Sports romances on the small screen appear to have taken the spotlight once held by dystopian flicks of the last decade.
The 2010s were a golden age for dystopian cinema thanks to film series such as The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Maze Runner.
Movies were based on teenage protagonists fighting for survival in a corrupt regime; they were sorted, ranked, surveilled and forced to perform under immense pressure, with the romantic relationships within these films being part of the rebellion and the only emotional refuge for both the characters and audience.
In recent years, this model has shifted with fewer book adaptations being made into movies, instead taking on the television model, writes Film News Blitz’s Darshan Kaur Gill.
Shifting content
The content of book adaptations has also shifted, with less dystopian fiction being produced on the big or small screen.
Streaming platforms are instead looking at the more recently popular genre of books, sports romances.
Over the last few years, sports romances have exploded in popularity.
So, studios and streaming services are chasing after the next already established phenomenon through titles like Crave’s Heated Rivalry and Amazon MGM’s newly released Off Campus, and the upcoming Windy City series that they are set to produce.
Sports romances function the same way dystopian young adult (YA) franchises did in the 2010s.
Though the premises are not in any way similar, sports romances and dystopian cinema thrive on the same principles, pre–established fandoms and adapting to what society currently deems important.
Society in the 2020s is all about optimisation, unlocking your potential and realising your purpose.
People are striving to be the best version of themselves whilst “working for the man”.
Complacency is at the core of people’s routines as they’re too busy and overwhelmed to challenge regimes.
This is largely unlike the culture of the 2010s, where rebellion and emphasis on politics were at the heart of people’s every decision.
When life is going well, and people have the free time to actually take a look at the injustices in the world, a culture of political understanding and rebellion against corruption is created.
In sports romances, the location is institutional rather than post–apocalyptic, moving from authoritarian systems to athletics programs, professional leagues and celebrity culture.
The two genres are similar in that they both highlight rigid hierarchies, public surveillance, performance-based worth and loyalty to teams or factions that don’t necessarily deserve it.
The protagonists of modern on–screen sports romances are often treated less like people and more like assets, similar to the way Katniss is used as an asset by the Capitol in The Hunger Games; both highlight the issues with idolisation of public figures and celebrity culture.
Sports romances, however, are more relevant to today’s world, highlighting how the characters are considered profitable and can be used as content, undergoing intense media scrutiny.
The core principles aren’t what change, but the settings and the mode of expressing the message.
At the centre of both genres lies the same fantasy for the characters, being truly seen inside a system designed to erase individuality.
Heated Rivalry transforms professional hockey into a system of surveillance and concealment.
The relationship between the main characters, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, unfolds under the constant threat of media scrutiny, national symbolism and institutional pressure, as well as the risk of destroying both of their careers.
The romances survive through secrecy as the protagonists in dystopian YA are exchanged for athletes, hyper–visible yet internally isolated.
Sports romances are cheaper to produce than dystopian YA adaptations
Sports romances also offer a cheaper alternative to the same concept of dystopian fiction.
Studios and streaming services have exchanged the high costs of dystopian cinema for a more flexible alternative, as there is less need for visual effects.
With most sports romance book series being interconnected standalones, adapting them for television is particularly easy, following the format of a couple (or book) per season.
The upcoming Windy City series illustrates this clearly, with interconnected stories and recurring characters, viewers can invest in multiple different stories rather than just individual romances, creating an entire ecosystem, therefore creating ever–expanding ensemble casts, cashing in on pre–existing fandoms, and creating background that applies to each story that will be adapted.
So the answer to the question is yes, sports romance television series are replacing dystopian cinema, as they highlight what is important to today’s society, internalising fear, and working through the anxieties in everyday life instead of being expected to overthrow it.
READ NEXT – ‘Off Campus’: Hockey boys, romance and college drama
