The creators of the show made him seem gay on purpose in many scenes but it was to cater to homophobic people. Like him being gay or feminine was a problem. One of very few reasons the show didnt age well. That and the word ret**ded said many times.
@@CantEscapeFlorida No, it’s to convey that Angel as a character has insecurity issues, it has nothing to do with pandering to homophobes. Spike is very insecure as well, but he hides it under much louder bravado compared to Angel.
@@CantEscapeFlorida What the hell are you talking about??? A lot of Angel’s insecurities stem from his sense of overall self-image and worth, not just his masculinity. Season 2 made it the most explicit that Angel was secretly very self-conscious about how others perceived him and had a particular image that he wanted to project. Everything regarding his style, look, swagger was designed to project the image of the mysterious, dark and brooding hero that he crafted on a subconscious level. The show isn’t condemning masculinity or femininity, but it’s done to simply give Angel added characterization and poke fun of him for feeling inadequate or not masculine enough whenever he fails to live up to his desired image or is told by other characters that said image isn’t actually as cool as he thinks it is. Also, it’s not toxic masculinity to want to adhere to your gender identity. Wanting to be masculine because you are a man doesn’t necessarily mean you despise femininity, it just simply means you don’t desire to be feminine yourself. By your logic, is a woman toxically feminine if she gets upset that someone says she’s too masculine? Is a trans man also toxically masculine if he gets upset that he isn’t being masculine enough to live up to his gender identity?
