Englund noted that “A Nightmare on Elm Street” is very much a movie about class. Indeed, theme of class are embedded in the very title. A nightmare has invaded Elm Street, a placid-sounding suburban locale unused to nightmares. Englund points out that Tina (Amanda Wyss) and her boyfriend Rod (Nick Corri) are meant to be seen as lower-class characters, coming from “the wrong side of the tracks.” Rod, notably, is depicted as a 1950s greaser, an archetype of the poor, neglected punk seen in the flicks of Craven’s youth. Meanwhile, the film’s protagonist Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) and her boyfriend Glen (Johnny Depp) are seen as living a comfortable middle-class life.
It’s telling that the house where “A Nightmare on Elm Street” was shot — located at 1428 N. Genesee Ave. in Hollywood, California — is currently estimated to be worth over $3.2 million. That’s how comfy Nancy was in terms of her mom’s wealth.
So ultimately, Rod and Tina — and also Freddy — were seen as encroaching elements of chaos in Reagan’s suburban America. Englund saw Freddy as a symbol for punk rock deconstruction, a threat to bourgeois complacency. Englund said:
“Freddy … didn’t fit into Springwood, he didn’t fit into the idealized American society, because he represents everything that polite society abhors. The symbolism of Freddy is that of ‘Child Killer.’ Those words, ‘Child Killer,’ they are almost poetic, I mean you could imagine a hardcore punk band being named ‘Child Killer,’ you know: ‘Tonight, at Madame Wong’s West: The Clash supported by The Child Killers!'”
There is no band called The Child Killers, as far as I was able to find, but there is a song called “The Child Killers” on the Delgados’ 2003 album “Hate.”
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