'Challengers' love triangle is 'Twilight' for people not afraid to see boys kiss
At the near center mark of Luca Guadagnino’s scintillating tennis film Challengers, leading college athlete phenom Tashi (Zendaya) and recent Junior U.S. Open champion Patrick (Josh O’Connor) are doing what cinema-goers have been begging for: making the f*ck out.
It’s hard to take your eyes away from them. They’re young. They’re on fire. O’Connor is literally ripping Zendaya’s billowy “I Told Ya” t-shirt off with his teeth.
But if the astute millennial cinema lover can rip their eyes away from the prime athletes on the bed, they may spot another character in the room, too (Spoiler: this is a movie about throuples, by the by). Sweep your eyes up from their bodies, tune your ears away from the volley-filled conversation about the unofficial third person in their relationship, and there, floating above the lovers’ heads as a silent observer to the passion happening on Tashi’s pink sheets, it rests.
“Are we still talking about tennis?” Patrick asks Tashi between the licks and pets and teen angst. No, my beloveds, we’re talking Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight.
The only recognizable cover among Tashi’s collection of novels, photos, and other accoutrement like her iPod Nano, the book could easily just be an apropos prop for the early aughts setting. (Devoted Twihards may rightfully point out that the novel had already been on shelves for two years at the time of the 2007 make-out sesh, and the blockbuster movie adaptation was still one year away from its release.)
However, in a movie where every exchange feels rife with subtext, where each frame is in service of an ever-so-sweet callback, where something as little as a stool being scooted closer elicits gasps and screams, it’s hard to believe that the book shouldn’t warrant closer inspection. It feels painfully obvious, too. Why wouldn't one of the most iconic love triangles of all time (yes, I said it) get its due in a film about the very same subject? Is Tashi dreaming of werewolves and vampires off the court?
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"Sensual longing radiates in every scene of Challengers, even though the love scenes are most shocking in how little sex they actually show," Mashable's Kristy Puchko wrote in her review of the film. "And yet, you will be scorched by the heat, as Guadagnino has put together one of the hottest love triangles cinema has ever seen... if not the very hottest."
Sexual edging in service of romantic yearning? Let me tell you about a certain Young Adult series… The internet's made the connection too, even if a bit indirectly. "Team Art" and "Team Patrick" posts flooded timelines almost immediately after its premiere — some of us still haven't removed Team Edward from our bios. Viewers are revved up about who Tashi (or, really, who they) should choose. They're trying to find villains where there are only confused teens and jaded adults.
We're so back in 2008. And that means we have to figure out who, in this tortured love triangle, is who.
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Edward and Jacob and Patrick and Art
No line in the Challengers film reeks more of Twilight lore than when rising teen doubles partners Patrick and Art (Mike Faist) are given the nickname "Fire and Ice," basically identical to the “two sides” Bella is forced to choose between in the series. Vampires, walking marble statues, represent ice, while werewolves are problematically “warm-blooded” and "fiery." What do heat and water make? Oh yeah, steam.
Meyers loves the metaphor so much that she opens the third installment of the book series, Eclipse, with a quote from an aptly titled Robert Frost poem, “Fire and Ice”:
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
In the world of Challengers, Tashi — about to make a similar apocalyptic decision — questions the distinction, "Which is which?" Patrick, always pushing the limits of his partners, leaves it up to her. "What do you think?"
Good question. Art, the hairless boy wonder, might, at first, read as Challengers’ Edward insert — a glistening, chiseled white boy who will do anything for the woman he loves. In the movie’s reticent fire and ice metaphor, Art’s quiet court demeanor and playing style are chillier than Patrick’s showboating nature and loud personality. He's the devout Edward to Patrick's combative Jacob.
But this film isn’t about what's on the surface. And, if Twilight teaches us one thing, it's that the only thoughts that matter are Bella's.
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For Tashi (the least like her Twilight counterpart, admittedly), Patrick is the bigger gamble. He personifies passion, hunger, and desire — just as Edward does for Bella. She's drawn to him because they do everything to push each other away. He is drawn to her because he's obsessed with figuring her out, and loves letting her know when he's done so (Edward canonically notices Bella for the first time because she's the only human he literally cannot mind-read).
Art, on the other hand, represents stability. In adulthood, he's Tashi's connection to domestic life, as normal as one can be achieved given their circumstances, and, at every turn, he's fighting for it. She loves that she can live vicariously through him. Most importantly, Art loves Tashi in defiance of Patrick, doing everything in his power to convince her that he’s better for her than his former friend.
For those who are only familiar with the Kristen Stewart-led films, there's just as much for you. The scene where Patrick saunters smugly onto the Stanford tennis courts in a pair of white Ray-Bans? Succeeds in inducing the same giddy squeals as when Edward (portrayed by Robert Pattinson) steps out of his sleek Volvo donning a pair of black sunglasses. As a down-on-his-luck adult, Patrick uses his charm and attractiveness to try to finesse a free room out of an older hotel manager. Edward uses his on a (slightly predatory?) school secretary, and again with a restaurant hostess. In the aforementioned make-out scene, Patrick's leap onto Tashi's bed mimics almost beat for beat the scene where Edward and Bella kiss for the first time, iconic purple sheets replacing Tashi's pink ones. A climactic scene sees Patrick driving erratically with Tashi in the passenger seat — a move right out of Edward's playbook.
Meanwhile, a tense cafeteria exchange between Art and Tashi mirrors Jacob's recurring conversation with Bella that Edward is fundamentally unsafe, that he doesn't love her (he just wants to consume her), and that she deserves truer love. Tashi fights back. Has anyone asked what she wants? Does she want to be loved? She wants to be a vampire — I mean, a tennis player!
Following her life-changing injury, Art and Tashi practice pushing her limits on a rehabbed knee. Art doesn't want to hurt her, so Tashi begs him to push her as far as he can. Bella notoriously uses Jacob to funnel her into dangerous situations (all in the service of getting Edward back, to be noted).
The term "lapdog" is used interchangeably in both universes as an insult — Challengers misses the opportunity to have a nod to "bloodsucking," but the film's disdain at Patrick's rich upbringing might be enough to nail the leech metaphor. O'Connor and Pattinson have mastered the smirk.
Patrick moves through the film with an intense desire to be loved, masked only by an air of arrogance and self-hatred that he and Tashi lob back and forth at each other. The given excuse is that Patrick’s never had to grow up. (Forever stuck at 17? Sounds familiar.) Meanwhile, Edward is notoriously, and life-threateningly, self-deprecating.
Art's sweet nature hides a deeper talent for manipulation and an inherent cleverness. He jabs his fingers into his best friend's wounds ahead of their big match and covers up his jealousy with a deep respect for Tashi. Jacob, starting as the fun-loving childhood best friend, turns into a fighter, sewing seeds of doubt in Edward and snarling at the other men weaving into Bella's life.
Immortality, though not as overt a theme in Challengers as in Twilight, plays an additional part. Patrick, begging Tashi to pay attention to him again, threatens her with the threat of a career mortem. Art, tired from a life of professional sports, is "ready to die," and doesn't Tashi want to live? Maybe, still stuck in that hotel room at the Junior U.S. Open, she can live forever with Patrick.
Other parallels: An inherited engagement ring from one beau's grandmother leads to a strained revelation. The name of a child ("You nicknamed my daughter after the Loch Ness Monster?!") is uttered with disdain.
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Obviously, the comparisons aren't really 1:1. Twilight is about repressed desire, while Challengers does anything but hold back. Tashi, unlike Bella, is an unwavering, passion-filled character who makes her choices fast and with determination. Patrick's quick decisions bear little resemblance to Edward's careful planning. Art is not a motorcycle-riding stereotype of boyishness. It's hard to imagine Guadagnino leafing through Meyers' prose for inspiration.
And, at the end of the day, Tashi's true love isn't either of these men. Everything she does is in service of seeing some "good fucking tennis."
If Tashi is Bella, then the true Edward in this star-crossed romance is tennis.
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Challengers' Twilight references are a fun thought experiment for those who came of age with the supernatural throuple. It’s a universe where Edward x Jacob fanfic is actually canon — a true love triangle that Twilight's prudish tendencies failed to accomplish. A rendition of the tale that has Bella acting on her urges — one in which she doesn’t shy away from being labeled the villain if that means she might get what she wants. A version of the story where everyone gets their hands dirty, the boys kiss, and the winner doesn't matter at all.