Gorehound 5,043 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Bronco said: I mean I think we just have different ideas of justice for gay romance if your examples are older men preying on younger men in toxic relationships, men failing to find happiness and ending up in abusive lifes, death through overdose and a straight woman exploiting queer men for her own personal pleasure. Man, I have no issue with a gay love story having a happy ending. I'm criticising the shows design and visual story telling! (Or lack thereof). I listed those other films as examples of creative visual works. Not the thematics. I probs should've been clearer on my original post sorry. Edited February 18 by Gorehound I'm fine, Ta Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugar Baby 958 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 I gave this show a chance last weekened and now I Am destroyed The last time a story hit me this hard was with brokeback mountain now I Am depressed cause i wonder if I Am ever going to be in love like this and someone is gonna love me like this 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronco 17,169 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 Just now, Gorehound said: Man, I have no issue with a gay love story having a happy ending. I'm criticising the shows visual story telling! (Or lack thereof). Well help me understand your standards then? Because I critiqued your standards, as I understand them, based on the examples you gave. And the examples you gave don't, in my view, present healthy queer relationships and actively rely on the standard homophobia we expect from the media in depicting queer relationships as fundamentally toxic and doomed. They arent gay love stories, they aren't justice for gay relationships - with the exception of God's Own Country, they are passive indictments of queerness as being incompatiable with stability and happiness. If we want to talk visual story telling though - there are loads of small moments, some physically acted other just through set design which are designed to display their deepening relationship. Look at the depictions of their love languages. Ilya is depcited as someone who loves through acts of service. In fact, the first emotional jeopardy moment for their story comes as a result of this love language manifesting. We see through out multiple episodes & scenes where Ilya hosts Shane at home or in a hotel room where he has explicitly got Shane's comfort food (Canada Dry) available for him and when he cooks for him, its something complient with diet. And that Canada Dry visual metaphor is present throughout the entire story arc set off by that visit to Ilya's home. From that moment on, we see repeated references to everyone around Shane judging his drink of choice or not having it available for him (at the bar where he meets Rose for the first time) and Shane having to alter his own behaviours to fit in (breaking his diet at the bar). (Because that ginger ale obsession in the show is a thinly veiled metaphor for Shane's sexuality). As for Shane, we repeatedly see Shane become overstimulated by situations. There's 3 major moments where Shane crashes out due to overstimulation - the first visit to Ilya's home where he panics at the sudden domesticity, the moment his Dad catches them at the cottage and then during the family meal. Only 2 of these 3 moments do we see him come back from the edge - and in both of these moments its because of him being able to ground himself through Ilya (partly as an act of submission and primarily as an act of touch). When he's freaking out after they are discovered, he physically grounds himself through Ilya as an emotional rock and takes comfort from entering a submissive pose with Ilya. And then when he's freaking out at his parent's house, its again an act of touch that allows him to ground himself through Ilya -with Ilya gently turning him to face him and talking him back from the edge. And Ilya is depicted in the show as the only person, even including Shane's parents, who thoroughly understands Shane's neurodivergence and accepts and accomodates it without reservation in a number of ways. He's the only character who allows Shane to be himself without putting any expectation of how he should be throughout the show. There's other things as well - our first visit to Russia, Ilya up until this point is presented as a ****boi who sleeps around and everything is casual. And yet, at this point in time, when offered it up on a plate he refuses it. The next time we see Ilya (because ep 3 is the Scott Hunter ep), it's when he makes his first declaration of being in love to Shane. Or in the famous All the Things She Said scene - we get the juxtaposition of Shane being nervous/reluctant of going up the apartment steps with Rose, the same steps he raced Ilya up before they ****ed for the first time. We also see Ilya yet again choose to go home alone because he can't have Shane in that moment. And in the biggest single use of visual storytelling - the frequency of sexual encounters being depicted on screen decreases in accordance with the progression of their relationship. As soon as that first conflict happens in Ep 4, they aren't depicted as having sex on screen again until *after* they've admitted their feelings for eachother (ep 5) and actively chose to be together (the ending of Ep5). Its a deliberate demarkation of the shift in the dynamic from a casual situationship built on hookups into an actual intimate and romantic relationship. So yeah, I won't comment on camera work etc because that's just not my fortay. But like, visual storytelling is there. And it's realistically the only way the show actually tells its story. The gays know how to party 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElectricChapelR 2,290 Posted February 18 Author Share Posted February 18 2 hours ago, Gorehound said: Am I literally the only person on this planet who thought this series was extremely mid? Yes you are Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horny Chicken 10,009 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 Obsessed with this. 2 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyxGaGa 2,890 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 do we kno when season two will be out or has it started production yet?? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyxGaGa 2,890 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 i rly rly hope they do a musical episode for season 2 and also do makeovers for the characters and like do a fashion show montage!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borisapillar 9,927 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 (edited) 5 hours ago, Gorehound said: Am I literally the only person on this planet who thought this series was extremely mid? it was sh*t from a butt Edited February 18 by Borisapillar Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
phantasmas 11,442 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 12 minutes ago, LadyxGaGa said: do we kno when season two will be out or has it started production yet?? they're gearing up to start filming later this year for a 2027 release there is a small chance we might get a one off special this 2026 holiday season but the creator/director doesn't want to do it if it will be rushed the author Rachel Reid also has some bonus short stories about Shane/Ilya on her website if u wanna read em! 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElectricChapelR 2,290 Posted February 18 Author Share Posted February 18 58 minutes ago, LadyxGaGa said: do we kno when season two will be out or has it started production yet?? it's scheduled to film this year and air on spring 2027. 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
phantasmas 11,442 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 but has anyone read The Long Game?! i wanna talk about which parts made me sob and how excited i am for next season 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElectricChapelR 2,290 Posted February 18 Author Share Posted February 18 21 minutes ago, phantasmas said: but has anyone read The Long Game?! i wanna talk about which parts made me sob and how excited i am for next season I'm having a very hard time deciding if it's a good idea to read it or not 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
phantasmas 11,442 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 14 minutes ago, ElectricChapelR said: I'm having a very hard time deciding if it's a good idea to read it or not Do it!! u get to see all previous main characters in one place, understand Shane + Ilya's internal struggles a lot more, and the sex scenes are suuuuper hot (maybe even hotter than Heated Rivalry??) Also i cried at how supportive certain new characters were towards Shane/Ilya not because of anything tragic (altho there are some sad moments that dont last too long) 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
phantasmas 11,442 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 16 hours ago, LadyxGaGa said: all the women are so supportive and it’s rly nice!!! the women are the real MVPs here!! the men across all the books would be so lost and miserable or probably dead without them 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElectricChapelR 2,290 Posted February 18 Author Share Posted February 18 11 minutes ago, phantasmas said: the women are the real MVPs here!! the men across all the books would be so lost and miserable or probably dead without them I mean Rose is THAT female friend we all need 🥲 Svetlana too 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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