Bites, Camera, Fashion is a column from Davey McNelly, who is disabled, likes films and makes poor choices while trying to simplify his life.
I don’t like to know anything about the films I see. I don’t like to read about them, or watch a trailer, or see what it is rated online. I just want to show up and be surprised. Because too often, life is not that surprising.
Too much of our life is structured. We’re in a bubble, whatever that bubble may be. The “Athens bubble,” the “conservative bubble,” which conservatives like to say is the real world. No one, despite what they think, is living in the Real World™. We all exist within a sounding board. Within an algorithm. Even our therapists agree with us. Of course they validate that what we say, feel, and do is right. We’re paying them.
For instance, I believe it is totally OK to show up at a theater with a blanket, a pillow, a dark chocolate bar, and garlic fries from O’Betty’s Red Hot, with multiple dipping sauces (see picture for evidence). Especially because the Athena Cinema, which is owned by Ohio University, continues to not make accessibility improvements. I feel like I’m owed something. And my therapist agrees.
After my first column, one of the questions I got most was: What if they don’t let you in because you’re taking in your own food and saying mean stuff about them? Well, I welcome that. It would be a different column: “Local Disabled Person Denied Entry into Theater.” But, ’til then, the column must appear monthly.
Bites
Let me first address the food. O’Betty’s is an Athens institution. The average American eats 70 hot dogs per year, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. I eat about four. How many do you eat per year, I wonder? Please write in and let me know.
When my kids were younger, I probably ate around 70. They are cheap, and kids like them.
My partner and I braved a trip on the Friday of graduation weekend and got a large order of garlic fries. O’Betty’s, interestingly enough, puts 0% salt on their fries, which would be a small travesty if they did not offer salty dipping sauces. We had ranch and roasted garlic and rosemary sauces. So much better than popcorn.
I also have to say that eating a piece of extremely dark chocolate in a theater enhances the experience. Letting it melt on your tongue in the dark enhances the experience. My go to: the Endangered Species brand. I haven’t researched if they actually help endangered species, but I like their chocolate and don’t want to know.
Camera
I used to think I could get along with anyone. In my 20s and into my 30s, I would hang out with wildly different groups of people. I didn’t even have a clique in high school.
Has this method burnt me before? Absolutely. I found myself befriending many libertarians.
As I’ve gotten older, I have become more circumspect. I try to befriend only people who I find interesting and care about me. And have a set of values which are closer to mine.
Which brings me to this movie. It’s a love triangle that starts as a bromance. Tashi Duncan, played by Zendaya, then enters, grunting and dominating an opponent.
On the court, Zendaya is all short and quick motions. Her body moves more than it needs to. Off the court, she reminded me of Beyoncé in the “Lemonade” album music videos, especially after her injury. She is hurt, but knows her worth. She is languid and in control. She’s also ready to make decisions that move the plot forward. She’s a character who acts for her own self-interests, often against what the two male leads want. And she doesn’t care.
The two lead male characters, Art Donaldson (played by Mike Faist as a redhead with a John Mulaney voice) and Patrick Zweig (played by Josh O’Connor as the one who is supposed to be the dreamy-yet-dark character) are the heart of the film.
The two boys go to a tennis boarding school together. They have a wit about them, a “yes, and” that exists in the best sketch comedy performances. They are best friends, as high school boys are, and doubles tennis champions. They are also perhaps flirting with each other, ready for one to make the first move. Seeing Zendaya, the next tennis prodigy, as she wins a tournament, they both want to sleep with her. So she heads to their grungy hotel room and tricks them into making out with each other instead of her. Naturally. They seem willing to continue, if she joins in or offers more encouragement, but she doesn’t.
As she heads out the door she says that whichever of the two wins the tennis match the next day will get her, the greatest prize of all. This turns the boys into enemies for the rest of the film. Extremely loud electronic dance music (EDM) plays throughout this scene, and then inexplicably returns throughout the film. As the characters make choices, one volley after another, and the tension is supposed to be building, as each point serve of their lives, the EDM starts again.
At times, I wanted to shout to the other theatergoers, “Let’s dance!” and get out rave lights. I know I found myself moving.
Is there a happy ending? Is there a chance to pause the game for a moment and take stock? To act, not out of trauma or personal desire but out of what your body actually wants? Some of us are too hurt to even know what we want.
And at the very end, there is a glimmer of hope. Maybe Art and Patrick can return to that initial kiss shared between them. They just need better boundaries around Zendaya, as my therapist would say.
I, for one, hope they get over Zendaya and make out.
Somehow all of this reminded me of being in front of the Democratic headquarters in Athens at a protest to demand a ceasefire for Palestine. As we chanted and chalked, frat boys across the street were blaring EDM, half-dressed, bleary-eyed, and befuddled about what we were doing. Some danced, and some of us across the street began to dance with them. I waved, trying to get them to come over, to make a decision to try to make the world a better place. But they stumbled back inside, looking for their next party drug.
In the end, “Challengers” surprised me, but it was like talking to a loud boring libertarian, or to Ohio University (who owns the Athena Cinema): They probably hear you, but are rich enough not to care. It wants to be about Art and Patrick falling for each other and discovering what they want for and with each other, but instead the tension builds without an ending. And tension without movement is like a racket without a ball.
One note since the last column on accessibility: One of the ADA coordinators for Ohio University reached out and met with me recently, so there is a glimmer of hope. We had a great conversation about how the theater could be more accessible. Now starts the slow process of change.
Fashion
Are you still reading this? Kudos if so.
For the film, I wore a tie dye shirt and pink hat, along with my aforementioned blanket and pillow. All were unscathed by any dripping sauces during the film. I always say, “Don’t trust anyone wearing tie dye,” so take this review how you will. And treat yourself to some garlic fries and kiss the one you want to kiss the most. They may be sitting right next to you. In a dark theater. Or across a tennis net.
