Why was Ryder homophobic?
 

Ryder Forrest, our lovely British jerk that used every chance he got to make fun of Jake and Hamilton, who in his eyes were gay, what were his reasons for acting this way?

To me, this is probably one of the hardest questions to answer, mostly because there are so many possibilities. Ryder clearly didn't want anyone to know what he was feeling or thinking, or maybe even wanted everyone to believe that he didn't have feelings. He hides everything behind the front of the bad guy. What was he thinking or feeling? I don't know. Maybe he was gay, maybe he wasn't, we'll never know.
I do know people who are similar to Ryder, and I think their biggest motive for acting the way they do is that they want to seem strong. We all know how high school can be. You're either one of the stronger people, or you're weak, and people make fun of you. Ryder doesn't want to be weak, maybe because he once experienced how it is to be one of the weak people, so he starts being one of the strong people. Strong people make fun of minorities, of people that are different and weak, so he makes fun of Jake and Hamilton.
If he's gay, maybe he also makes fun of them to prove that he is straight and doesn't like gay people. And because he's secretly jealous that they can be 'out' and he can't, that they found someone who loves them and he doesn't have someone like that, probably doesn't even have friends or a caring family.
No matter how you put it, no matter what reasons you think about, all of them seem possible. We will never know why Ryder acted the way he did, but we can guess, we can try to understand and analyze his behaviour.

What do you think? :look:

OT: This is our 100th thread! :party:

*sight*

Ryder... In my opinion he is one of the best characters I have seen in a tv show... and although I hate to contradict Rythan & Noyd (who are firm believers that my boy was gay) I think that he wasn't and that we was just bitter because he was angry with his mum for making him move to the US and leaving everything behind...

Or maybe he was just mean because, BECAUSE he liked it. Maybe we would have ended up seeing him making amends and being friends with the gang... although maybe that would have destroyed what Ryder's character was...

I just know I loved him and his sarcastic comments! :lol:

I didn't see him as gay aswell, I think that guy was comfortable with his sexuality ;) Though its hard to say why he was like the way he was... the show didn't run for long so there are just too many scenarios as to why he was the way he was :D

:yay:

Orton

Maybe that's one of the main reasons (despite Charlie's undeniable hotness :drool: ) why we love Ryder so much?! He's just so...interesting.

I have a Ryder-centric question: After Hamilton punches Ryder in Free Will, there's an expression on Ryder's face that I personally can't read. What do you think he's thinking in that moment? :look:

a) a gay guy can't hit that hard (? :confused: )
b) maybe that's when he realizes that there's more to jake and hamilton than what he just sees on the surface. beneath all that banter...ryder's very intrigued with the two. (maybe he's a jahammer...:look: )

i never really saw him as 'homophobic'. there really was something about him and we all knew that there must have been more ryder-jake-hamilton storylines after all that. he was a bully but we also knew that he was special. and i usually picture him falling in love with either hamilton or jake/jacqueline. i'm not sure why...

Good question. I think Ryder isn't homophobic nor gay. After watching him behaviour in the episodes looks like he's rude with everyone, Will, Bella, Grace, Hamilton,... he just find flaws or something different from their lifes and uses it against them. I'll get back to this later.

:)

I can't quite remember it, but I'm sure that he was just surprised that Hamilton was punching HIM, after all he was the bully and he mustn't be used to people contradicting him and less of all punching him.

I would so have loved to see more of Ryder, so see how they devoloped him... or in some ways I'm happy that it ended were it did, because I'm sure that if they had turned him all goody-good he wouldn't have been as half the fun he was as the bad guy :eyebrows:

:lol: Mia your avie is funny ;)

I was more amazed that Ryder didn't do anything, I mean he didn't grab him and punch him back??

I think I'll go with A) Nki :)

Orton

Man, as much as my actions speak to the contrary, in my heart of hearts I think I have to agree that canon!Ryder isn't gay. And like Nikki said, he's not really homophobic either, he just finds everybody's softest, most vulnerable spot and needles them along in the most annoying way possible.

But, I do believe that fanon!Ryder is significantly gay. I always thought it was quite interesting that, despite our differences, New Beginnings and my episodic fics tended to have swung in the same directions when it came to major plotlines. Ryder must have exuded some sort of gayness for us to both take it in the same direction, right? Mine is hardly an objective view, though. I love gay boys. I wish I had a gay best friend. :sigh:

this gay best friend?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...c/PDVD_003.jpg ;)

Oh! I'd love this gay friend, although I wouldn't want him gay nor friend... I need a straight Charlie to marry me! :lol:

alright...straight Charlie it is! :party:
http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywo.../7620/ch46.jpg
You may now kiss the groom. :nod: :kiss:

Ok... but I'm just doing it coz you say so... because everybody knows how much I don't like Charlie/Ryder!

:look:

Ok,ok... I LOVE HIM! :lol:

Gay best friend! Gay best friend! :ya_ryder: :chase:

Run, Ryder, Run! :lol: