I do genuinely always think about the opening scene of the social network being Jessie Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg being openly rude, disrespectful, smarmy and misogynistic to Rooney Mara's character and she responds with the now iconic line that he will very probably be very successful and will go through life thinking that people don't like him because he's a nerd but actually people don't like him because he's an asshole and that this interaction is how the movie is framed and even bookended, with Mark in the final scene trying to request her as a friend on Facebook but she as far as we know doesn't accept. And everything in the movie only serves to prove her right, that he is successful and smart but ultimately an asshole who built his success on comparing women to farm animals out of spite for her. This is literally the opening sequence of the film, the main interaction it's framed around and it baffles me that there are people who view The Social Network (2010) as some kind of lionisation of Facebook's creation, and not one of the most prescient cautionary tales about misogyny and technocracy of our time. To this day, the only thing Zuckerberg actually disputes about the film is that actually he married a woman he met in college. Nothing else. He disputes nothing else. No movie has aged better than The Social Network (2010) and I do actually sincerely wish that wasn't the case.
are you thinking of hot and heavy from Patrick's perspective?? coz i love that song sm but when i was listening to your playlist it was the first time i like listened to the lyrics and thought about challengers and patrick specifically and it was melting my brain woooooow
OKAY. this is amazing. thank you for actually reaching out i'm giggling and kicking my feet
short answer: YES!!!!!
long answer: yes. ↓
like obviously right from the beginning the "couldn't look away even if i wanted / try to walk away but i come back to the start" is the new rochelle challenger, seeing tashi in the lobby and art across the tennis court and everything from the past 13 years just floods back to him. i have more to say abt this chorus trust but i'll circle back.
to me, the next verse is after tashi tears her ACL and patrick comes just to see her with art: "how could i deny a diamond in the rough? /... how did i believe i had a hold on you? / you were always stronger than people suspected / underestimated and overprotected", which i interpreted as directed towards art saying like how could you do this to me? i didn't think you had it in you. but also even a little bit of a snarky dig about how, like, yeah. i didn't think you fucking had it in you. which is SO patrick. maybe even a little bit about art's tennis ability, how patrick knows he's always been a little bit better than him and feels like rubbing it in his face just to be a bitch.
this is followed by "when i went away, it was the only option / couldn't trust myself to proceed with caution / the most that i could give to you is nothing at all / the best that i could offer was to miss your calls". of course patrick is angry after all this, his girlfriend so publicly breaking up with him and even WORSE the betrayal of his best friend!! so when they call, he doesn't answer (at the very least, art calls. tashi might be too stubborn). he can't trust himself not to lash out so he leaves, and eventually they just stop chasing him.
then back at the chorus again. "being back here makes me hot in the face / hot blood in my pulsing veins / heavy memories weighing on my brain"—again: the new rochelle challenger !!! though patrick has not Literally been here before, it's the same situation as in 2006, playing for tashi's number. he's hot in the face because like yeah they're all smokeshows WE KNOW THIS but he is also pissed the hell off... how dare they dump him like he's trash and then sweep through his life again, tashi telling him to lose to art, art telling him he means nothing, not even to the most obsessive tennis fan in the world. even when patrick is trying to be vulnerable, to bridge that gap (we can argue about how genuine he's being in the sauna scene but my personal take is that he's using this taunting demeanor as an excuse in case his attempts to reconnect go awry. which they do), he is still being pushed away.
the next lines, "you used to be so sweet / now you're a firecracker on a crowded street" are about art. when they were in school together art was very boy next door and now he's like. the most famous tennis player in the world and he's been on a tailspin trying to come back from this injury. he's a firecracker, bright and brilliant, but he's taking everyone on this crowded street (tashi) down with him. and he's MEAN now (see above not even to the most obsessive tennis fan etc etc).
and then we have those lyrics from my first paragraph again, but a slightly different interpretation. "couldn't look away even if i wanted / try to walk away but i come back to the start": patrick, against all odds, is really fucking enjoying this match. he and art haven't played in over a decade and this is fun. he doesn't want to look away. he's tried to walk away, taking the easy way out by agreeing to let art win, but now that he's playing this match he can't let it be over so easily. he goes back to the start of their schism. he places the ball in the centre of his racket.
next we get "and it happens over and over and over and over again / i wish i was over it, over it, over it, over it". like yeah. they have been playing this game back and forth since the junior open. tashi has always been in the stands assessing their performance and art has always been SO desperate for the win. tashi has always ended up with patrick, whether he wins her number or it's a one night stand. art has never ONCE told him or tashi how he really feels about any of this. over and over and over again. even if this is fun, it's so fucking weary.
the tone of the song shifts here, getting a little softer, a little more intimate !!! "a hidden gem / my own goldmine / ... you were a secret to yourself / you couldn't keep from anyone else". patrick grew up with art. he knows how good he is, and obviously other people do too because he's made it so far, but nobody else until tashi has ever told him you should win like patrick has. he is no longer the person whose job it is to remind art that he is a GOOD FUCKING TENNIS PLAYER and that is bad. especially because tashi is doing a terrible job at it (you know. sleeping with patrick in order to get him to throw the game).
these next lyrics harken back to the firecracker ones, "now you're the biggest brightest flame / you are a fire that can't be tamed". here, art is the first lyric, tashi is the second. what a fucking power couple. art is the public star, the brightest flame, but it's tashi's fire that propels them. tashi NEEDS him to succeed, and patrick knows that almost better than art does (see again: sleeping with him in order to get him to throw the game). they are gamechangers PLURAL for a reason.
so close to the end. now we get "you're better than ever, but i knew you when / it's bittersweet to see you again". art is finally getting to be on level playing field with patrick. he has never beaten him before, but now patrick isn't even throwing the game and art might win. even tashi, who has recovered so well from her injury in every aspect except actually playing tennis, shaping art into the player he is now. but of course it wouldn't be patrick without a little bit of snark.... he knew art when he couldn't beat him even in a game that meant nothing. he knew tashi when she was the biggest up-and-coming player in the world. and so now, confronted with him again, they're forced to reckon with who they used to be. they're forced to reckon with the question of whether who they are NOW is worth it after all that. and patrick Lives for this chaos
the very last lyric of the song is really the thesis statement of the whole thing. "it's bittersweet to see you again".
if you read all the way to the end of this fucking essay i will give you an award LMAOOO... but i am so serious when i say if you have questions about any of my playlist choices. please reach out. i have thoughts about ALL of them.
anyways i can't write all this and then NOT link the playlist so. Here you go! thank you for reading and reaching out. i love you and i love challengers.
i know I'm soooo late to arcane like everything has been said but damn no matter how much i love every single one of those characters and their stories and their growth the arc that stabs me in the heart the most is Caitlyn's. the difference between her in S1 and the end of S2. oh my god. just... completely taken advantage of in her grief. just... going completely batshit and doing stuff she'd never have dreamt of because of her pain. and she's still so LOVING! caitlyn kiramman they could never make me hate you my favourite complex woman character ever I adore you. wish they hadn't cut out those scenes of her crying over vi... everyone forgets she's still that eager enforcer babbling on about blimps....
started arcane like a week ago and binged it all but can't bring myself to watch the last episode because 1) it would mean it's over forever and 2) I'm actually so attached to these characters that even watching sad edits makes my chest hurt so bad I have to swipe away halfway through
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