WHY RINA RESONATES
I was a Rina from the very moment Gina encouraged Ricky at the skatepark. Yes, at the time she had ulterior motives, but like any true antagonist, she was using the truth in service of lies. The truth being that she really saw Ricky at a time where he had been almost universally written off. Ricky would later return this favor on Homecoming night.
Much is made about Rina’s domineering attitude in the HSMTMTS fandom. I’m not here to excuse all toxic behaviors that have been displayed under Rina’s banner, of which there has been quite a bit, but for a materially starved ship to last this loud, this long, is by itself admirable. Following this week’s recent announcements there was an instantaneous, impressive, and clockwork outpouring of Rina takes and content. While this by itself isn’t new, it feels more prominent now than ever before, so I’ve decided to think more about why Rina resonates.
Maybe Rina’s primacy in this fandom suggests something a bit deeper than just a ship, or rather the thing which really anchors one.
It’s yet unclear if Rina was something that caught on and stuck longer than was intended, or if in fact we were directed to pull at these threads of romantic conspiracy.
Whether we got here by mistake or not, we arrived suddenly, and solidified even faster.
Why?
Rina captures effortlessly upon our fear of a close call. The anxiety that we “just missed” a meaningful connection. That creeping doubt that we can’t see the forest for the trees. That the obvious solution, eternal joy, and happy ending aren’t impossible, difficult, or unrealistic— it’s that they are just so slightly and cruelly out of our reach. We could blink, and true love pass us by. It reminds us of the fragility of all things.
It tugs at our sense of security, and reveals how often we’re skating by on luck, that we’re a lot closer to the edge than we’d like to admit. Worse still, one mistake… choosing the wrong person… moving away at the wrong time… could end the story forever.
Ricky and Gina, what’s between them, and what hasn’t been able to be, is unlike every other coupling on this show that has fully crossed the line into a romantic relationship.
Rina is the almost, someday, maybe.
We invest in it because it’s dramatic, its gaps offer us prime real estate to build our own conceptions. Make our own meanings. It forces us to face the dreadful uncertainty of never seeing our dreams come true, and perhaps urgently reminds us not to fear what’s unclear, to look deeper, take the leap, and maybe even play for a slow burn long game.
If we had gotten Rina by season 1, who knows how we’d feel? But we didn’t, so there’s still a chance here; a chance to be devastated upon learning this thing we believed in was all a plot device taken too seriously, and a chance that we can still steer this sinking ship back home.
We often operate under the assumption that we’re running out of time. It’s terrifyingly beautiful and we don’t even know if it’s true. And yet for Rina’s, it’s not too late. There’s still time. Still a cause for hope.
Rina represents those very slender threads on which hope hangs, and in a world which day by day seems to have fewer odds in its favor, the hope which Rina evokes will not be sunken so easily.
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