A Heated Rivalry or Wicked Misogyny?
As someone who may hold bias to the extent that I refuse to watch Heated Rivalry, I think it's important to state that I've seen a couple of episodes, and the show just isn't for me. I've also watched both the Wicked movies starring Cynthia Erivo and Arianna Grande. Now you are probably wondering what these two media films have in common. Well, nothing to be exact, and I think that's the preface we must state first.
This isn't about the series/movies, it's about the co-stars, but first, here's a little context you may need to understand where I am coming from. Arianna Grande plays in the musical adaptation of Wicked and Wicked for Good, directed by Jon M. Chu. She takes on the role of playing Galina (Galinda the Good), she is a very privileged and self-absorbed young woman who attends Shiz University and ends up facing an internal battle of being for the people or wanting her personal desire to keep her bond with Elphaba. Elphaba Thropp (The Wicked Witch) is played by Cynthia Erivo, who is born looking different than others, which pretty much explains why everyone treats her as inferior, including Galinda. While we could go on for days about how Wicked is a movie that talks about the corruption of government, discrimination, friendship, and propaganda, that's all for another day.
Now, Heated Rivarly, which most are familiar with, is a Canadian TV show directed by Jacob Tireny. This television series is based on Rachel Reid's novel series Game Changers. Hudson Williams plays the character Shane Hollander, and Connor Storrie plays the character Ilya Rozanov. Now, while I'd like to say this book is just about a prolonged situationship with the mends of a lot of sexual interactions, I can understand why it has such a mass following. It truly is something that we haven't seen on television in a while espcially when it comes to LGBTQIA+ representation (maybe including Heartstopper, 2022).
But although both media aspects tend to have done very well, why is one group of co-stars getting called weird while the others are being praised for being affectionate? Arianna Grande and Cynthia did a press tour while campiainging both of these movies, which included a lot of interviews, and while it's not a shocker that we live in a society where people tend to believe that women are "too emotional." Why is it that when women show admiration and love for their co-stars, it's "concerning, "cringe," "performative," or even "annoying," when other co-stars are doing the exact same thing, and it's considered "authentic" and "refreshing"?
If anything, the praise for Heated Rivalry and the backlash for Wicked really show the double standard in how people see the budding relationships of co-stars, but also how we look at bonding and intimacy. We live in a world where masculinity is seen as manly and a "tough guy" aspect, so whenever these characters bond, it is shown as soft and bromance. The stars of Heated Rivalry can bond and laugh because it's not often seen due to our system. Unlike when women are put in the same roles, it is presented as competition. One has to be better than the other, if not intially them showing eachother love and admiration is automatically taken as performative and faking something for marketing so the movie can get more traction.
Even with Cynthia, we've single-handedly seen the misogyny and racism that have been projected against her since the Wicked press tour started, for instance, people masculating Erivo, depicting her as the Hulk, and making Arianna seem more fragile, even the jokes about Erivo being "too protective" to the extent she is "controlling." In the society we live in, seeing a man cry or be emotional is something that isn't normlaized which makes it seem real, but when we see women do the same thing, it's just dramatic.
Unfortunately, this isn't the first case and most certainly won't be the last of the misogyny that is placed on women through the way the patriarchy has been set, and until we stop viewing female emotions as a marketing ploy and male emotions as a breakthrough miracle, we will always punish women for doing things that people swear we need more representation of.
ReplyDeleteSeeing two different sets of co-stars shows how unfairly emotions get judged based on gender. Women are always constantly told they are “too emotional”, but when being on the show affection towards one another it’s fake and “cringe”. On the other hand the set of men, when shown them having that same bond as women, it’s praised that it’s amazing how men are finally “opening up” and it’s just refreshing to see this.This double standard shows us that females emotions are just seen and used as a marketing tactic, but for males emotions that are treated like something so shocking and heart warming. Men showing emotions shouldn’t be considered something strange, but also shouldn’t be seen as something so crazy and unbelievable since it’s something that doesn’t happen. As for women expressing emotions shouldn’t be made fun of or dismissed. For men’s emotions to be open and being celebrated, but women’s criticism shows us the gender norms. This gives us the idea that women have to compete rather than have a bond. Although, what I have seen around the media on how their friendship is weird and I don’t blame anyone for thinking that because things changed, but nobody knows what can actually be going on. Just because their bond is out of the normal doesn’t give the right to only justify the men’s bond and praise them, but then to always find a way to downplay and criticize women.
Hi! Although I haven’t watched Heated Rivalry, but as a big Wicked fan, I really agree with your points about double standards for co-stars. It is frustrating how women showing closeness can be called fake or dramatic, while the same behavior between men is seen as real or refreshing. Your examples with Cynthia and Ariana really show how sexism affects the way we see female relationships in media.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very insightful perspective, and although it probably is not something I would have identified on my own, I do definitely agree! As someone who is a fan of both Heated Rivalry and Wicked, I have seen my fair share of interviews and press moments, that certainly exemplify your point. This is a perfect example of how women are constantly belittled, especially in the media, while men are praised for doing very similar things.
ReplyDeleteHey! I really loved your post, it talks about a lot of great things about the double standards in society and that's a huge aspect in a lot of situations involving women and men! Though one thing I felt to speak about is the context of *why*. I haven't watched wicked yet (personal bias) or heated rivalry, but I understand the importance of them and how much they've done for media! However, the relationship between Cynthia and Ariana is noticeably intense I should say. Instead of more casual love for a coworker, they kind of go above and beyond to emphasize the relationship and bring viewers to Wicked. It is a type of pandering for audiences as many people enjoy Glinda and Elphaba, which is understandable given their characters in the musical and movie! But the way the actors go to portray the relationship in real life is very over the top and concerning. Given that Cynthia has a wife already, and Ariana is very controversial with her past relationships, it is something to consider! I should say the amount of critique they get is very unnecessary though! Also to consider is how they cry and hold onto each other in promos, which may be concerning given the state of their physical appearances and concerns of their work during wicked. They have gotten VERY thin to a point that is very unhealthy. This is a Convo for another day, but it's something to think about! The context with their relationship is important to notice, but as well as critiquing the difference between how they are treated and the Heated Rivalry cast! I am not so knowledgeable with HR, but I have some context with Wicked. Anyway I think your post was really interesting!
ReplyDeleteGreetings Emma! I think your response actually helps prove my direct distinction of the point I was making. While Cynthia Erivo isn't married, she has been in a long-term relationship with Lena Waithe, and I think it is important to understand how the media can take a narrative and run with it and blur the lines without clarification. The core issue is that we should not define Ariana by her past, nor should we use it to scrutinise her current friendships. There are tons of male actors who had high-profile affairs yet never faced the same level of career-long vitriol as their female counterparts. Labeling their relationship as "intense" or "concerning" simply because of Arianna's history or Cynthia's relationship feels like a stretch. It assumes there must be something more going on rather than just two co-stars who have formed a deep bond while working on a massive project. By judging them this way, we are applying a level of judgment that never tends to exist when male co-stars show the same level of affection. It's also interesting that you mentioned their physical appearances, but when it comes to male actors who lose unfathomable amounts of weight, it's played as dedication. But when women like Ariana and Cynthia undergo change its probably has various reasons, and it immediately turns into "concerning" or "unhealthy" speculation. Arianna has even had to address how the body people are comparing her to now was actually when she was at her lowest moment and unhealthiest version. Labeling their friendship as "intense", simply because they show emotion, which includes crying, ng while also judging the women's bodies,s is the exact double standard I'm talking about. We tend to allow men to be brothers and dedicated actors, but we demand women to be appropriate and perfect in ways that are often impossible to achieve.
DeleteYES YES YES YES, 100% YES!! Everything was so spot on and beautifully articulated, and I think to take it a step further, Cynthia faces a lot of misogynoir (prejudiced specifically around black women). She’s heavily masculinized as well by the media which can also be seen among many black women for years. The simpler way to put it is, would Cynthia be facing a lot of the criticism for her relationship with Ariana if she were a white woman? We have not evolved enough as a society to accept these platonic relationships among women yet without over sexualizing them, but even so there’s common patterns of society and the media over sexualizing gay relationships in the media, so that could be another reason why people are so normal toward the men of Heated Rivalry. Even among queer spaces, there is still a grace given toward men to some extent and not the same grace given toward women. “Wicked” has also been depicted as being a queer love story among a big population of the fanbase, so there’s still a gender bias towards both sets of actors when promoting their respected medias. There’s that expectation by society that women are more emotional especially within the spaces of one another, while men are taught not to show fluffy emotions especially those of sadness or affection (whether this affection is platonic or romantic). That could be a reason why people roll their eyes and cast away Cynthia and Ariana’s relationship, but uplift and celebrate Connor and Hudson’s relationship.
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