#heated rivalry rant

[makingmeblue]

i kind of don’t get the ‘harris gets mad at ilya for posting unhinged shit online’-trope.

for one bc harris isn’t a pr manager. like. at all. he’s a social media manager. he’s in charge of the cens social media page. that’s it, he has absolutely no control over what any of the players post on their private social medias, nor should he really care so long as they’re not saying anything actively inflammatory or hateful, but that would be a problem for everyone not just harris.

my other point is that the stuff they have harris be mad at him for posting is normally… pretty tame? idk?

ilya thirsts after shane online, harris is mad - why? why would he be mad about that?

ilya calls out someone for being homophobic/racist/etc, harris is mad - again why? unless ilya has like no proof of his accusations and is completely talking out of his ass, it doesn’t make sense why harris would be mad about that, esp if the context is ilya calling out the commissioner or something

ilya makes a joke… harris is mad. like come on, harris knows how social media works, he knows what trolling is, why in god’s name would he be mad about that

and it’s always like harris begging ilya to stop or troy begging him to stop on harris’ behalf or harris working overtime to fix the damage ilya’s done - WHAT DAMAGE? WHY IS HE WORKING OVERTIME HE IS A SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER?!!

anyway, this is just a random rant idk i get why people do it but it never makes any sense to me and makes harris seem like kind of a stick in the mud. granted i don’t know the guy v well i haven’t read his book, but he doesn’t really seem like a stick in the mud.

[brainrotbee]

“Heated Rivalry is so bad. It’s just softcore porn-” SHUT UP. SHUT UP. LET ME WATCH QUEER JOY AND BE SHOWN THAT I COULD ONE DAY EXPERIENCE IT. LET ME WATCH YUNA HOLLANDER ACCEPT HER SON THE WAY MY MOTHER SHOULD HAVE ACCEPTED ME. LET ME WATCH THIS CRUEL WORLD NOT ONLY TOLERATE BUT BE EXCITED ABOUT AND INVESTED IN GAY LOVE.

[ashesonpaper]

I’m gonna say something crazy that might be a hot take or like the coldest take ever.

I honestly don’t like the Heated Rivalry book. Or, more specifically, Shane’s characterization in the book.

Rachel clearly wrote him as an antithesis to Ilya, which is fine and can be done really well, but here it’s just not. Shane ends up being just a collection of character traits that are used to further Ilya’s character.

Thankfully, the show took that and turned him into a fully-fleshed character, and Hudson brought him to life.

Also, it kind of rubs me the wrong way how some of Shane’s achievements are just brushed past. Like, I had to read the fan wiki timeline in order to understand that Shane won the Stanley cup. Twice. And don’t get me wrong, that might just be my auditory processing disorder (thank you ADHD) but if something that big written so small that people like me completely miss it, then I fear that may be a symptom of a larger issue.

I don’t have a concrete opinion on The Long Game yet, but right now it’s bouncing between love and hate, with similar criticisms.

I welcome any respectful criticism of my OPINION, and I’m always willing to change it if given enough evidence. I might just need someone to recontextualize the book and change my perspective because I really want to love this book, because I love the idea of what the characters could be in it.

Then again, that’s also what fanfiction is for, so.

I say this because I love the characterization in Game Changer and Tough Guy. They are decently well-written and I’m just wondering what went wrong with Heated Rivalry.

[zolyarozanova]

Rant # 2:

"Also, I wanna say that the fact that Ilya is bisexual and a sex-addicted, non-romantic person is a horrible stereotype for this show to perpetuate. The cherry on top is the god awful Russian stereotypes shoveled in to complete this beyond shallow character. But it is just another case of the show displaying a stereotype of how bisexuals 'should be,' and that can be harmful for people who aren't very in-tune with their own sexuality. And I don't really find Ilya trying to hide his 'gay side' to be that compelling, it's so annoying that every popular queer show is about them overcoming homophobia. Queer people face more problems than just homophobia, like debt and taxes!"

And this is part of what pisses me off.

Ilya is shown to have a verbally abusive and extremely expectant father. One that drove his mother to suicide and then forced him to pretend for over 12 years, that it was an 'accident'.

He is dealing with severe trauma from finding his dead mother and then having to act like nothing happened and like she just didn't exist.

His brother is a drug addict that RELIES on him, his career, and his money and due to their father it is Ilya's obligation to provide. On top of that his father develops a debilitating disorder, that is going to kill him sooner rather than later and he feels guilt because he couldn't be there for him. And why couldn't he be there? Because it was HIS job, from the age of 18, to provide for the family.

Reducing Ilya's character to his coping mechanisms, which yes was sex sometimes, was such a clear indication that you know NOTHING of this show. Like consensual sex is a bad thing?! Do bisexuals NOT have sex?!

And what Russian stereotypes are we referring to? Because actual Russians said he was portrayed to a T... He wasn't emotionless, he was controlled. Poised. Doing what he had to do to make it to the next day.

Then the coming out part... he comes from a country that would KILL HIM for being who he is. There is a war there for him between honoring his roots and being true to who he is. He is hiding because he could never go back home... ever in his goddamn life. Yet you're acting like this is such a simple choice. His mother's grave is there and now his father's too. Is that supposed to be an easy decision? Or a perfect one? Mind you this starts in 2008...

Acting like Ilya Rozanov wasn't a layered and complex character is disingenuous to every attempt at an analysis. Your lack of depth and comprehension doesn't make him a bad guy.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

[prettyboyshanehollander]

I usually use this app and blog specific for reposts but I must say something whether it is recieved well to the audience or not. Shane Hollander is allowed to be annoying, inconsiderate, even downright mean about anything that is bothering him or rubs him the wrong way because he is a human being. Not in relation to Ilya or his parents or the Metros or to hockey. He is a human being, period. This rant stems from a video I saw about Shane’s relationship with his parents and how Ilya would give anything to have that, especially when Shane nags about his mom. People have to understand that for Shane, while understanding the maternal undertones, has a right to not be happy that his mom is consistently calling him about hockey, foundation, and sponsorships even with the best intentions. As ‘well adjusted’ as Shane is, maybe not having a purely no-hockey adjacent relationship with his mother can have underlying tones. Ilya gets a Yuna that is wildly different (I don’t know I haven’t read the books only seen snippets) but it’s literally siblings getting two different versions of a parent. Yuna gets to tease Ilya and wrap him in blankets and feed him ice cream but Shane doesn’t get that. The Shane that was raised by Yuna, especially when you see the environment; read: hockey’s whiteness problem, his name vs. his appearance, so many nuanced issues that RR doesn’t delve into, is a Shane that would not take comfort in these things because Yuna has never leaned that way to him. She has planned and executed and it’s very Tiger Mom of RR. So yeah, Shane gets to be annoyed by his mum and Ilya can be endeared by it because they are both experiencing this with two different histories and therefore, two different perspectives.

[zolyarozanova]

And let me exceedingly clear..

I do not give a FUCK if you like or don't like HR, okay?

What I DON'T appreciate, is bullshitting.

Erasing the queerness of the creatives behind the show as some sort of what? Proof that you're right in your shitty takes? Cause no.

FUCK NO

HELL. FUCK. NO.

The gall to use the word analysis as you are analyzing absolutely fucking NOTHING, is gross.

Shane is the 'feminine role'?! How tf do you figure that?! Like what the fuck are you talking about?

Ilya is an emotionless asshole that doesn't care about Shane?! WHAT?!

Misrepresenting the entire plot, which I am 99% sure you didn't even read or watch, is diabolical to say the least and reductive to the people who worked hard to produce this show for us.

Misrepresenting WHO is consuming this, relating to it, and why they are relating to is is fucking disgusting.

This fandom isn't just straight women. It's not even majority straight women. Pretending that it is to sit in some weird high horse is pathetic.

I'll probably have more to say later but I am sick and I have a headache...