ok. um. obviously connor storrie and hudson williams' sexualities and the ways they identify and their dating history are like not public information. that's their business and. they are obviously not obligated to say anything publicly and honestly if i was them i would want to keep as much of my personal life personal as possible. so i get it. i think it's also clear. like no matter how much ppl joke abt hudson williams not being media trained or whatever. that they both have very well thought-through and curated public images. and i dont think that means theyre being fake or whatever but they are both clearly very conscious of their public image and crafted them both very specifically and very quickly. and i think that their (seemingly joint) decision to not talk abt their sexualities/queerness GIVEN the content of the show that they are known for is both interesting and also a part of those curated public images.
the show itself. ok. im not trying to say it fetishizes them bc i dont think it does. it's a sexy show with obvious sex appeal and the sex is like. a major draw to the show. AND theres also like. a level of earnest romance and story and it is . obviously, inherently, a queer story. in that. obviously. this story could not be about straight people. even like. if the rules of the sport allowed for that LMAO it is not a forbidden romance in fact it is like. lowkey fine. they could be together openly, legally, completely, if they really wanted to be. the rules of hockey do not forbid you from fucking ur rival. the rules of hockey do not forbid you from loving your rival. it's not a forbidden romance it's a closeted romance. does this make sense. it's a season of television about the nature of the closet. about the sexual appeal, about the social and professional and personal benefits of staying in the closet, of performing your closet. and it's about the social, professional, and personal costs too! i don't think the show wants to say. it's always better to come out of the closet. i think the show wants to say. coming out is a choice. there is a scale that must be balanced here. the cost can increase or decrease. it can get easier or harder. but you WILL lose something. and you WILL gain something. what are you willing to trade to live truthfully? what cost is too high? would u trade ur family? ur friends? ur reputation? ur career? the sport you've dedicated your life to? do you see a future for yourself? can you love truly if not openly? can you love openly if not publicly? when you lie about everything to everyone, can anyone ever really know you? is a lie by omission still a lie? what is a lie when you are a public figure? what level of authenticity do you owe your team, your fans, your sport, your family, your friends, your lover, your self? how much of this performance, where you hate the man you love, where you date women, where you act like an asshole, is a lie? and how much is just public image?
and like i said OBVIOUSLY. the show has sex appeal. obviously connor and hudson have sex appeal. and politically, not personally, but through their art, both connor and hudson are branded visibly as queer. a show this big, this popular, this fast, a rise to fame this meteoric, fans this passionate and um. horny. there is no separating them from their artistry. their art is synonymous with gay sex. HOWEVERRRR.... theyve also both branded themselves.. as something vaguely opposite their characters...... this is to say. they are marketing themselves right now, not their show. connor goes out there with his cute little texas accent, his gay little voice, and does a cute little puppy dog smile :) cutie! people say woah! he's nothing like ilya. hudson goes on buzzfeed and talks about omegaverse, goes on the tonight show and talks about his cock sock. sexyyy ! people say woah! he's nothing like shane! and i think those things are like. really important. for them. as young queer actors playing visibly queer characters in a very steamy visibly queer show. to be seen as. good very talented actors who can play the opposite of what they are. and what i mean to say about this is like. isn't part of that the lack of transparency about their actual sexuality? in the show you get a clear view a VERY clear view into their sexuality, into their sex lives etc. and in real life i would say it's even more obfuscated than like 90% of public figures.
and i think it's most interesting with hudson specifically. hes like. a young asian actor who is like. playing this very stiff, shame-filled somewhat softspoken gay character. and so he curates this public image against that archetype because otherwise he WILL be shoehorned into exclusively those roles and. theres very few of those roles. and also too just as an artist you dont want to be typecast or shoehorned etc. and thats not to say his public image is a lie or untruthful, but just that like. the elements of his personality that he has chosen to emphasize on this publicity tour are like. ummm the very ones that he does not exhibit in the show and vice versa. and! that's worked very well for him so far and thats awesome. however.. the jimmy fallon appearance. the cultural phenomenon. etc.
the screaming on jimmy fallon i've literally. never seen a late night show with that much energy and maybe im fucking stupid but wow. the specific bits they chose to do, the stretching, the talking abt his intimacy garments, the putting on the glasses, etc. i just was thinking like. and i am not saying this is a bad thing i just think it's a fact. that the majority of the audience of heated rivalry is young women, many of whom are attracted to the two sexy muscleboys who kiss. or at least those are the people who are the most visible in the fandom to ppl outside it observing. and so the hudson stans screaming from the jimmy fallon audience are like. "the young women who love the gay sex show," at least in the eyes of the media, and therefore in the eyes of like. tv/film studios producers and some creatives. and so hudson williams is marketed (not just to his fans but mostly to the industry) as this sexy guy who's sexually liberated and vaguely safe as a man (ie marked as queer by his art) but rumored to be attracted to women but known for being sexy while kissing men... he exists in this grey space where his appeal is his sexiness but also the vagueness of his sexuality. so like. the closet. is . his appeal. that is. while marketing this show about your public image and being closeted and the personal cost of the closet and the performance of the closet. and im not saying he identifies as queer but whether hes queer or straight or whatever hes. still closeted? and has to perform his sexuality and the closet for the benefit of. the fans. of this show. which is about the personal cost. of. the closet. and i just think thats. kind of crazy LMAO and to be clear! i do think straight women are perfectly capable of being attracted to openly gay / queer men. obviously. i think the marketing here IS mostly for industry benefit bc. hudson has not had the chance (as shane) to prove himself as being believably straight on screen. whereas a jonathan bailey type where yeah hes openly gay but hes also not shoehorned into gay roles bc hes already proven himself as believably straight on screen.
and CONNOR! i think has the easier job now. because his performance as ilya is bigger and louder and more.. bisexual.. it performs the sexuality for him. it's confident, he does the russian accent, he tops, hes also into women, etc. puts connor in more of a jonathan bailey situation if u will LOL so now he kind of has the job of just being a little cutie patootie pie. and he can be a little more open about his queerness even tho,.. hes not really open.. and i think part of that is in support of hudson, whose performance of the closet is probably at this point more important to his career in the long run than connors. if this. if this makes literally any sense whatsoever.
