene that implies their demise rather than showing it explicitly. Later, various characters encountered in the 'Neitherworld' (the afterlife's waiting room) are depicted with grotesque injuries reflecting their cause of death, such as a shrunken-head caseworker, or a man flattened by a truck, which could be unsettling for younger viewers. The sequel, 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,' is rated PG-13 for 'violent content, macabre and bloody images,' including a character shown missing from the armpits up and comically spurting blood.

Beetlejuice repeatedly attempts to marry the underage Lydia Deetz, making inappropriate advances and propositioning her throughout the film. He tries to trick her into saying his name three times to bind her to him in marriage. Beetlejuice also makes suggestive remarks and advances towards Barbara Maitland, attempting to grope and manipulate her. The sequel, 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,' contains an implied 'wedding night' scene depicted by shadows on a wall, showing two people tearing clothes off each other, and verbal references such as 'horny' and 'freaky sh-t'.

The entire premise centers on recently deceased ghosts, Adam and Barbara Maitland, who consult the 'Handbook for the Recently Deceased' to understand their new spectral existence and how to haunt their home. Beetlejuice is a demonic 'bio-exorcist' who employs various forms of grotesque magic, shapeshifting, and rituals, such as a seance led by Otho that goes awry, and attempting to force Lydia into marriage through a dark ceremony.

The film includes various grotesque creatures and transformations, such as the monstrous Sandworm from Saturn that guards the afterlife desert, and Beetlejuice's several terrifying forms, including a giant snake. Disturbing visuals are frequent, such as Adam and Barbara's faces stretching and distorting when attempting to scare the Deetzes, and the 'neitherworld' waiting room filled with bizarrely injured and unsettling spirits.

Lydia Deetz openly defies her parents, Charles and Delia, frequently expressing disdain for their materialistic lifestyle and ignoring their attempts to control her. She actively seeks out and communicates with the deceased Maitlands, preferring their company over her living family. Beetlejuice embodies extreme disrespect and rebellion, constantly flouting the rules of the living and the dead, making crude jokes, and manipulating everyone for his own chaotic ends, including disrespecting his caseworker, Juno, and attempting to trick Lydia into marriage.