Issue V: Sorry for Putting Zendaya and Impotence in the Same Sentence
I took two college English classes taught by Freudists and now I'm like this
If you’re alive and an AMC Stubs member (so if you’re really, truly alive), you probably have seen Luca Guadagnino’s new film Challengers. If not, drop what you’re doing and go. Right now. Nothing else is worth doing. I shouldn’t have to sell it but it’s a sexy fun time, and I haven’t heard a single person leave without having so much to say about it, which is the best kind of movie! Here’s my somewhat sloppy two cents in three paragraphs:
Athletes who go through career-ending injuries is a tragedy I’ve always been drawn to, even though I myself have never exhibited any athletic promise to lose (A broken knee could only improve my tennis game). You throw your entire life into a single goal, and it’s the pursuit itself and a bad dash of chance that takes away the specific thing you love. Sports is one of the few passions where this not only happens but is commonplace. You may live an otherwise full life, except for being able to do the one thing which makes your heart sing. It’s Sophoclean! There’s two paths after that’s happened- to walk away entirely or to keep yourself as close as you can knowing you’ll never be near enough to press your lips to it again. The latter is where Zendaya’s Tashi Duncan lives.
In Challengers, tennis is not tennis. It’s the act of wanting and chasing. It's your ability to connect with another person. It’s the practice you do over and over but only rarely find it transcendent enough to justify your dedication. Most obviously, it’s sex. Tashi specifically is so fascinating because she’s essentially impotent after her injury. For Patrick and Art, they’re competitive about tennis, but it’s primarily their meal ticket and their conduit to relate to each other and to Tashi. Both will forfeit games and careers for people that matter more. Tennis itself is Tashi’s true love, and she essentially says she’d immediately trade in her husband and daughter in a heartbeat to have her career back.
After her injury, Tashi is severed from her ability to connect to her true passion, which is her way of truly connecting with others. Sex and tennis are linked for Tashi, as while Art and Patrick play for her phone number and ultimately to be with her, the great match in itself is what satisfies Tashi’s own libido. After she breaks her knee, she is effectively impotent. This stemming from an injury reminded me of the protagonist of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises (apologies for bringing a second toxic man in this issue). It fascinated me how straight Guadagnino plays this analogy, as after the injury Tashi goes from heartbreak to the ball of frustration stereotypical in portrayals of athletes with their best days behind them. It’s a delicious innovation to see this dynamic with a wife and husband, instead of the usual parent and child, and I wish we saw Tashi and Art’s psychosexual Mama Rose-ing fleshed out more, since we spend half the movie at the point where it’s worn out for them. For the single-minded Tashi, Art’s ability to compete is the most physical satisfaction he is able to give her. She’s been forced into the role of voyeur, watching and shaping the action from the sidelines. But by pushing both men into the emotional stakes that recreate the juniors match, by inspiring some really fucking great tennis, she is able to once again experience that same release she once felt on the court, signified by her near-orgasmic “Come on!”. After two hours of the three jerking each other around, they all end up reunited with their true loves- Patrick with Art, Art with his family, and Tashi with tennis.
good reads
Parapraxis | To Know What They Know: On Misapprehending Palestinian Children by Yasmin El-Rifae
“Israel kills Palestinian children because it wants to, it intends to, it calculates how. Only when we see this for what it is, as premeditated murder, can we begin to understand what it means in Gaza, for this world that enables and shares this historical moment, and for those of us trying to meet its demands.”
Takahē | Heat Death of the Internet by Gregory Bennett
You buy a microwave and receive ads for microwaves. You buy a mattress and receive ads for mattresses.
Substack | Erin in the Morning | Anti-Trans Legislative Risk Assessment Map: May 2024 Update
I recently became a paid subscriber to Erin because she is doing incredibly important reporting on the risks facing trans people in the US right now.
SEEN/READ
04/26 BABY REINDEER, CHALLENGERS
04/27 CONAN O’BRIEN MUST GO, HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE
04/28 BADLANDS, Tracks, UNDER THE BRIDGE
04/29 UNDER THE BRIDGE
04/30 “Reading The Iliad with Emily Wilson”
05/01 UNDER THE BRIDGE
05/02 THE IDEA OF YOU, THE NY KNICKS BABY!!!!
letter to the editor
Hi Gabby,
The world was shaken to its core this week by the announcement that Rosie O’Donnell was joining And Just Like That as “Mary,” a new love interest for Miranda. Rosie is a famously a huge champion of Broadway. Could this mean we finally get our musical episode?
Best,
Not Che Diaz
Hi Not Che Diaz,
It’s season three of a pointless reboot- there’s literally no better time to try a musical episode! I would recommend selections from Sondheim’s oeuvre, as he certainly appreciated the perspective of an aging diva. We simply must bring back Sara Ramirez as Che Diaz though if this is the case. Perhaps a rendition of “Send in the Clowns” after they’ve seen Miranda go off with Rosie?
Love,
Gabby