in sweet magnolias my gay ass cannot stop seeing the rivals to friends to lovers au play out and i may be overanalyzing but jackson and tyler? fuckin. thats not straight...if u are rivals and hate each other why do u interact in the ways u do...look at each other like that??? sacrifice things like that..
jackson is not a great person. some stuff he does i think can be argued was a way to help tyler but still be the annoying rival/teammate there. and in general we know they care abt each other, its just not addressed into anything more than their rival status between them.
personally i think jackson is in deep w internalized homophobia and i think its a common trope with asshole gay jocks in media and the backstory they’re creating for him. it makes sense. he has a bad family life, he doesnt feel good enough, he’s constantly compared to tyler (..and yet still is attentive to his feelings even if he’s the one making him angry/upset/etc.) its a hard dynamic to work through since theyve been rivals since they were babies. theres the overarching forbiddenness of being anything with each other..other than rivals bc of the parent history bc rivals is what’s “expected” of them. i think.
i mean. i hope im not reading into this because it could become a really great storyline esp sine the writing on this show and the small things in the acting and directing are so meaningful. i know annie and tyler are the ship thats common right now, and i honestly see them as nothing but sibling relationship. he never has fondness on his face when he looks at her. it is literally the protective older brother look/check in that he has taken upon himself (for who know how long, but at least since his dad left). its not romantic with her and its clearly not romantic with cece. why is he still with her if the things with annie already blew over? i think cece’s a beard. not necessarily intentionally but maybe intentionally. even though his character is allowed to dismiss toxic masculinty in areas (which, amazing to show that) it doesnt mean he doesnt have internalized homophobia. and the way this town is close knit and everyone knows everyone and u probably marry high school sweethearts and everyone talks abt what’s different, being gay for sure would make people gossip (bad or good) when its not their info to share. so cece is on his arm kinda as backup? or failsafe in case someone is getting close to finding out he’s gay? we can see this: when jackson comes to tyler and gets very very touchy and flirty and stares in his eyes and they both glance at each others lips, tyler pushes jackson and gets touchier with cece (more than we’ve literally ever seen). and he then goes on the defensive bc he is sick of jackson coming in between him and cece and in general, tyler’s own life. (hmm?).
anyway! jackson could get a redemption arc. i think he should. his outright rude meanness should not be excused though. if the show makes a relationship out of that without talking its not a healthy one. we see the harsher banter between them but its still banter-they laugh in the interactions, smile, its not a problem. but jackson does do stuff and says stuff that creates way more harm than he probably realized and its why he’s so lowkey in those situations and is still smiley and sometimes continues. yes, jackson wants attention and a reaction. and this needs to be addressed because he cant ever be redeemed if he doesnt change. the banter is fine, but the “taking it too far and not realizing exactly what he’s done before its too late” is not. and i have hopes of jackson’s character being developed more because if he’s just here to show how tyler deals with things, they didnt need to make a backstory abt them or make jackson the person that is showing us how tyler is dealing with things- they couldve made random players, other characters, or even jackson as not the only one. which makes jackson stand out at this point and they gave him backstory so i dont think he’s just a plot device character like a lot of the characters are.
also... i love rivals to friends to lovers aus with my entire soul bc when theyre actually done properly and followed through on they are always amazing because it forces gradual building and doesnt skip steps and actually develops the characters in depth (both!!) and their feelings for each other too (it has to, and with this build it is realistic even though not everyone falls in love this way..it forces the writers to showcase an actually good relationship bc they have to spend time on it). so. it seems like thats whats being set up because why else would they create a rivals characters with complex relationships with each other if they werent going to turn it into anything more?
