{"id":288921,"date":"2026-04-28T00:36:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T00:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/288921\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T00:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T00:36:07","slug":"what-do-chapman-professors-think-about-heated-rivalry-the-panther-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/288921\/","title":{"rendered":"What do Chapman professors think about \u2018Heated Rivalry\u2019? \u2014 The Panther Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perhaps the last way you\u2019d expect college students to spend a Monday night would be attending an academic panel. But on April 20, the Fish Interfaith Center<\/a> was packed with students as the University Honors Program<\/a> hosted its inaugural Critical Conversations<\/a> speaker event.<\/p>\n

Co-hosted by Psi Chi<\/a>, the psychology honors society, and the LGBTQ studies<\/a> minor, the event brought together faculty from four different colleges to engage in an interdisciplinary discussion on the success of the popular Canadian queer romance show, \u201cHeated Rivalry.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d has sparked a firestorm of passionate fans since its release in Nov. 2025, and is the most-watched acquisition<\/a> in HBO Max history, averaging 10.6 million viewers per episode. The story centers around Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams<\/a>) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie<\/a>), two fictional National Hockey League (NHL) players wrapped up in a secret romance spanning almost a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe initial growth and popularity of the show was largely organic; it was driven by strong social media engagement and fandoms,\u201d said Tara Gruenewald<\/a>, a psychology professor and one of the event\u2019s coordinators. \u201cThe show’s impact has extended beyond the online world. For example, the NHL experienced a significant increase in online ticket sales.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the show\u2019s fanbase has sparked criticism, with some parasocial viewers<\/a> feeling a sense of entitlement toward uncovering the actors\u2019 sexualities, and others directing hate toward Williams\u2019 Asian heritage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To break down both the show\u2019s success and its criticisms, each faculty guest gave a brief presentation about a certain aspect of the show. In mini-lecture formats, these presentations displayed how \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d can be analyzed and understood differently across different disciplines.<\/p>\n

Nick Gabriel<\/a>, an associate theatre professor, discussed the performance styles making breakout stars Storrie and Williams such an electric duo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gabriel described how intrinsic acting added to the show\u2019s psychological realism. The developing relationship between Hollander and Rozanov is conveyed through microexpressions and the nuances of inner monologues, enabling the audience to connect more intimately with these characters.<\/p>\n

Next, assistant film and media studies professor Leah Aldridge<\/a> contextualized the series within the history of melodrama. She said that melodramas like \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d focus on musicality and rhythm, relying on familiar emotional tropes to create a comforting viewing experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t get mad, (but) \u2018Heated Rivalry\u2019 is really just a soap opera,\u201d said Aldridge. \u201cIt’s a story that bounces back and forth in its progression, and that\u2019s what melodrama does best, which is (portraying) virtue and morality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gruenwald made note of the popularity of \u201creheating\u201d<\/a> \u2014 the fervent rewatching of the show<\/a>. She sees the show as a form of escapism from the sociopolitical struggles threatening women and LGBTQ+ individuals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c(Fans) watch the show over and over to facilitate the experience of joy because it enhances their appreciation and need for love, intimacy and desire,\u201d said Gruenewald.<\/p>\n

Gruenewald also argued that this sense of \u201cescapism\u201d can apply to many fandoms. In an increasingly tumultuous world, fandoms have become rare safe spaces where shared experiences of escapism help people cope with uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt provides an opportunity to process things that might have typically hurt us, but to do so in a safe place,\u201d she said. \u201cAll those watch parties (and) things at local bars have really enhanced the individual’s feelings of belonging and connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also from the psychology department, associate professor Amy Moors<\/a> examined the series through the lens of minority stress theory<\/a>, which argues that stigmatized groups like the LGBTQ+ community face unique stressors that lead to significant health disparities.<\/p>\n

Moors praised the show\u2019s focus on Hollander and Rozanov\u2019s queerness, saying the show explores how minority stressors, such as the fear of being outed, also become opportunities to build support networks.<\/p>\n

Rounding out the faculty presentations, English professor Ian Barnard<\/a> offered a different perspective, taking issue with the show\u2019s politics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rooting their presentation in queer theory, Barnard critiqued \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d as a \u201cHallmark product,\u201d pointing to its participation in rainbow capitalism<\/a> \u2014 the profiting off of queerness without truly supporting the community \u2014 and pointed to the troubling lack of agency among female characters in the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cI initially didn\u2019t realize that the women in the show are very belittled,\u201d said senior environmental science and policy major Val Lara, an honors student who helped advertise the event. \u201cBut I think (professor Barnard) emphasized the importance of representing everyone in an equal manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnard also noted how the show presents queer acceptance as a potentially dangerous form of nationalism<\/a>. They said that \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d portrays Rozanov\u2019s home country of Russia as homophobic and corrupt, in contrast to the portrayal of the United States and Canada as democratic, welcoming nations despite current legislative attacks<\/a> on LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia has replaced Afghanistan, Iran and China in the Western imaginary as the new enemy,\u201d Barnard said. \u201cSo, it’s terribly convenient that Russia is portrayed in this way in the show, and that our Russian protagonist is played by an American actor with a fake Russian accent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnard was met with strong reactions from the audience filling Fish Interfaith Center. While no attendees expressed overt criticisms toward Barnard, some students appeared shocked by the sudden shift toward criticizing the series.<\/p>\n

The event concluded with a brief Q&A session. One student questioned how the show would be perceived if the two leads were women.<\/p>\n

Assistant professor of sociology Joshua Liashenko<\/a>, who moderated the event, said the hypothetical was hard to imagine, as centering the show on a lesbian romance would bring about an entirely different plotline and cast of characters.<\/p>\n

\u201cQueer folks are not interchangeable,\u201d Liashenko said.<\/p>\n

The honors program intends to host more Critical Conversations relating to other relevant media phenomena in the near future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s very important to have these conversations because a lot of us are stuck in our own major,\u201d Lara said. \u201cHaving panels like these is essential to see how everything we study may converge with other fields.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Perhaps the last way you\u2019d expect college students to spend a Monday night would be attending an academic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-288921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}