Battles of the Sexes: Marty Supreme
By Conor Mallon
Tennis and feminism have long been intertwined. In 1973 female American tennis player Billie Jean King defeated former male champion Bobby Riggs in straight sets (6-4, 6-3, 6-3) at the Houston Astrodome. [1] The win, following Riggs defeat of Australian female Margaret Court four months earlier, was a monumental moment in the progression of female equality, eradicating previously held misogynistic stereotypes held towards female sports and femineity.
52 years later, Josh Safdie’s sports comedy-drama film Marty Supreme hit screens. The film, a highly fictionalized retelling of the life of US Men’s singles champion Marty Reisman. The movie which heavily relied on advertising rather than true cinematic substance is emblematic of the societal regression in attitudes towards feminism and equality.
Timothée Chalamet turns in a hateful performance of an entitled and manipulative New York ping-pong hustler. In an age in which young males are highly impressionable, Marty Supreme further normalizes the misinterpreted red-pill views of toxic-masculinists such as Andrew Wilson. Wilson argued on his Whatever podcast that “rape is bad for certain people”, since sometimes orgasm occurs during sexual assault. [2] Mauser’s abandonment and emotional neglect towards Odessa A’Zion’s Rachel Mizler highlights traditional chauvinistic views of women being obedient, loyal, silenced and only useful for childbearing. The film utilises sports triumph as a justification for sexism.
3/5 Stars
References
[1] King, K. (2023). Sport Spectacle, Billie Jean King, and the Battle of the Sexes Tennis Match in Public Memory. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 26(2), 97–124. https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.26.2.0097
[2] TYT Sports. 2025. “Scumbag Podcaster Defends the Indefensible in DISGUSTING Fashion.” YouTube. May 28, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iykFKJQtzmE.
Safdie, Josh, director. Marty Supreme. A24, 2025. 2 hr., 29 min.
Photo Credit: A24
