Aside from the fact that they both technically belong to the genre of “sport,” the Jewish film about table tennis hustlers Marty Supreme And the hot gay hockey TV series Hot competition There seems to be almost nothing in common.
However, Oscar contender Josh Safdie and TV phenomenon Jacob Tierney stirred parts of their audiences in similar ways. Critics say both works expose uncomfortable stereotypes that have been used to marginalize Jewish and LGBT populations for too long.
In the case of Marty Mauser, it is the character of a lying con man who will do anything and sell anyone out for money. For Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, it’s a depiction of a psychological book caricature, as the two powerfully embody the degenerate narcissistic compulsion to have sex without any attachment or intimacy. Thus, for all the acclaim and popularity they have received, these pieces have been harshly criticized by these critics for playing on ugly tropes. The feeling of betrayal is further complicated by the fact that this is the case Marty Supreme It was created by Safdie, a Jew, and Hot competition It was created by Tierney, who is gay.
And the characters don’t play affectionate roles in Hollywood in any way. Marty is uncultured, colorful, neurotic, and prone to Yiddish outbursts. Elijah and Shane are not delicate, elegant, creative, and have no drag scene. Instead, Marty lies to everyone, holds a co-worker at gunpoint to get his paycheck, and, infamously, delivers a shocking aphorism about Auschwitz. Meanwhile, over years of random, closed, and forced encounters, Shane and Elijah barely exchange pleasantries during their heated, impersonal relationships, even calling each other by their last names—half bro, half mania. These are not Woody Allen good Jews or Tony Kushner good gays.
For critics, these characters evoke a long history of popular culture stereotypes. From the predatory Jewish villain Svengali (who became famous in the nineteenth century as a best-seller in France). Trilby) to the Oscar winner for the film “The Big Five” in 1991 Silence of the Lambs (With the strange, predatory villain Buffalo Bill), there’s an entire century of coded prejudice that hasn’t quite disappeared from the world.
But people who focus on these kinds of dehumanizing depictions might think about what Safdie and Tierney are doing differently. both of them Marty Supreme and Hot competition He cleverly uses these aspects as starting points to slowly pull back the curtains on their characters’ stifled humanity.
After 135 grueling minutes of dealing with the stakes (in which he finally makes it to the World Series and achieves a small moral victory), Marty limps back unassumingly to New York and goes straight to the hospital to see his newborn son and his (married) girlfriend Rachel, whispering “I love you” into her sleeping body, a selfless moment of redemption.
And in Hot competitionAfter eight years of short stay in the hotel, Shin spends his day at Elijah’s house. Elijah makes Shane a tuna melt, and for the first time, they both use each other’s first names. When Shane can’t handle it, we see damaged humanity under the heat.
It is as if both novels have set up a long con, in which stereotypical behavior serves as a form of misdirection—and pays off with a surprise release when the characters’ latent humanity is revealed. It is as much a physical experience as it is a drama: tension stored as stereotype, then escalated, and finally discharged as complexity.
This technique can be seen in another Oscar contender, Emotional valuein which Stellan Skarsgård’s estranged father is finally revealed to be scarred rather than selfish.
What all of these works suggest is that stereotypes need not be avoided, they can be used strategically as powerful components that characters challenge.
Yes, there is a lot to be said about humanity, empathy, and the rest of today’s checklist of values. But as Marty, Elijah, and Shane point out, this is not always a comprehensive scope. Real people are complicated and selfish. Real people want sex and success. Everyone wants to win, not just people stuck in the “patriarchy.” Instead of observing representation as a perfect singular, we should try to make it as multiple as possible. both of them Hot competition and Marty Supreme He demonstrated that complex characters and even stereotypes can be a dramatic vehicle to help us see and reconcile all kinds of conflicting human urges. Actors want to show range. The world does too.
This story appeared in the February 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
