not to start shit but i see a lot of (perhaps younger?) passenger fans ascribe to randy a level of progressiveness or general political awareness that i can’t help but think the kid would absolutely NOT have, both in terms of when the movie is set and where randy is in his own understanding of himself and the world around him. i know we joke about his whole i’m not gay thing but like i do feel that a valid read on it is that randy either genuinely believes he’s straight or rejects the notion he could be anything else because he’s simply never forged a relationship with himself that lets him do the sort of self interrogation to understand his own sexuality (or his own desires more broadly!!!), and that’s before we even get to the question of accepting it. and i think that this same complete refusal to reckon with himself and his place in the world extends far beyond his sexuality alone, to the point where randy very likely doesn’t know what he actually believes in and has just adopted the beliefs and politics of his parents, his high school friends, and his small town, without ever picking them apart or consciously considering why certain things resonate with him or make him uncomfortable. like him ‘standing up’ for jess when chris is on the mic reads a lot more to me like he’s awkwardly enacting the sort of sexist chivalry he thinks is expected of a man his age than it does that he genuinely cares about what she wants or feels - she is, after all, in to it. randy is a collection of unexamined, and very likely often bigoted, mid 2000s small town america beliefs - he might intuitively feel that something is right or wrong, or give enough of a shit about respectability and image to cringe at how benson treats others or acts in public, but realistically he is not going to look and sound like a 2026 leftist. he is a stupid white boy who knows nothing
