Can A Steamy Hockey Romance Handle Sexual Assault Responsibly? Off Campus Proves It Can
Content warning: This article contains mentions of sexual assault and domestic violence. Spoilers ahead for Season 1 of Off Campus. The moment Off Campus fans really get to know Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli) and Hannah Wells (Ella Bright) is an intimate one. Extremely intimate. The friends, who have up until this moment shared a limited number of chaste kisses, are sitting across from each other in Garrett’s bedroom. They’re both completely naked, making full eye-contact — and touching themselves while the other watches. They don’t touch each other, but as the camera pans back and forth to their respective faces, they masturbate until Hannah, clearly elated, orgasms. It’s a super steamy scene that holds significant meaning beyond the panting and hot n’ bothered moaning on-screen; because Hannah, in the wake of a sexual assault in highschool, has until this very moment been unable to have an orgasm or be intimate in a way that made her feel safe — not even with herself. Mission accomplished, the pair fist bump and head down to Garrett’s kitchen to eat leftover pasta. Adapted from author Elle Kennedy’s book series of the same name, the first season of Prime Video’s Off Campus is many things: it’s steamy, kind of cheesy, has kick-your-feet-and-squeal-with-glee moments of romance, and maybe surprisingly, deals with some pretty heavy subject matter. Season 1 of the series follows university athlete Garrett Graham, the star of the fictional Briar University hockey team, and music student Hannah Wells as they embark on a rom-com trope as old — but still as satisfying — as time: The fake dating scenario. In need of academic help to play for the season and be drafted for the NHL, Garrett enlists Hannah to tutor him. In exchange he pretends to be her boyfriend as a ploy to catch the eye of her real crush. Spoiler alert: Garrett and Hannah inevitably fall in love. But while this result may be typical for the genre, Off Campus does something seemingly atypical — or at latest potentially different from what many people are expecting to be a light, fiery smut-filled watch — delving into Hannah’s experience with sexual assault and Garrett’s experience with domestic violence at the hands of his famous hockey player father. For series creator and showrunner Louisa Levy, tackling Hannah and Garrett’s experiences with sexual assault and domestic violence, respectively, wasn’t taken lightly; with Levy noting it was important for the team behind the series to be responsible with how they were portraying these storylines. In addition to speaking with experts in both fields, Levy says, they asked experts a somewhat surprising question. “We asked both of them: What do you normally see done wrong or what bothers you about how things are portrayed?,” Levy says, “because we wanted to steer clear of expected pitfalls.” These pitfalls include showing violence in gratuitous detail, failing to centre the survivor, and bypassing their recovery. Which is why another key decision Levy and the creative team made was to not show any of Hannah and Garrett’s actual trauma on-screen. In a time when often overly gratuitous scenes are pretty much the norm, it was an intentional and impactful decision to not show instances of domestic violence or potentially triggering flashbacks to Hannah’s assault. Instead, these traumas are implied — their meaning still hard to miss — but told through the impact the trauma has had on them both. For Hannah, this means an inability to write songs, something she previously loved, as well as fear around being physically intimate with a partner — the impact of her trauma illustrated in her inability to share these two intimate parts of herself with anyone. For Garrett, growing up in fear of his father, and unable to help his now-deceased mother, has manifested in a fear of turning out just like his dad and hurting those around him. It’s these very real consequences that are the focus of the show. I think being able to tell a story of someone who has dealt with sexual assault and can still have a romance and a healthy sex life is so important.‘off campus’ showrunner Louisa Levy “The story is actually not about the trauma, in the book or in the show,” Levy says, “it’s about the survival after the trauma. We never actually show either trauma for either of them…we talk about it, but we never show it because we don’t want give power to those moments. We want to show the characters grappling with the after effects.” Which is what’s happening when viewers meet Hannah and Garrett in that *ahem* climactic scene in his bedroom. While it’s an undoubtedly racy moment, it’s also made infinitely more sexy because it’s a layered and empowering one, for Hannah specifically, as she works towards feeling safe and present in her body in order to enjoy sex. The hottest part? The fact that she — her pleasure, her desire and, most importantly, her consent — is front and centre. “That sce
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Content warning: This article contains mentions of sexual assault and domestic violence. Spoilers ahead for Season 1 of Off Campus.
The moment Off Campus fans really get to know Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli) and Hannah Wells (Ella Bright) is an intimate one. Extremely intimate. The friends, who have up until this moment shared a limited number of chaste kisses, are sitting across from each other in Garrett’s bedroom. They’re both completely naked, making full eye-contact — and touching themselves while the other watches. They don’t touch each other, but as the camera pans back and forth to their respective faces, they masturbate until Hannah, clearly elated, orgasms.
It’s a super steamy scene that holds significant meaning beyond the panting and hot n’ bothered moaning on-screen; because Hannah, in the wake of a sexual assault in highschool, has until this very moment been unable to have an orgasm or be intimate in a way that made her feel safe — not even with herself. Mission accomplished, the pair fist bump and head down to Garrett’s kitchen to eat leftover pasta.
Adapted from author Elle Kennedy’s book series of the same name, the first season of Prime Video’s Off Campus is many things: it’s steamy, kind of cheesy, has kick-your-feet-and-squeal-with-glee moments of romance, and maybe surprisingly, deals with some pretty heavy subject matter.
Season 1 of the series follows university athlete Garrett Graham, the star of the fictional Briar University hockey team, and music student Hannah Wells as they embark on a rom-com trope as old — but still as satisfying — as time: The fake dating scenario. In need of academic help to play for the season and be drafted for the NHL, Garrett enlists Hannah to tutor him. In exchange he pretends to be her boyfriend as a ploy to catch the eye of her real crush. Spoiler alert: Garrett and Hannah inevitably fall in love. But while this result may be typical for the genre, Off Campus does something seemingly atypical — or at latest potentially different from what many people are expecting to be a light, fiery smut-filled watch — delving into Hannah’s experience with sexual assault and Garrett’s experience with domestic violence at the hands of his famous hockey player father.
For series creator and showrunner Louisa Levy, tackling Hannah and Garrett’s experiences with sexual assault and domestic violence, respectively, wasn’t taken lightly; with Levy noting it was important for the team behind the series to be responsible with how they were portraying these storylines. In addition to speaking with experts in both fields, Levy says, they asked experts a somewhat surprising question. “We asked both of them: What do you normally see done wrong or what bothers you about how things are portrayed?,” Levy says, “because we wanted to steer clear of expected pitfalls.” These pitfalls include showing violence in gratuitous detail, failing to centre the survivor, and bypassing their recovery.
Which is why another key decision Levy and the creative team made was to not show any of Hannah and Garrett’s actual trauma on-screen. In a time when often overly gratuitous scenes are pretty much the norm, it was an intentional and impactful decision to not show instances of domestic violence or potentially triggering flashbacks to Hannah’s assault. Instead, these traumas are implied — their meaning still hard to miss — but told through the impact the trauma has had on them both. For Hannah, this means an inability to write songs, something she previously loved, as well as fear around being physically intimate with a partner — the impact of her trauma illustrated in her inability to share these two intimate parts of herself with anyone. For Garrett, growing up in fear of his father, and unable to help his now-deceased mother, has manifested in a fear of turning out just like his dad and hurting those around him. It’s these very real consequences that are the focus of the show.
I think being able to tell a story of someone who has dealt with sexual assault and can still have a romance and a healthy sex life is so important.
‘off campus’ showrunner Louisa Levy
“The story is actually not about the trauma, in the book or in the show,” Levy says, “it’s about the survival after the trauma. We never actually show either trauma for either of them…we talk about it, but we never show it because we don’t want give power to those moments. We want to show the characters grappling with the after effects.”
Which is what’s happening when viewers meet Hannah and Garrett in that *ahem* climactic scene in his bedroom. While it’s an undoubtedly racy moment, it’s also made infinitely more sexy because it’s a layered and empowering one, for Hannah specifically, as she works towards feeling safe and present in her body in order to enjoy sex. The hottest part? The fact that she — her pleasure, her desire and, most importantly, her consent — is front and centre.
“That scene is so significant in their story,” Belmont Cameli, who plays Garrett, says. “It’s nice because the two characters show up to that scene and the audience has an expectation of what’s going to happen; and there’s a level of caring that Garrett especially has in this circumstance that I think is really admirable and honest. And so the scene ends up completely different than you expected.”
Belmont and co-star Ella Bright had lengthy conversations about the scene — as they did around all their intimate scenes — but especially this one. “It’s really pivotal to their story, around all different types of intimacy that take place in that scene, because there’s sexual intimacy, there’s emotional intimacy, there’s vulnerability just across the board,” Cameli adds.
“For weeks leading up we were always talking about that scene.”
For Bright, that scene, specifically the dancing and the build up around the inevitable moment the friends kiss and become intimate, was one of her favourite moments on set. “What was so special about the intimate scenes of the show is that it is so character-driven and story-driven,” Bright says. “That it is really a turning point for their storyline and it couldn’t have been done in any other way; the sex is such an important factor of the story for these two characters.”
The idea of sexual assault as a plot driver isn’t anything new in media. There have long been criticisms about the often exploitative ways that various series have introduced sexual assault — most often against the female leads — as a trial they must overcome. It’s the catalyst for personal growth, or worse, a plot device meant to motivate another character’s arc. We saw it in 2015 with Game of Thrones’ Sansa Stark, in 2014 as an act of war against Mary Queen of Scots in Reign, and as the only plot point in procedural series like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. When the first season of Off Campus was first announced, some social media users critiqued the decision to spotlight a rom-com that stems from sexual assault.
It’s really pivotal to their story, around all different types of intimacy that take place in that scene.. there’s sexual intimacy, there’s emotional intimacy, there’s vulnerability just across the board
Belmont Cameli on that ‘off campus’ scene
Criticisms of these narratives have often centred on lazy storytelling that doesn’t extend beyond the actual violence. With this in mind, it’s tough not to wonder if a show like Off Campus should be tackling sexual assault at all. In essence, can the young adult romance genre handle it?
For Levy, the answer is simple: “It’s one of the reasons why I got so excited about adapting these books to begin with,” she says. “We have the ability, because it is such a joyful, positive, optimistic show, to couch that with these [deeper], more emotional layers.”
Which is something we’ve seen before with teen and young adult series, which have a history of adeptly handling emotional topics like death. It’s the very fact that Hannah and Garrett — by virtue of the genre and their age — are themselves so positive and optimistic that the show is even able to delve into topics like sexual assault and domestic violence, Levy notes, allowing the series to “go there” without feeling too heavy.
“In romances, there’s these expectations that characters are perfect or unbroken,” Levy says, “and I think being able to tell a story of someone who has dealt with sexual assault and can still have a romance and a healthy sex life is so important.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Off Campus always gets it right — or whatever “right” is when it comes to a complex and nuanced topic like sexual assault. When Garrett confronts and beats up Hannah’s alleged assailant on the ice (a departure from the book where he confronts a friend of the assailant), it feels like we’re veering into kind of icky territory. In this instance, Hannah is completely removed from her own experience, as her very personal assault is essentially whittled down to a show of brute strength — and even more violence — between two men.
But even this potentially slippery slope is later addressed, when Hannah confronts Garrett for getting involved. As she reinforces time and time again, and once more in that moment, she never asked him to defend her, because she’s worked through her experience in a way she feels comfortable with. As she tells Garrett before the first time they hook-up: “I promise that I have worked so hard through this… I’m not fragile.” While there’s nothing wrong with being fragile, what she’s really saying is that she doesn’t want to be treated differently because of her sexual assault.
Is it perfect? Definitely not. But maybe that’s the point. Because real experiences of healing after violence aren’t perfect, either.
And the hope is, for Bright at least, that people see themselves in this complicated and sometimes messy depiction. ‘I hope people can be seen in some sort of capacity with Hannah’s healing journey,” she says. “Obviously nothing’s ever complete, but it’s definitely a growth and a progress that [Hannah] gets to make throughout the season.”
Off Campus is now streaming on Prime Video.
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Everything We Know About Off Campus
