On the subject of Shane's pay cut at the end of tlg - idk, I think it was a no win situation all around. I think it was probably for the best to glaze over it, because trying to dive into it seriously wouldn't have looked good on anyone.
Sure Ilya could take a pay cut, but then it'd be 2 queer players who aren't getting paid what they're worth. Publicly, it would look like Ottawa only took them because they came cheap, 2 for the price of 1. And narratively it might have come off as Shane valuing his public image over Ilya's, something that had already caused friction in the book. It would look like he was regressing.
And sure the rest of the Centaurs could take a pay cut. But it's wouldn't read well as a viewer. Because Shane is going to go to Ottawa basically no matter what. That much the reader knows. If he took money from the Centaurs, he would be doing it strictly to save face.
And a team taking a pay cut to play with a great player is one thing; having them take a pay cut to spare his feelings is another. And maybe the characters wouldn't know he was always going to sign there, but the reader would. And it would feel weird to essentially watch Shane and Ilya trick their new teammates into financing an emotional bandaid.
It would also feel a little bitter on any reader who like the Centaurs. Because the Centaurs already face a ton of humiliation in-universe just being the Centaurs: worst team in the league. Even Shane talks down about them. You spend the whole book rooting for them as underdogs, watching them grow from a joke to an actual competitive team. Having them pay money to essentially soothe Shane's pride would feel bad - yes you want Shane to be paid his worth, but not at the cost of anyone else. Bood and Troy and Luca also deserve to be paid their worth, ya know?
I think the main problem is that any attempt to make up Shane's pay would be performative in-universe, and possibly reflect badly on the character as a reader. He's not going to be making the same amount no matter what, and he's going to Ottawa no matter what. These things are set in stone. Discussing it in length would only bring attention to a problem that doesn't have a good answer.
Narratively, I think it was just something better glazed over. When Ilya tells Shane to consider he has a rich husband, it's more of a joke than anything. And he does agree that Shane deserves to be paid his worth. But their conversation isn't being too serious at the moment - it's just an emotionally charged rant when Shane is feeling mad after the trip. It's not a planning moment or even a serious discussion moment, and Ilya doesn't even think Shane is serious about leaving Montreal.
Idk, I think this is one of those times where it was better that RR didn't go into detail. It leaves enough space for the reader to decide for themselves the details of Shane's salary. Maybe the team did take a pay cut, maybe Ilya did, maybe someone retired. For the sake of the story, it doesn't really matter. Kinda frustrating if you really care about that, but there are a TON of things that RR doesn't go into depth over because that's simply not the story she wants to tell. Maybe it'll come up in Unrivaled, who knows.
I do agree that RR doesn't dive deep enough into Shane's ethnicity, but that's more of a "writer didn't consider exactly how deep a rabbit hole went before she put it in" type thing.
Anyway this isn't a criticism on you or your take, which is valid. I just think it's an interesting subject to think about. I love snapping birch btw
So I’m gonna respectfully disagree with all this.
First, don’t agree that it looks like Ottawa only got them because they came 2 for the price of 1. Because they can’t do that. They already have Ilya.
Ilya is under contract. His contract is not expiring. He is entitled to the full amount of that contract unless they agree to execute a mutual termination and renegotiate a new amount to free up some cap space. Any downward departure cannot happen without Ilya making it happen.
Let’s say Ilya is getting paid $17.5M. But they only have the cap space to give Shane Hollander $2M. Ilya has the freedom to say “hey, lets mutually terminate and I will re-sign for $10M or however far of a downward departure that the NHL will approve. Give the other $7M to Shane. We will be paid roughly in line with each other, and it will be clear to everyone watching that we are making a salary sacrifice to make this team a cup contender.”
The optics are completely different on that decision. Shane is leaving his team in disgrace. But Ilya is an established captain who does not need to change his salary at all. Shane taking a low salary looks like no one values him anymore. Ilya choosing to lower his own salary looks like he is a good captain who is doing whatever it takes to make his team a cup contender. Jamie Benn took a massive pay cut to help maintain a competitive roster for the Stars and we lauded him as a goddamn hero. The optics for Ilya are fantastic if he does this. The optics for Shane are atrocious.
One thing I fundamentally disagree with is the premise that Shane has to go to Ottawa. He doesn’t. Especially if we look from the perspective of someone in-universe.
As readers, we want Shane and Ilya to be on the same team. We know that the book is trying to bring them there. So to us, it feels obvious that Shane is destined for Ottawa.
People in-universe don’t know that. Even though they know he’s with Ilya, people regularly make long distance work or super commute. Up until this point, they know Shane and Ilya have been comfortable doing exactly that. Shane Hollander can theoretically sign with any team close enough to make the relationship work.
You know where he can go? The New York goddamn Admirals.
Scott Hunter is going into retirement. The cap space just freed up for them for a new star center, and Shane Hollander has three goddamn Stanley Cups. He and Ilya would have to be long distance, but they were already long distance, and this is the same distance that they had when he was in Boston. They are rich enough to super commute via private jet. In the public’s eyes, this is a guy that should have options.
If he signs for pennies after his name was just dragged through the mud, he looks like he doesn’t. He is radioactive. No one wants Shane Hollander anymore. Only his husband’s team will take him, and that’s only if he is on fucking sale.
I don’t agree that this would come off as Shane regressing either. Especially because it would be so simple to frame it in a way that negates the possibility.
Don’t have Shane ask. Have Ilya offer.
Have Ilya bring it up. Have him say “come to Ottawa. Yes we are low on cap space but I will call management right now and tell them that if they let me terminate and resign for lower I will bring them the goddamn Stanley cup. We will both have to take pay cuts but it would be worth it to be together.”
The pay sacrifice is now mutual. And Ilya comes off like he is considerate of his partner who just got publicly humiliated and abandoned by his best friends of more than ten years. I’m saying “thank god he has Ilya” not “fuck Shane for wanting money.” Shane never has to ask for money to begin with.
From the canon ending, I do not think better of Shane. I think worse of Ilya.
The way it goes in canon, Ilya has his partner tell him he is so fucking angry after he was spat on by people he’s known for a fucking decade. He says he doesn’t deserve this. Ilya barely even acknowledges this. He just says “okay well we will appreciate you in Ottawa.” This doesn’t do anything to address the pain and loss Shane is feeling about what his friends just did to him.
Shane immediately raises the fact that they are out of cap space and the fact that it’s not about money, it’s about wanting to be paid for what he’s worth. And Ilya’s like “oh don’t worry baby, hubby will provide.”
Pause for laughter.
Ilya absolutely ignores what Shane just fucking said. He’s not worried about money. He just wants to be valued by the team he’s on. I think worse of Ilya because his partner who just got fucking hate crimed raised a valid concern that he outright blows off.
Shane doesn’t come off like he’s putting Ilya above his career from that scene either. He just agrees that he has a rich husband to provide for him now, so it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t get the character benefit of saying “you know what? I don’t care what I’m paid. I just want us to be together” because the thought doesn’t even occur to him.
The entire analysis I just said about Ilya also applies to the Centaurs. Their contracts are set, so it does not look like they are being valued less by management if they take a cut. Management literally cannot value them at any lower than their current contract price. Nothing can happen without the Centaurs making it happen. So it looks like they are the goddamn heroes bringing home Shane Hollander and getting their team its first ever Stanley cup. They would get a fucking parade for that, and any marginal percentage that they lost from their contracts would be more than made up for in the sponsorships they’d get from the good PR. This would be ultimately a good move for them in the public eye, and there is no need to “trick” them to do shit.
The solution is the same. Do not ask them. Have them offer.
You’d need to change the structure of the scene to do it, but you could do it with a few paragraphs. Have Ilya tell the rest of the team that he may be able to get Shane on the team too. Have them affirmatively flood the group chat with “oh my god we’re going to win the Stanley cup. Fuck wait the salary cap. I would take a pay cut to make this happen. I’m calling my agent right now.”
Shane didn’t ask them to do that. He didn’t ask them to do shit. Let them affirmatively recognize that there is a problem and immediately mobilize to fix it.
Do you have any idea how much better that would make the reader feel about Shane’s move to Ottawa?
Shane has just been rejected by the team he has spent more than a decade on. And it is a team that has been in varying degrees homophobic towards him since they found out he was gay. They act with vitriolic anger towards him after the trip, and almost none of them come to his wedding. That hurts.
Now here’s a new team. Shane doesn’t know them that well. He’s not friends with any of them. All he has is Ilya and that is because he just lost everything else. He is a fish out of water and he has no assurance that this will go well for him.
If those people go out of their way to do something to make him feel welcome after what his friends just did to him, I love them. I love their characters. I am excited that Shane gets to go to Ottawa because even if he shouldn’t have been ousted from Montreal, the narrative has just reassured me that he is amongst people who care about him, and it has soothed some of the pain of what just happened. These teammates want you, and are going out of their way to show you that. You didn’t ask. They offered.
There is another solution to this problem. And it’s to not bring up the salary cap at all.
Who put a gun to Rachel Reid’s head and made her bring up the salary cap? Just don’t include it in the conversation. Shane never says shit about the salary cap, and neither does Ilya, and the problem does not exist. Most readers will never think about it. The ones that do are free to draw whatever conclusions they may. Maybe Ottawa has oodles of cap space. Maybe the cap is higher in universe. Maybe they all took pay cuts. There is nothing in the narrative to contradict them, so the reader is never obligated to say “Ottawa does not have the cap space for Shane Hollander.” The answer could be anything.
Like, I do agree that it would be better to leave the space for the reader to draw their own conclusions. But Rachel Reid did not leave that space. She presents the problem and the solution in the same breath. Ottawa does not have the cap space for Shane Hollander. Take the pay cut, hubby will provide. It leaves the space to say that maybe something changed after that conversation, but that is not a lot of space. After all, Ilya just said it didn’t fucking matter, Shane just agreed it didn’t fucking matter, and who the fuck is going to challenge that?
There’s another thing I fundamentally disagree about with the premise of your argument, and that’s that this would be just some performative emotional bandaid meant to soothe Shane’s pride. I agree, this would be solely directed towards lifting Shane’s emotions, especially if Ilya was the one to take the cut.
Why would caring about Shane’s emotional health ever be a bad thing?
I want Ilya to be the kind of character that gives a shit about his partner’s emotions. I want the Centaurs to be the kinds of characters that care about their teammates’ emotions. Emotions are important.
After the trip, canonically, everyone Shane has been playing with save Hayden completely abandons him. They reject him in the most insulting and degrading and homophobic way possible. Only J.J. ever reestablishes contact. Ilya has all of his teammates at their wedding, and Shane gets two fucking people. And the media? It’s eviscerating him. His name is mud in the home he’s lived in and loved since he was 18.
That is not minor. People are put on suicide watch over less. Something similar happened to David Beckham during the World Cup and there are entire documentaries about how it almost fucking killed him.
Emotions matter. I care about the emotions of the people I love. And if someone I loved went through what Shane just went through? I would move heaven and goddamn earth to alleviate that. I would do absolutely anything I could to show them that they were still valued and loved. Call it performative, call it a bandaid, but I call it showing someone that I love them enough to want them to feel happy and welcomed and appreciated. I do not want the people I love to be publicly humiliated. And I would never in a million years let my poc partner who was just dragged through hell go through the public humiliation that is going for fucking gay discount if I had the power to do something about it.
The most common explanation I hear for why the game changers books are they way that they are is that the author decided to just glaze over it because it wasn’t what she wanted to focus on or its just a romance book, it’s not that deep. That’s the explanation Rachel Reid herself gives. It’s just a romance book, she never thought it’d be analyzed with this depth, it’s not that deep.
Whenever I hear something like that, I think to myself “that sure is a lot of words for saying, ‘I am a bad writer.’”
I harp on this so much, but it’s because I truly believe it: You cannot escape the consequences of your own narrative. You do not get to introduce something and then pretend it isn’t there. If you are not willing or able to address those consequences, do not bring it up.
If you are the writer of a story, the world is your goddamn oyster. You do not get the excuse of “oh, well, I couldn’t really deal with that conflict properly” you are the one who introduced the conflict to begin with. No one has a gun to your head, girl. Just don’t bring it up.
I can think of thirty goddamn ways you can resolve the salary cap thing that takes five sentences or less. The easiest? Again, just literally never mention the salary cap. Boom. Done.
She could have had them take pay cuts. She could have had there already be room in the cap because it’s much higher in the game changers universe. She could have written two sentences in the beginning about how there’s a veteran player on the Centaurs who is about to retire and free up cap space, foreshadowing the fact that Shane would be able to move there soon. There are so many ways to solve this that does not have the frankly racist connotations of having a gay Asian man be paid pennies on the dollar but it’s fine because he has a rich white husband to take care of him.
Like, the fact that she did not consider how deep the rabbit hole was before making her main character a marginalized individual in a racist and homophobic system is exactly what I am criticizing her for. She chose to make him half-Japanese and then never once think about the actual experiences of Asian men. She chose to drizzle in her representation without making actually it representative in the fucking slightest. And I am saying that makes her a bad writer.
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i don't think it's a good look if, when faced with a trans woman who disagrees with them, the first urge of any self described 'transfeminists' is to start transvestigating her and accusing her of lying, and i think it's indicative of the radical feminism seeping into their ideology and their insitence on basing their ideology around identity politics instead of anything of substance. I've mentioned this in the tags of other posts, but it's telling that these are the people who use their own identity as a cudgel to shut down other people pointing out their bigotry, who often claim that you should support All Transfems no matter what, and then immediately jettison all of that when it's not convenient for them, but in doing so have to make it seem like the people they're mocking and disregarding must not be Actual trans women because. again. they've already said you should support All transfems no matter what and base their entire ideology on identity politics. if you base it, instead, on actual principles you can recognise and acknowledge that marginalized groups are not a monolith and that some of them will be bigoted against their own interests (the way i can with other transphobic trans people*. like the people i'm discussing here) without any contradiction, but they've backed themselves into a corner where their entire ideological framework falls apart if they acknowledge reality, so instead they transvestigate and harass any trans women with dissenting opinions.
*i'm deliberately using neutral language here because there are a lot of self described 'tme' people who uphold the same viewpoints and assist in this sort of thing, and a lot of them just seem to be willing to go along with whoever's loudest, but often they're clearly doing it such that it maps onto gender essentialist identity politics as well - ie you see transandrophobic trans men saying that acknowledging transandrophobia is a denial of being men and no Real man would be saying it; Real Men inherently hold patriarchical privilige, ergo trans men must as well; it is the responsibility of Real Men to protect Fragile Women- so they just act as if cis gender dynamics apply to trans people on the basis of personal idenity alone - as if that's the root of patriarchy - regardless of broader material conditions and social recognition. They're acting in support of the same gender essentialist ideological framework and they frequently pull the same transvestigation card not "just" in the context of insinuating trans men who recognise their own oppression aren't men but also in immediately dropping the idea they should Always listen to and protect trans women in favor of transvestigating and harassing them the moment it's not conducive to upholding their worldview to recognise them as trans women in the first place.
*edit: actually drafted this a while ago to come back to but i just saw a post where someone tried to get a number of 'transandrobro' blogs deleted by suggesting mass reporting in 'retaliation' for transfem blogs getting deleted despite multiple of those 'transandrobro' blogs belonging to.... transfems. so here's this post lmao
the dean littlegreenfag debacle is still insane to me bc how r they upset that ppl dont believe them that theyre ""actually"" jewish when there is a. plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise and b. they lied abt 82838483 other things, how do they expect ppl to believe them abt this
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God. It is so wild how the fandom at large just. ignores? Faith?? And then goes 'Well, she just isn't that deep I fear' (or some variation thereof). When she very much is? She is such an interesting character. There is all the history with the Faith's who came before her for starters. The relationships she had with people before she became Faith. The differences in her lives?? But nah. She is boring I guess (Sorry I just saw another au that conveniently "forgot" about Faith and just. sigh, man)
SINCERELY people will be like "oh, her character and region just aren't as complete as the others" then immediately show their asses that they just. didn't bother to pay a lick of attention to her region. they don't know about the prior faith notes they don't fucking know about her breakup letters with tracey THEY DON'T TALK TO TRACEY. like you KNOW if there was an npc around who was john's old law school pal or jacob's old military buddy people would be going crazy cataloging every bit of pre-cult lore they dropped and there'd be a million spin off fics about every tidbit but people will say "oh no we just don't know much about faith's backstory there is no source of information for this" with zero irony
