main: burntfruitloops ♡ call me M ♡ nonbinary bi w/ a fetish for harry styles' titties (one of my many musical soulmates) & pop culture ♡ poor 22 yr old stoner trapped in america 💔 june gemini ♡ abolitionist/communist-in-training ♡ "abolish celebrity!" but squealing in the meantime until the contradiction becomes too much (for good) ♡ larries/rads/minors do not interact!! ♡ buffering writer ♡ my tags are free range ♡ they/she 🏳️🌈🇭🇹
“i’m not a homewrecker.” // “we don’t live together.” // “it’s an open relationship.”
these three lines so perfectly sum up each character and their motivations and it’s everything.
tashi is saying “i know what you are. i know what you are to each other even if you don’t and i’m not coming between that. you’re partners. maybe only ever in tennis but that’s enough because tennis is a relationship and it’s the only one that really matters.”
art is saying “it’s not binding, we’re separate entities and i’d leave him for you in an instant. you’re everything i’ve ever wanted and i’m willing to walk away from the oldest most important relationship in my life if that’s what it takes.”
patrick is saying “i’m keeping him but i want you too. why not have both?”
There’s something incredibly funny about these characters lying and telling the truth about what they want at the same time the way they do in this scene. Tashi knows damn well she’s about to wreck that house, Art’s lying when he says they don’t live together and Patrick is certainly lying about the relationship being open. Tashi would like it to be true she’s by going to wreck their home, Art would like it to be true that he doubt have anything going in that woks stop him from giving his entire heart to someone else, and Patrick would like it to be true that Art wouldn’t literally kill him for falling for someone else. They eventually make what they say in this scene true, but not a word of it’s true in the moment they say it.
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i firmly believe art expresses his love not only through kissing, but through the mouth itself. oral fixation is putting it lightly. the act of him kissing is one aspect of a greater complex that involves a man using his lips to express his desire, devotion, dedication, determination, and desperation. donaldson's mouth is nothing if not a way for him to give himself (perhaps even control and power) to the other person. the spitting of the gum into both patrick and tashi's hands, the biting of the churro from patrick, kissing tashi's thigh.
art's mouth is also the one thing that gives him away as a character. when he's contemplating, when he's lusting, when he's mad, when he's frustrated. during his kiss with patrick, we see a second mini kiss yes, but we also see his unfiltered desire and even greediness as a character to take through the same mouth that he expertly gives through.
tldr: art can't control his mouth and it's affecting everyone.
1. A Primer for the Small Weird Loves - Richard Siken / 2. The Crane Wife - CJ Hauser / 3. Automat - Edward Hopper / 4. Red Doc> - Anne Carson / 5. Melancholy - Edvard Munch / 6. The Village (2004) / 7. So We Must Meet Apart - Gabrielle Bates and Jennifer S. Cheng
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are u ever sick w longing. and i don't just mean romantic longing. i mean longing for a place you barely get to see, longing for friends you no longer have, longing for feelings you might have left behind in your childhood, longing for creativity, longing for a rich and more expansive life, longing for less inhibition. longing for more passion. longing for ur life to be so incandescent w something it thaws all the frost in ur bones. are u ever so consumed w it it rends ur heart in two. do u understand me
this is not just "look out the window and sigh" longing. i'm talking you're at the grocery store and you're suddenly hit w a wave of grief bc you don't have it. you don't have whatever it is you ache so badly to have. you go about your everyday life and yet it throbs under your skin moment by moment, almost as though it has a life of its own. that's the kind of longing i mean.
the sugar in patrick’s hair??? the prolonged and intentional eye contact?? the proximity??? the way patrick is daring him to take a bite, smiling at him, knowing that he will??? the aggression of art’s teeth through the dough??? the fact that the churro isn’t really a churro at all??? the homoerotic exchange of feeding and being fed and how it’s so sexy and playful without shoving the queer-sexual subtext down our throats???? the fact that they’re in a match even off the court??????? this is like watching them have sex?????
I find so weird the way people talk about Tashi as a coach. They talk as she was a dictator,that is just ovepressuring Art,doesn't care about his well being ,all controlling and is manipulating or forcing him to play all his career or do things against his will or that would go against his well being just because she just cared for winning.
What is tashi forcing Art to do,drinking his green smoothie?" She chose him because he is the only one that let her control him" ,control what?,his routine of exercises?" He accepted his coaching because he didn't want her to leave him" Accept what ? Her coaching that is right and worked and made him win grand slams. "he just played because Tashi" wasn't Art already a tennis player when he met tashi,wasn't he already professional and playing already masters 1000,the second most important competition after a grand slam when he invited Tashi to join his team.?.!!!
He isn't doing things that other tennis players won't do to have a successful career,waking up to practice and making exercises before a match,diet,watching and studying a match he lost. In no moment is shown that he doesn't have passion for tennis anymore because Tashi or is tired of her exploiting him like many say. He is tired of tennis life itself something he chose and knew that you have to do to be an elite player,and will live with another coach too not just Tashi. The life of a tennis player is exhausting,demanding,competing all the time,with a lot of physical and mental work that can cause a person to want a pause. People act like Tashi was shown in one scene forcing Art to practice even if he was sick or to do this things that would impact his health or some weird thing.
Even the pressure,Tashi didn't even pressure him to win new Rochelle,he was the one asking for that ,she was the one telling him that he was the professional competitor and must matter to him not her judgement,he was the one asking for coaching because he needed a reason to win now that his passion for tennis and wining isn't the same anymore. Did tashi say something when Art told her he wanted to retire?. I think people take too seriously Patrick's words of Tashi wanting a lapdog and Art not retiring until Tashi let him,create a complete image of Tashi in their heads that doesn't go with what the movie is really showing. There are even people saying that Art didn't speak to much to lily because Tashi didn't let him he is just a player for her.... The girl is barely there ,to show how when both are working,they didn't have too much time for her even when both of them are shown wanting to have more time with her,both Tashi and Art. Yeah,their tennis life could be consuming but that doesn't mean Tashi is a manipulative,controlling coach dictator.
This. People want Art to be a submissive little victim so bad, they took away all his agency and power as a character to fit their lapdog narrative. It’s such a disservice to him and it pisses me off so much cause he’s my fav of the trio.
The scene where he strides up to Tashi and mutes the TV, despite her being clearly engrossed in it, and he looks at her as if daring her to say something or challenge him, but she quietly lets it go, should tell you enough about their actual power dynamics. Art gives as much as he takes.
The fandom’s infantilization of Art Donaldson deeply repulses me, and I pray one day people will look back and realize they were being ridiculous just cause he’s white and pretty. Misogynoir is also definitely involved, so there’s that.
If it was just the fandom,it's the general public,casual viewers too. Many people just care for the scene of Patrick saying she wanted a lapdog,the one when she told Art she would leave him if he lose and create and entire narrative of" Tashi is manipulative person that wanted to control Patrick(how?),but he didn't let himself ,so she decided to found the next victim that was in love with her to control him,but she didn't care for anyone just tennis". Like the movie didn't prove that Patrick really needed that coaching ,he was years later begging for her coaching,that her coaching works or that she asked Patrick to lose so Art could win ,and I don't know what people believe coaching in tennis is, that they literally associated it with controlling boyfriends.
I straight-up think the reason people take Patrick saying that so literally, even though in the moment he was trying to poach Tashi as a coach, is because he's a white man, and he's the more traditionally masculine one between him and Art. His identity gives more authority to his words in many peoples' minds than anything a more passive man like Art or a black woman like Tashi could ever say. So much authority that even their actions on-screen contrasting with Patrick's words isn't enough to convince them he might be wrong.
Art shows himself to be resistant to being pushed where he doesn't want to go in the main plotline of the whole movie. In spite of her best efforts, it proves to be literally impossible to get him to try hard enough that he plays at a decent level without him regaining the love for the game and desire to play in his own heart. That's a direct contrast to a narrative about a woman making a man do anything he doesn't want to. People mistake the fact that Art's unwilling to get in her face or raise her voice like Patrick for Art being willing to do whatever she wants, whether it's a shared desire or not. He doesn't get in Patrick's face either, but when he decides he wants to go to college and not go pro, he does it, even though Patrick's a jerk about it. When he decides he wants the woman he technically should have given up on after Patrick wins the game, he makes a way that doesn't involve confronting Patrick, and his nervousness in the Applebee's parking lot shows he was clearly afraid of rejection, but he risked it anyway.
Patrick Zweig is a troll. He's intentionally provocative, thinks he knows everything, and says some things because he thinks they're literally true and other things because he's irritated and wants to get a reaction. Taking him literally about Art and Tashi is as big a mistake as taking him literally about himself. Patrick thinks Art wants to retire because he's dreaming of hamburgers and daddy-dates. He says that both because he believes it, because that's what he secretly wants and also because it's likely to annoy Tashi in that moment. Patrick also has the selfish motivation of digging into the pain point in their relationship to make room for himself--don't forget the conversation where he says this is one in which he's requesting Tashi coach him. Given Art isn't even speaking to him, what goes unspoken in that request is that Tashi give up on Art and leave him for Patrick as well.
When Art confronts Tashi about his desire to retire, he says he's tired. He doesn't express the barest hint of excitement about life after tennis or relief she isn't going to fight him on it. He doesn't say his reasoning is that he wants to focus on other, neglected areas of his life either. Patrick is close, in the sense he correctly pegged Art being half-way out because he wanted to stop, but he landed just shy of the emotional reasoning.
He's also close when he suspects that Tashi's resistance to Art retiring is that it's an open question who Art and Tashi are to one another if Art's not playing and she's not coaching him. The implication of his words is that Art is useless to her outside that context. What he missed the mark on is that the reason that uncertainty is scary is that she loves Art and a future where they don't know how to relate to each other is potentially a future where they aren't together. It's a future where their daughter has a broken home to look forward to as well. Patrick being able to correctly identify the way they're feeling based on knowing them both well doesn't mean he's able to guess at the deeper reasons they feel this way. When he's able to be there in the quiet moments they're cuddling on the couch and Art's telling her he loves her (and it's not an apology for something else) his perspective will shift the same way as viewers our perspective shifts the more we get to see the subtler things.
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the way patrick zweig is so clearly a creature of desire; so fundamentally hungry. always devouring, uncaring of how desperate he might appear for it—taking a bite of the line judge's bagel sandwich before he even sits down; scarfing down his hotdog before grabbing a bite of art's, and then later treating their churros exactly the same way; picking the cigarette that tashi slapped out of his mouth up off the literal alleyway street so he can finish smoking it. acting on his hungers without asking permission first.
the way art donaldson is comfortable expressing desire without acting on it; content to yearn. mr. i-do-what-she-says-and-then-i-win obediently drinks his green juices, his electrolyte mixes; he lays his heart on the table for tashi, twice, and lets her decide when to take it; he tells her he wants to kiss her, but then lets her come to him to actually do it. a lapdog, just like patrick says: he'll turn his pleading eyes to you, desire writ across every line of him, but he is too well-bred to ever snap and just take.
....except, of course, with patrick; but even then, only when he can sublimate his desire for patrick into the appearance of desire for another woman. snapping at the churro when patrick calls him out over sowing doubt in his relationship with tashi is the obvious one, but also the fact that art is the one to come first in their mutual-masturbation experience when talking about kat zimmerman (how much of it was because of miss zimmerman and how much of it was art letting himself imagine patrick with her?). patrick, in the churro scene, describes it as seeing art "lit up about something," and while he's not wrong i think it's more specific than that. art feels deeply, keenly, but he guards the flames of his desire so carefully; banks them down and keeps the embers glowing for years. tashi is content to meet art halfway, to take the quiet longing invitations he extends. patrick is not. his desire, his hunger, is bigger than that. he wants to see sparks fly. how perfect, then, that he is the only one who can bring that out of art. he does exactly that with the racket-neck signal, and art (once he's over his shock) is once again lit up; ready to take the win, not to have it handed to him.
the way tashi duncan understands them both, perfectly, from their very first night in that hotel room that was so formative for all three of them. she kisses art first, because she already knows that if she kissed patrick first, art would take that as a rejection and retreat; put his desire away. she kisses art first because she knows patrick will not give up on his own desires that easily. she understands how to stoke art's desires and how to temper patrick's and teach him patience. and because of that, she gets them both: she doesn't have to choose.
This scene gets me almost every time…The way he almost completely forgets about her BUT STILL MANAGES TO SEAL THE DEAL gets me every time…like I hate him so much but I need him actually
I've never seen a man get tired of telling lies before a woman got tired of him telling them before. He really gave up on trying to lie about running off after an ex .5 seconds after he started telling the lie. Just coasting on sexy all the way.
god patrick challengers is so…yes I am a loser yes I live in my car yes I’ve never won a major title yes I’m considering throwing a tournament so I can get a measly 400 bucks yes I am literally begging for scraps—but here’s how I’m gonna get back my boy best friend I was in love with get his wife who I’m also in love with to be my coach and win the us open
A lot of people are screaming throuple and just writing the porn (which I get! It’s fun!). But reading them come is not enough for me. lol Toxicity is hot until it’s just damaging and sad for everyone. I want real happiness for these three weirdos.
The end of the film was meant to be the very beginning of something. Just the spark of an idea of them coming back to one another. But the real work starts after.
And I think it would probably be a step-by-step thing.
I can see Patrick and Art working to draw closer, with that strong foundation of their childhoods to build off of. Obviously having to resolve the hurt that so much time and distance caused them, and both being willing to forgive. But it’s clear at the end of the film that the door is open for that. They grew up together. There’s a real root of knowing that I think could carry them through the toughest parts early on. Their relationship evolving feels possible.
And Tashi and Art’s marriage would find some breathing room and maybe even some renewed delight for having Patrick present and loving on them both. Kinda seeing each other again through his eyes type thing. Remembering they’re more than who they have been to each other for over a decade (both operating in one mode to survive, never quite enough for each other -- not totally fulfilled and not appreciated in their fullness).
I don’t think Patrick and Tashi would be having sex at this point, but I can see like….tennis dates where they bicker. Just them all learning how to be in each other’s space for extended periods of time and enjoy it.
And maybe Art wouldn’t resent Tashi so much for not being able to give him everything (so much has been taken from her — she just doesn’t have all that much left. She’s been doing her best.) and maybe Tashi would feel more at peace seeing them play each other and knowing Art is really loving tennis, not just playing for her. Connecting with them both in that space and finding joy in tennis again, so it’s not just routine and pain and loss for her.
With that healing happening concurrently (with therapists as support, of course), I think they’d get far. And then once those relationships are more secure, once Art and Tashi learn how they relate to each other when he isn’t winning for her (which would be something new. They don’t know what that looks like yet!) then Patrick and Tashi, having learned way more about themselves in relationship and how to communicate, might start working on their side of the triangle lol.
I could see them all exploring and working out the intimacy over time — not just sex, but intimacy -- what do they each need and how do they need it? And kink too, the various ways they each want/need to give or receive so they all feel truly satisfied.
And of course they’ll be partners co-parenting. All of them.
I can see Tashi finally grieving her injury, the life she lost, and rediscovering her love of tennis, not to win, but for the joy of being on the court. Her sobs the first time she plays again and it’s not competitively, just a little volley, but it’s like she’s finally alive again. Reminding herself she’s a leader in tennis the space still, that she can build success in that world even without Art’s career, but maybe it looks different. I see a healed Tashi learning to enjoy teaching kids. Taking on more protege. And letting Art and Patrick come help at her tennis camps.
Art retiring like he said he wanted, running the foundation as Tashi steps back. Realizing that he’s actually pretty good at this business thing and going back to school for a Master’s in nonprofit leadership. Meeting new people. Making friends (that aren’t Patrick). Getting invited to a pottery class and seeing he loves to work with his hands. Playing tennis with Patrick on the weekends.
And my heart for stay-at-home dad Patrick. Who always forgets to change over the laundry and leaves his keys everywhere and puts the babies' shoes on the wrong feet. But my god he loves those kids so goddamn much. Patrick learning to cook for the family and getting really good at it like he does anything he hyper-focuses on. Patrick finally having a home with the two people he loves most and figuring out how to create some routine and stability for himself within that container.
The love in that home. Ugh. I think it’s possible! I think they can do it! It just takes work.
ok sorry not to jump onto your post but as someone who also wants real happiness for these idiots, here are some fics that scratched my itch for slow-burn domestic intimacy and healing:
is a dream a lie if it don't come true or is it something worse by comosum (Words: 8,952)
“Have you read this?”
Tashi doesn’t raise a brow but she does level him with a look. The look says that if she wanted to exert more than an iota of effort into this conversation, she would raise a brow. “Did you buy,” she drawls, still tapping out a rhythm on her laptop, “a teen magazine?”
“It’s GQ,” Art says. There’s a beat. “Tashi.”
back up off it (for a minute) by sundermount (Words: 4,062)
Patrick shows Tashi his zero nicotine vape. “I have been following your orders.” He points at Art. “Your husband’s the one who’s been smoking actual cigarettes and eating junk food all day.”
Or: Art retires.
triptych by kithmet (Words: 10,266)
Tashi begins coaching Patrick—as does Art, in a way.
a romantic fool by spqr (Words: 10,328)
And Tashi spits back, “She’s not yours, Art. She’s Patrick’s.”
Art just laughs. “You think I don’t know she’s fucking Patrick’s?”
hit where it hurts by plastiswafers (Words: 21,512 + incomplete)
Art's still not good enough, and Tashi needs another favor before the US Open begins. Patrick is all too happy to oblige.
funny to think about tashi’s scene with patrick behind the hotel or art’s scene with him in the sauna because they are both so mad at him even tho it doesn’t make any sense like they’re the ones that shut him out over an injury that couldve happened under any circumstances art stole his girlfriend and tashi married his best friend and they’re angry with him and it’s literally because they want to fuck him so bad that it makes them furious
#this isn't a joke this is literally accurate media analysis and exactly what's happening in the movie#and it's FUCKING AWESOME#I have an essay about this in my drafts actually. people keep wanting to make someone a 'villain' in this movie and#not only is that BORING AND REDUCTIVE... it's also objectively wrong. the villains are repression and monogamous society.#once again I am not joking. if you have 'need to find a villain' brainrot about movies then FINE. those are the 'villains.'#tashi's furious that she wants/needs(/loves) Patrick and that she can't help it. she doesn't want to!#it's all part of how she avoids vulnerability but especially in regards to Patrick because of their old fight and her injury.#and also part of how she's not 'supposed to' feel this way. society says she's not supposed to need/want/love 2 people!#it's an aspect you CANNOT ignore about this (queer) film because it's explicitly about polyamory!!#there's also much more to be said about tashi's emotional repression but... continuing onward here...#art wants/needs/loves patrick and he's afraid of the enormity of his desires. he's repressing his queerness. it's a whole obvious thing.#they're both so mad at themselves for how badly they miss patrick and also how they're missing him BECAUSE OF THEIR OWN CHOICES#and patrick knows all of this! every single bit of this! he KNOWS them AND he's not repressing his own desires. eyes wide open.#so he's calling tashi and art out on their shit at every turn and subjecting himself to the heartbreak of their anger / lashing out#because he'll take the fire of their attention even when it hurts over the ice of their silence/indifference anytime he can get it#aw fuck I'm emotional over them again. Goddammit.#(I say this like I haven't been emotional over them for almost a month now and am glacially writing a small post-canon fic)#anyway! anyway. sorry to do this to you OP. you're just very correct and you should say it#challengers#shout out to art telling patrick in the sauna 'swinging your dick around like I'm supposed to be afraid of it' (OK REPRESSION BOY)#shout out to tashi telling patrick 'YOU'RE stupid' and patrick saying at least he knows and admits he's stupid#literally so real.......... I can't believe this movie exists. GODDDD#people on God's green internet are out there acting like ALL 3 of them AREN'T in love/lust/obsession with each other and it's like ???#GO OUT TO THE CORNER STORE AND GET SOME MEDIA LITERACY AND THEN COME BACK#yes I'm normal about this movie. thanks for asking.
(@charcubed i am kissing you on the hand for this spot-on meta)
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art real as hell. he said i don't wanna be left out so im gonna break up my best friends because im in love with the two of them, then im gonna get in a failmarriage with one and ignore the other and ruin everyone's lives. this won't blow up in my face down the line later at all
There is a sort of constant battle between the two of them to the degree that they are fighting, but they are taking care of one another. When the sugar goes on the cheek of Patrick, Art takes it off with his hand in a very nice gesture of kindness -- and very intimate, I would say. But at the same time, they are really tense. And I think it’s about being jealous of one another, but at the same time wanting one another.
