havenât been active in the rykter fandom in awhile, but iâve seen quite a lot of opinions floating around on here & twt that i had quite a lot of thoughts about!
someone said the show is queerbaiting⌠and i genuinely cannot believe how anyone can see a character figuring out his queer identity and only see the matherik ship & dumb it down to queerbaiting.
edit: i want to clarify this part i said on queerbaiting because i didnât articulate my thoughts in depth. at the end of season 2, mathias initiated a kiss with erik ultimately implying his queer identity. and his season 3 storyline has confirmed him as a queer character, who is crushing on erik & struggling with acceptance whilst getting bullied by his ex-best friend. however, erikâs pov is open to interpretation, which leaves a lot of space for fan theories (that i eat tf up) but at the moment, thatâs all they are. fan theories. erikâs actions can be interpreted as both platonic & non-platonic, and i donât see the show dangling matherik in the audiences faces. since theyâre very focused on mathiasâ story and his perspective rather than erikâs. whose own story seems to focus on him hanging around the wrong crowd and his questionable behaviour. it leaves the storyline open to go down two very different routes: erik could have his own queer realisation and the two of them eventually end up together. or mathiasâ has unrequited feelings for his straight (or aro đ) friend but those feelings helped him with his own queer journey to acceptance. and i think with how theyâve set erik up, it could genuinely go either way and make sense.
^^ thatâs why i believe the queerbaiting claims are a stretch.
itâs become very clear why people began watching rykter: matherik. but people NEED to remember that the show is not solely about them. it never has been. this show is about the chaotic lives of âshelteredâ (i canât think of the word iâm after) teenagers who all have the capability to be stupid, immature and selfish. which yes, includes felix as one of those characters and yes, includes erik as a teenager capable of being a bad person at times.
these teenagers are also all (well almost all) capable of redemption. mathias has proved his own ability to be redeemed after his s1 antics, erik will surely have his own redemption path regarding his current s3 antics and thea is currently having her redemption this season. just because erik has been generally good in the first two seasons, doesnât mean he isnât prone to poor decision making & shitty actions. remember: theyâre all 15-16 years old.
iâve seen a few people suggest that the rykter writers are âgetting offâ on or âenjoyingâ the homophobic abuse that mathias has been subjected to, but i think thatâs a massive stretch. and an extremely poor outlook on the shows writing in my opinion. many people forget that even though norway is a progressive country that homophobic shitheads still exist. and the way mathias is being treated by someone as horrible as felix & no one saying anything due to being âshelteredâ followers is quite real.
and when someone as jealous, hateful & spiteful as felix who clearly puts up with his own share of prejudice gets to put someone else down (someone who he also feels âbetrayedâ by), heâll jump at that opportunity in an attempt to make himself better and stronger. from victim -> perpetrator. i understand the frustration around this season focusing on felix quite a lot but people need to stop seeing his storyline as ways to âexcuseâ his actions and moreso to explain them & simply SHOW his life. they seem pretty hellbent on showing you that heâs a shitty person regardless of his home life & personal issues.
anyways rant over! time to disappear again lol. feel free to disagree with anything i said. always happy to have a discussion!
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