No, I Don’t Want to Watch Your Straight Hockey Show

不，我不想看你们那些异性恋冰球剧

The streaming industry has gotten a lot of flak over the past few years, but there is one thing that Hollywood studios are undeniably good at: recycling the same idea, over and over and over again until the world ends (or until everyone finally decides they’re sick of Harry Potter, whichever comes first). 过去几年里，流媒体行业饱受诟病，但好莱坞制片厂有一件事确实做得“炉火纯青”：那就是不断地重复同一个创意，直到世界尽头（或者直到大家终于厌倦了《哈利·波特》，看哪个先发生）。

This tried-and-true formula is now playing out in real time with Prime Video’s Off Campus and Netflix’s upcoming series Icebreaker, shows that, like Heated Rivalry, are hockey-themed romances about polar opposites who just can’t seem to keep their hands off each other. 这种屡试不爽的套路如今正在 Prime Video 的《Off Campus》和 Netflix 即将推出的剧集《Icebreaker》中上演。和《Heated Rivalry》一样，这些剧集都是以冰球为背景的浪漫故事，讲述了性格迥异的男女主角如何无法抗拒彼此的吸引力。

But there’s one key difference: Icebreaker and Off Campus are about heterosexual romances, while Heated Rivalry is about a secret gay relationship. And considering how much queerness played a role in Heated Rivalry’s explosive popularity, it seems like the clamor for straight horny hockey content is another example of Hollywood just not getting the message. 但有一个关键区别：《Icebreaker》和《Off Campus》讲述的是异性恋浪漫故事，而《Heated Rivalry》讲述的是一段秘密的同性恋情。考虑到酷儿元素在《Heated Rivalry》爆火过程中所起的重要作用，好莱坞对“异性恋冰球激情戏”的追捧，似乎再次证明了他们根本没搞懂观众想要什么。

Off Campus, which debuted last month, is about Hannah Wells, a reserved musician who agrees to enter a fake relationship (?) with college hockey captain Garrett Graham in exchange for philosophy class (??) tutoring. The forthcoming Icebreaker, which Netflix announced this week, is about a figure skater who falls in love with a hockey player after they’re forced to practice on the same rink. 上个月首播的《Off Campus》讲述了内向的音乐家汉娜·威尔斯（Hannah Wells）为了获得哲学课（？？）辅导，同意与大学冰球队长加勒特·格雷厄姆（Garrett Graham）进行假恋爱（？）的故事。Netflix 本周宣布即将推出的《Icebreaker》则讲述了一名花样滑冰运动员在被迫与一名冰球运动员共用冰场练习后，两人坠入爱河的故事。

Hockey aside, Icebreaker and Off Campus have a lot in common with Heated Rivalry. They’re all adaptations of popular novels: Off Campus is based on a series of steamy books by Canadian author Elle Kennedy, while Icebreaker is inspired by a YA novel by British author Hannah Grace. They’re also all variations on the “enemies to lovers” trope, popularized by fanfic sites like Wattpad and ao3. 抛开冰球元素不谈，《Icebreaker》和《Off Campus》与《Heated Rivalry》有很多共同点。它们都改编自热门小说：《Off Campus》基于加拿大作家艾丽·肯尼迪（Elle Kennedy）的系列火辣小说，而《Icebreaker》则受到英国作家汉娜·格雷斯（Hannah Grace）的青少年小说的启发。它们也都是“欢喜冤家”这一桥段的变体，而这一桥段在 Wattpad 和 AO3 等同人小说网站上早已风靡。

When it debuted on Crave and HBO Max last winter, Heated Rivalry primarily received attention for its steamy sex scenes, as well as the chemistry between its two leads, Connor Storrie (who plays the mercurial Ilya Rozanov) and Hudson Williams (the straight-laced Shane Hollander). But as the show gained traction, it also was acclaimed for its depiction of the surprisingly tender relationship between the two, as well as its portrayal of LGBTQ-specific spaces and themes. It also gained a huge following among straight women, drawing attention to the Japanese fandom fujoshi, which centers around heterosexual women consuming gay male stories. 去年冬天在 Crave 和 HBO Max 首播时，《Heated Rivalry》最初因其火辣的性爱场面以及两位主演——饰演反复无常的伊利亚·罗扎诺夫（Ilya Rozanov）的康纳·斯托里（Connor Storrie）和饰演严谨正直的谢恩·霍兰德（Shane Hollander）的哈德森·威廉姆斯（Hudson Williams）——之间的化学反应而受到关注。但随着剧集热度上升，它也因对两人之间出人意料的温柔关系的刻画，以及对 LGBTQ 特定空间和主题的描绘而广受赞誉。它还在异性恋女性中获得了大量拥趸，引发了人们对日本“腐女”（fujoshi）文化的关注，即异性恋女性消费男同性恋故事的现象。

It’s hard to overemphasize just how much of Heated Rivalry’s success is owed to its queerness—not just because it was hot, but because there is genuine audience demand for it. According to UCLA’s 2024 “Hollywood Diversity Report,” shows featuring “underrepresented stories,” including LGBTQ-themed narratives, have higher median ratings and more social media discourse than shows that don’t. “The evidence is clear that audiences today are hungry for both diverse stories and diverse storytellers,” the report’s coauthors Ana-Christina Ramón and Michael Tran tell WIRED via email. 《Heated Rivalry》的成功在很大程度上归功于其酷儿属性，这一点怎么强调都不为过——这不仅是因为它很火辣，更因为观众对此有着真实的需求。根据加州大学洛杉矶分校（UCLA）2024 年的《好莱坞多样性报告》，包含“代表性不足故事”（包括 LGBTQ 主题叙事）的剧集，其中位评分和社交媒体讨论度都高于其他剧集。该报告的合著者安娜-克里斯蒂娜·拉蒙（Ana-Christina Ramón）和迈克尔·陈（Michael Tran）通过电子邮件告诉《连线》（WIRED）杂志：“证据清楚地表明，今天的观众渴望多元化的故事和多元化的创作者。”

There is certainly evidence to suggest that general interest in hockey has increased as a result of Heated Rivalry’s popularity, with NHL ticket sales reportedly surging in the weeks after the show’s launch. But it’s hard to understand how studio executives can look at the success of that show and attribute it to a sudden, newfound interest in a sport that, historically, has been less popular in the United States than baseball, basketball, or football. 确实有证据表明，由于《Heated Rivalry》的走红，大众对冰球的兴趣有所增加，据报道，该剧播出后的几周内，NHL 的门票销量激增。但很难理解制片厂高管们怎么会把该剧的成功归因于人们对这项运动突然产生了新的兴趣——毕竟从历史上看，冰球在美国的受欢迎程度一直不及棒球、篮球或橄榄球。

The actual explanation for Heated Rivalry’s popularity appears fairly obvious: the girls, gays, and theys like watching hot guys make out in hotel rooms and exchange yearning looks over a dance floor. The taboo nature of Shane and Ilya’s relationship in a traditionally hetero-masculine space also likely played a huge role, says Matt Puretz, senior researcher for UCLA’s Center for Storytellers and Scholars. 《Heated Rivalry》受欢迎的真正原因显而易见：女孩们、同性恋者和非二元性别者喜欢看帅哥在酒店房间里亲热，在舞池中交换渴望的眼神。加州大学洛杉矶分校“讲故事者与学者中心”的高级研究员马特·普雷茨（Matt Puretz）表示，在传统上以异性恋男性为主导的空间里，谢恩和伊利亚之间关系的禁忌感也起到了巨大的作用。

Puretz says he’s not surprised that Hollywood has followed up Heated Rivalry with tamer, “more white and straight-washed versions.” “We rarely see boundary-pushing queer shows or films followed up with more entries in the category, since the industry often struggles to understand what audiences (and especially young audiences) love about those properties,” he tells WIRED. 普雷茨表示，好莱坞在《Heated Rivalry》之后推出更温和、“更白人化、更异性恋化”的版本，他并不感到惊讶。他告诉《连线》：“我们很少看到具有突破性的酷儿剧集或电影后续会有同类作品跟进，因为业界往往难以理解观众（尤其是年轻观众）究竟为何喜爱这些作品。”

For what it’s worth, Heated Rivalry’s ardent fandom seems to have clocked exactly what’s going on here—and they’re not impressed. “Companies took the wrong message from heated rivalry,” one fan account wrote on X in response to Netflix’s Icebreaker announcement. “We don’t want more hockey, we want more gay. MAKE A LESBIAN HEATED RIVALRY. DO SOMETHING.” Another expressed amusement at the fact that the entertainment industry’s “takeaway from Heated Rivalry’s success is more straight sports romances rather than queer stories with queer directors at the helm.” 无论如何，《Heated Rivalry》的忠实粉丝似乎已经看穿了这一切，而且他们并不买账。在回应 Netflix 关于《Icebreaker》的公告时，一个粉丝账号在 X 上写道：“公司从《Heated Rivalry》中领会错了重点。我们不需要更多的冰球，我们需要更多的同性恋。去拍一部女同版的《Heated Rivalry》吧，做点什么吧。”另一位粉丝则对娱乐业的反应感到好笑，称其“从《Heated Rivalry》的成功中总结出的经验，竟然是更多的异性恋体育浪漫剧，而不是由酷儿导演执导的酷儿故事。”

Unfortunately, Hollywood is still a numbers game—and despite viewer complaints about its stilted dialogue and flat characters, Off Campus seems to be popular enough that it doesn’t seem like the hockey romance is going away anytime soon. The show has been a huge hit for Amazon, generating an estimated 36 million viewers in its first 12 days on Prime Video. So if you’re keeping your fingers crossed for a gay lacrosse show or a poly lesbian MMA series, you probably shouldn’t hold your breath. 遗憾的是，好莱坞依然是一个数字游戏——尽管观众抱怨《Off Campus》台词生硬、角色扁平，但它似乎足够受欢迎，这意味着冰球浪漫剧短期内不会消失。该剧在亚马逊上大获成功，在 Prime Video 上线的头 12 天里估计吸引了 3600 万观众。所以，如果你还在期待一部男同长曲棍球剧或一部多角恋女同 MMA 系列剧，你可能还是别抱太大希望了。