As I watched Heated Rivalry for the third time, I spammed my cursor on the ‘forward 10 seconds’ button until I got to the moment where Shane and Ilya scan the crowded club for one another. Minutes later Shane stands, unmoving, ten feet from Ilya as his hockey rival grazes his hands along a strange woman. Shane wishes he was her. Ilya stares back with a taunting but telling gaze. The moment is a beautiful and intense demonstration of what the men had been feeling for each other those past few months – obsession and lust with no outlet. In a room where they can not express their true feelings, a lot can be confessed through a look. I mentally bookmarked this as The Club Scene. It was the first time I had put a name to the trope, but not the first time I had seen it. In all its forms and variations, The Club Scene is a breathtaking and emotional conveyance of characters’ internal turmoil.
Each iteration presents a different message. In Frances Ha, Greta Gerwig explains “that thing when you’re with someone…but it’s a party…and you’re both talking to other people…and you look across the room and catch each other’s eyes.” Secret shared stolen glances transcend typical interaction. Gerwig clarifies that it isn’t sexual or possessive, but rather an unnoticed instant of kinship. Most of the time, The Club Scene does not occur in an actual club. In Overcompensating, Benny and Carmen have their unspoken across-the-room moment at a college party. Their interaction is a vulnerable one, filled with apologetic understandings on both ends. In Challengers, Tashi dances at an outdoor Adidas-sponsored party as the camera pulls in on the nearby infatuated Art and Patrick. This moment is more lighthearted – two foolish boys standing in awe of a beautiful Zendaya, destined for a love triangle from the start.
The Club Scene scene is not about dialogue. It’s about body language, meaningful looks, and, most importantly, music. The scene will later be remembered for the song playing alongside it. I, for one, can’t hear “Love My Way” by the Psychedelic Furs without thinking of Armie Hammer goofily dancing and Timothee Chalamet moving his chest in circles. The Heated Rivalry scene that started it all will forever own “All The Things She Said” by t.A.T.u. Music is more than just a backdrop to The Club Scene. Just last year, “Party 4 U” by Charli xcx went viral online five years after its initial release. Much like The Great Gatsby, Charli depicts what it feels like to throw an extravagant party in the hopes that one person in particular shows up. This too is The Club Scene. Unrequited love in its truest form, as the person being pined after isn’t even present.
In the last month since naming The Club Scene, I started to see it everywhere. I see it in recently released straight-to-streaming movies and decade old television shows. I see it used to express lust, jealousy, heartbreak, and intrigue. Despite its prevalence, it is not overplayed. The moment never feels like a cop-out for deep storytelling. It elicits butterflies in the happiest tellings and a sinking feeling in the saddest. I will forever be a sucker for The Club Scene which is lucky because I know I will see it time and time again.
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