jett

the second half of s1 built up the tony-maxxie relationship as plot-critical: tony trying to hook up with maxxie to "try something new" is the catalyst of tony’s social and then physical+mental downfall. and it is very interesting to me that it is tony’s latent homosexual curiosity that michelle, (and by extension the narrative, which ultimately wants us to root for a michelletony endgame despite how miserable they make each other) finally considers too immoral to ignore (despite the open secret of tony’s many infidelities and plenty of unethical behaviors, as  well as his subtext infatuation with sid)

like it is textually tony’s  attempt to finally act upon this incorrect masculinity that becomes the straw that breaks the camel’s back and brings about plenty of narrative punishment that is a clear tool to make him a “better” person (rn i think skins gen1 is pretty straightforwardly a punitive justice narrative)

anyway, all of this said, we are obviously meant to empathize with maxxie. his s1 conflict is his best friend won’t tell his parents that he is gay; it’s a pretty basic 2007 stuff.  he is the token gay character but he is written as a fully fledged human being (in some cases even more than other members of the cast) though i think this is partially very good acting carrying the character’s depth. he even goes from a secondary cast member in s1 to a primary one in s2, even being the opener of the season. 

what i find interesting is that maxxie is posited as gay from the beginning;  it is the challenging of the main character’s heterosexual status quo that the narrative seems to resent and punish

so we get to s2 and tune in again to see that maxxie’s & tony’s relationship has become one of ongoing intimate/tender/nurturing friendship with undeniable homoeroticism/queer subtext, which seems debatably intentional to me  in a queerbait/fanservice way that is pretty standard for the 00s (with an implied: it’s never going to happen) and this newfound intimacy both heightens the subtext of tony’s queerness while simultaneously neutering it. another reason why i think this development is a response to the audience (and i’ve done zero research so im just extrapolating here) is the plotline that’s just gotten introduced about maxxie’s straight female stalker, which feels like some sort of jab, possibly, to fangirls and fandom

so we’ve got tony, punished for his sexual deviance just when he was beginning to return to the “correct” gender performance (falling in love with michelle rather than just toying with her), and now he is helpless, disabled, and most importantly desexualized, and he is being tended to by the single queer character and all the while michelle waits it out because — well im running out of steam, but something something, michelle cant tend to tony while he is disabled because there’s no eroticism in it, heterosexual intimacy does not involve vulnerability, does not involve caretaking, does not involve emotional and mental support, only the passion of conflict and empty declarations of undying love