So... I know this sounds weird but hear me out.
The reason I caved in and watched Heated Rivalry was because I heard about the Skip = Stucky thing and I am a Stucky girl (and this also partially explains my particular affinity to Skip)
And the more I watch it, the more the contrast between Heated Rivalry and the recent MCU become apparent: a project with a message and story to tell made with love and passion vs corporate slob that lost its heart (sans occasional exceptions GG Vol 3 and Thunderbolts)
Avengers: Endgame was actually the dawn of the end, but I think the movie that indicated that the MCU was going downhill was Black Widow (2021). I've made my opinions on the movie clear in this reaction post.
But here's one of my grievances of the movie: Why the fuck are four native Russians speaking heavily accented (sans Natasha) English and only very occasionally code switches to really bad Russian?
I want to preface this by saying I do not speak Russian (except for the Winter Soldier trigger words lol) so everything I know is from comments from Russian speakers.
In Black Widow, Russian is spoken very sparingly. In fact, the compilation video I found on YouTube is only 1:32. And this is weird, because the core group is four Russians, three of whom are still actively living in Russia. There is no good reason for the four Russians to speak English except for the benefit of the English-speaking audience, and that makes this whole dilemma feel very artificial.
When they do speak Russian, it's either a quip (Natasha: "Maybe in English next time?" Yelena: (in Russian) "It's an antidote to mind control") or a genuinely emotional line (Natasha: (in Russian) "Forgive me, little sister").
They speak it really, really badly.
The thing is, given that there are very little Russian lines, and given that some of these Russian lines are supposed to be genuinely, emotionally impactful.
Why, the fuck, didn't the MCU let a dialect coach train the actors until they perfects these very few lines? Or alternatively, why didn't they hire native speaker voice actors to dub over the lines?
This is an example of how little they cared about actually delivering a movie that portrays the characters genuinely and accurately. I have more issues with the entire characterisation of Natasha, the titular character, and how the movie feels like such a heartless cash grab instead of the absolute bad ass we see in CATWS, and this is the one thing that feeds into that issue.
HEATED RIVALRY, ON THE OTHER HAND
Connor Storrie, like ScarJo, is American. Connor Storrie, like ScarJo, plays a Russian who lived in America for a while (albeit obviously Natasha naturalised a lot more than Ilya). Connor Storrie, like ScarJo, did not have prior knowledge of Russian.
Connor Storrie, unlike ScarJo, is a Gen Z actor whose breakout role is this very role, and was in fact, waiting tables right before he booked this job.
But he fucking nailed every Russian aspect of Ilya.
In contrast to Natasha and her little family of four in Black Widow, Ilya not only consistently speaks with a heavy Russian accent, but also exclusively speaks Russian when in Russian and/or conversing with other Russian characters.
Hell, his big emotional moment in the most recent episode was a 3-minute monologue only in Russian. THREE, FUCKING MINUTES. I've done 3-minute monologues in theatre and it's fucking hard. And then there's what Connor needs to do as Ilya.
Therefore, he has a lot, A LOT MORE language homework to do for Ilya, which makes this aspect of prep work far harder than that of the counterpart for Black Widow.
He nails both pronunciation and delivery in a foreign language, to the point where Russian speakers are praising his performance.
The thing is, in terms of production value, Heated Rivalry is tiny compared to the MCU. At this point, under Disney, I don't think there is any resource in the entertainment industry and the adjacent industries that they can't get.
And yet, in portraying Russian lead characters, Heated Rivalry is leagues better than what the MCU did.
Money can't buy effort or heart.
2, Steve Rogers V Scott Hunter
This afternoon I read four chapters of the original stucky fanfic version of Game Changer through web archive, which was a bizzare experience. (I'm trying to find a way to buy Game Changer, can't find it anywhere locally so I might have to look into shipping)
And even though obviously Scott and Kip are their own characters at this point, there is still a lot of Steve in Scott's characterisation, much more than Bucky with Kip (that's partly because Kip was Bucky, but we mostly see the Winter Soldier and the complicated man that emerges from that ice): his generosity, his leadership, his kindness, his tough upbringing, fucking hell the guy is from Brooklyn (why are all my ships from Brooklyn)
Here's the thing about Steve Rogers and Stucky.
Captain America, the superhero, the first avenger, exists, because Steve loves Bucky. The MCU universe has superheroes, because Steve loved Bucky so much, that he forced himself to be one in order to save Bucky. The MCU Universe is better, because Steve loves Bucky.
Steve is a fundamentally compassionate and protective person, sure, but it is undeniable that the trigger that spurs the Azzano rescue was learning that the 107th was captured, and that Bucky might be dead. He would have walked to Azzano it that's what it took.
What started out as holding onto the hope that Bucky might still be alive becomes the incident that transformed Captain America from a mascot to the world's first and greatest superhero.
And yes, Steve is a heroic person. He stands up to tyranny, supremacism and fascism. These aspects of his motivation are removed from Bucky, and part of his nature.
But it is undeniable how much Steve's will to live and will to fight is tied to Bucky.
And this. Keeps. Happening.
Steve vows to kill all of HYDRA, and promptly crashes the plane after Bucky falls. Steve lets himself stay on the crashing helicarrier because Bucky's stuck and still can't remember anything. Steve goes against the fucking UN partly because they were going to kill Bucky on sight.
Up until CACW, maybe even IW, Steve cannot live in a world without Bucky. That's how much he loves him. Steve loves Bucky so much that he would live for him, die for him, fight for him, make the world better for him.
And Scott does the same thing.
(this is gonna be a mix of the show and the book)
Scott and Kip's breakup in the book is apparently quite short because Scott cannot fucking stand being away from Kip. He declares his sexuality, his relationship, and his love publicly on live TV, for the entire fucking world to see. He is the literal game changer: the rest of the pairings of the series have their chance in the sunlight because Scott was the first one to drive the clouds away.
If we frame these narratives as parallels, then Scott being in the closet is akin to Steve's dancing monkey routine: they get something good (albeit Scott actually loves hockey while Steve does not love performing), but have to hide a very integral part of themselves away: Scott, his sexuality, Steve, his urge to fight the good fight. Bucky and Kip serve as a trigger to change the status quo, and the change is very much dependent on Steve/Scott's relationship with them. Due to this relationship, Steve/Scott embrace the hidden part of themselves and act on it, resulting in a world-changing act: Steve, his Azzano rescue, Scott, the Stanley Cup kiss. Both earn them a significant/historical title: Steve, the first avenger; Scott, the game changer.
But the thing is: Endgame and everything that came after fucked up this world-changing, important relationship that is Stucky, while Skip becomes a symbol of queer joy and get their literal happily ever after.
In the later books, Skip get engaged, then married. They are in love and in bliss. This is a demonstration of homosexual relationships not only being possible, but also being really fucking happy. This is queer liberation.
But on the contrary: in Endgame, we see Steve give up his most significant relationship that happens to be with a man and have homoromantic undertones, in exchange for a traditional, conservative, heteronormative white picket fence life.
And if we're going with the Marvel comic rule of "if you end up in a different time period/alternate universe, change as little as possible", then this heterosexual relationship is at the expense of Bucky, the queer-metaphor/trauma survivor/ptsd patient/ SA victim metaphor/feminine actor character being actively, routinely tortured, oppressed and dehumanised for DECADES.
This, is queer oppression. This is actually closer to Shane attempting to be with Rose because of heteronormativity and his feelings for Ilya getting too real, only for Steve in Endgame, this isn't framed as a reflection or challenge, it's framed as his fucking happy ending. His heteronormative "happily ever after" is framed as the same big reward as Skip's marriage, but Steve's come through the oppression of Bucky, his at the very least, implied/metaphorical queer partner.
And depending on what Doomsday is gonna be, there's also a theory that implies that for this "happy ending", Steve basically caused an incursion/apocalypse. His relationship with Bucky made the world better, while his ooc pursuit of this heteronormative life made the world worse.
Despite being derived from Stucky, Skip progressed, while Stucky was oppressed and regressed.
(This part was originally gonna be a lot longer and a lot more political but that subsection of my ideas got so wild that I think I'll write a separate op-ed on it)
3, Doomsday V I'll Believe in Anything
A few days before HR ep5 came out, the weird Steve Rogers Doomsday trailer came out and I couldn't even fucking avoid it if I tried. I actually cried out of frustration at that teaser. The MCU had such an impact on me during my teenage years, and Thunderbolts helped with pulling me out of a traumatic event this year. I used to love them, but now I have nothing but anger and despair.
Thankfully I'm not the only one. I've seen critics, confusion and similar frustration at this clear cash-grab/nostalgia bait of a teaser if it's real. (I still maintain some suspicion that it's AI) On top of that, aside from occasionally heartfelt projects like WandaVision, Agatha All Along, GG Vol 3, Thunderbolts*, the MCU has been on an undeniable decline since Endgame, despite being practically invincible in the industry. Doomsday sounds like a fucking mess, despite the production value.
But then a few days later, this little queer show from Canada with unknown actors from a lesser known platform, that has origins in the best of the MCU (CATWS, widely recognised as the best MCU solo film if not film of all time), that obviously has a far smaller production cost than any MCU project, celebrating something that the MCU abandoned, and the combination of that and its over-all compelling story, and all the heart, love, passion and effort that went into making it by the cast and crew, is tied as the best TV show episode on IMDB with a 10/10 rating.
I recently did a presentation for my English course on Walter Benjamin's The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. And one of the key takeaways was this: under mechanical reproduction and capitalism, art becomes more reliant on exhibition value than cult value: "art" under capitalism is more focuses on looking pretty and actually conveying any message.
And this contrast between Heated Rivalry and the MCU that I've been listing and writing for the past three hours is a proof on how this misplace of focus isn't sustainable.
The modern MCU is nearly all exhibition value: CGI and star power with little to no substance, sans the few examples I previously listed. It's fucking soulless, which drove audience and fans who thrived at the MCU's peak away, leading to the MCU's downfall.
In contrast, Heated Rivalry is so much heart. This is a story based on a book by a bisexual woman, adapted and created by a gay man, portraying the sensuality and joy of homosexual love, in spite of a homophobic environment, and how love perseveres, portrayed by actors who learned and prepped and clearly put so much effort into their roles, no matter how big or how small, no matter what kind of scene. This is a project made with an important and genuine cult value, and its hard work is rewarded.
The same can be said for other smaller budget projects made with heart, I'm just gonna name my favourites: the RWRB movie has a small budget and was released during the Hollywood strike, yet became the top three rom-coms of all time on Prime Video, winning a Glaad award (which is dependent on fans, and they didn't even get to do much marketing), and gaining a sequel. Word of Honor had a nearly pathetic budget, yet was the one dangai show to lead to the entirety of China, a fundamentally conservative and homophobic nation, to celebrate the love between two men to the point where it was basically a national wedding.
In all three of projects I love and hold dear, the heart, the so called "cult value" poured into projects overcome the restrictions set by their limited monetary resources.
To conclude the cult value of this very long post, I'm gonna rephrase Mr Mamdani a bit
What I lack in money and spectacle, I make up for in integrity and heart. And what you don't have in integrity and heart, you could never make up in money and spectacle.
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