Spice, Sports and Streaming
What the Off Campus Adaptation Means for Erotica
We’ve all heard about the newest book-to-screen adaptation taking over the Internet. Elle Kennedy’s Off Campus is a mixture of all things fun and spicy, reigniting everyone’s love for hockey men after the buzz of Heated Rivalry.
Amassing thirty-six million views in the span of its first twelve days of streaming, Off Campus has become a viral sensation yet again, with the book series itself having been estimated to have sold three million copies worldwide. With its lovable characters, found family trope and steamy scenes that have us blushing, it’s no surprise Off Campus is receiving the same kind of fiery love as Netflix’s Bridgerton adaptation.
But what does this represent for the future of romance and erotica in the world of TV?
Romance has always been a commercially successful book genre, going against crime for the genre of fiction books that generates the most sales, but it has often been dismissed as a ‘guilty pleasure’ read, lacking any serious recognition compared to other forms of literature.
In more recent years, this attitude has shifted drastically, with romance combining forces with other genres such as fantasy to create new trends in reading. Another shift is the romance genre's prominence within television. Rom-coms have existed for decades, films that operate on the specific formula of attractive people meeting and getting their happy ending after a chaotic journey, but romance has never truly been dominant within the world of TV.
As previously mentioned, Netflix’s Bridgerton adaptation sent hearts racing when it premiered back in 2020 and its popularity demonstrated people’s appetite for shows centred around romance – with a bit of spice of course. Amazon is in a unique position due to its Kindle subscription service which boasts an extensive range of romance and erotica and its Prime streaming service, allowing for easier book-to-screen adaptations. The company has already had various successes with its book-to-screen adaptations, from the Culpa Mia films based on novels by Mercedes Ron with the same titles as well as Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Now it welcomes its newest edition to the romance series category with Off Campus, the first season being based on Hannah and Garrett’s love story in the book The Deal.Where Off Campus differs from other romance TV shows, particularly The Summer I Turned Pretty and Maxton Hall, is its standing within the New Adult age classification, following characters who are transitioning between adolescence and adulthood rather than characters who are still classed as young adults.
Branching into the New Adult target audience means that authors can explore themes of sexuality and desire with an explicitness that cannot be seen in YA fiction, making Elle Kennedy’s books a pretty steamy read. What is refreshing to see is that the adaptation of Off Campus did not shy away from the spicy aspects of the books and instead embraced them. We have nudity, we have passionate sex montages and even a toe-curling (literally) mutual masturbation scene, all of which were done so tastefully and still managed to make me blush. While I don’t think we will ever reach the level of blush the books manage to achieve (I’m looking at you The Charlie Method), it is refreshing to see a show that does not tone down women’s pleasure and instead showcases it in a way that is so natural and integral to the characters within the story.
Amazon’s decision to preserve some of the more erotic elements in its adaptation of the Off Campus series shows that there is a growing acceptance of female sexuality and desire within mainstream television. Sex is one of the many ways in which women can connect to a romance book and feel seen, and making intimacy visible on the screen demonstrates that sexuality no longer needs to be hidden away.
I, for one, am eagerly awaiting season two after seeing the insane chemistry between Allie and Dean and considering it is one of the spicier books of the series.