Episode 91: “But what are your thoughts on yaoi?” On Heated Rivalry with Monia Ali

Monia the Exiled Fan is back to discuss the fandom phenomenon that is Heated Rivalry, the television adaptation of Rachel Reid’s Game Changers, and the fan reaction to it--which has been something like this: 

The show exists at the intersection of a lot of different threads that the two of us have been following for a while, so it was fun and cathartic to dig into what’s happened to both the show and actors since it was boosted from #CanCon to the global stage. 

(Note that none of the hockey in this show makes sense; sports fans beware.)

Relevant posts from Monia:

• “The Real Heated Rivalry Psychosis”

• “Queer As Folk Ran so Heated Rivalry Could Skate”

• “When the tinhats are right” (discusses PHAN) 

• “Are we ‘Canada Down’ enough to save Canadian media?”

•  “Fandom Warfare” (on anti-fandom)

•  “No, fandom was not invented by Slash fans.”

My translation posts on BL (“Boys Love”): 

• A History of Boys Love

• A Guy’s Guy to BL

Things we discussed in the episode are:

• Our love of ice skating/ice hockey movies including: The Cutting Edge, The Mighty Ducks, Yuri on Ice, Ice Princess (RIP Michelle), and classic comedy Blades of Glory. Shout out as well to the lovely Sonja Henie, the White Swan, Tonya & Nancy (a foundational made for TV movie), and my boy Johnny Weir.

• We are tired of brands trend hopping on social media. No, we don’t care if some fast food restaurant RTs our favorite ships. It’s annoying.

• The Captain America “Stucky” ship is Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers and it’s very popular. Game Changers origins are allegedly reportedly in Stucky fanfic. This is becoming more common. The first big one to cross my path was Cassandra Claire’s Mortal Instruments series. The Fifty Shades of Gray series is another example. 

• The blowing up of Ao3 in China by Xiao Zhan fans.

• Garak and Bashir are still a popular pairing and the actors are very supportive of the fan community, even reading fanfics for fans.

• Not everything has to be “the first” to be good or enjoyable. That attitude is tiring.

• Glee exploded into fandom like a gay bomb. If you weren’t around for it, you can’t understand how unescapable it was. I remember Kurt/Puck being very popular, although the ship crashed with Mark Salling.

• Migratory Slash Fandom is an underdiscussed phenomenon. 

• It should have been Drarry!

• Rob-stens vs Non-stens was a HUGE fandom divide in Twilight; same with the Great Harmonian Wars in Harry Potter.

• Some of the young actors playing the werewolves had a hard road post-films.

• When a minor fictional character like Blaise Zabini or General Hux takes on a fan-created personality, fans can run wild and have fun but with RPF (real person fiction), fans run the risk of associating their fan object with the fan-created personality. 

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The songs played are:

1. [Theme song to Ready or Not]

2. “Ooo It’s Kind of Crazy” by SoulDecision [Vancouver; Music Video; also check out “Faded”]

3. “Get Down” by B4-4 [Toronto; Music Video]

4. “Some Kinda Wonderful” by Sky [Montreal; Music Video; RIP James Renald]

5. “Next Summer” by Arkells [Hamilton, ON; Official Music Video; Arkells are still active! Check out their new album]

6. “I’ll Believe in Anything” by Wolf Parade [Montreal; Official Music Video; check out Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner on the podcast Fortune Kit!]

7. “Bang Bang Boom” by the Moffats [British Columbia; Official Music Video]

8. “She Says What She Means" by Sloan [Halifax; from Navy Blues which I played incessantly when it came out; check out the big single from the album: “Money City Maniacs”]

9. “T-Shirt” by Beaches [Toronto; Official Music Video; the band is still active! Check out their new stuff]

10. “Oublie-moi” by Cœur de pirate [Quebec; Official Music Video; She is still active! Check out her official site]

11. “Pulling Levers” by Hot Hot Heat [Victoria, BC; Official Music Video]

12. “Love Wins Everytime” by McMaster & James [Winnipeg; Music Video]

13. “I’ll Believe in Anything” by Wolf Parade [Reprise]