you know what i think it's fine to believe jupe DID have a connection with gordy. fine in the sense that like this movie is about the difference between the Gazes right so sure Gordy is 100% a wild animal who should not have been put in that situation. absolutely. and there's definitely credit to the idea that it was coincidence, just the table cloth that spared jupe's life.

but i think it's also an interesting and somewhat nice reading to feel like yeah Gordy did see jupe and Recognized him as a comfort or safety. maybe only in the way he would see a favorite toy or food or something but nonetheless recognized him and jupe's Gaze as a Good Thing.

kind of in the way the haywoods used the "i see you" sign before taking on jj separately, where looking and being seen was by all means deadly. like, the idea of looking out for each other by mutual choice and recognition as a weapon against spectacle. jupe and gordy being as friends as a wild animal and a little boy could be as coworkers might have also been that choice despite the circumstances

i think it even makes Jupe's corruption of that bond for spectacle and profit even more fucked up! even more proof of his corruptibility and perpetrator of the cycle of violence showbiz foments. idk idk ultimately its ambiguous and no reading is wrong but augh its making me Think