The ‘Challengers’ Boys Are Making Everyone Horny for Big Ears

Italian director Luca Guadagnino knows how to frame beautiful bodies, and they are rarely as beautiful as in his latest, Challengers. Zendaya’s neverending limbs float through the air to the beats of Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” and sweat drips through necks and chests and abs alike, making the toned bodies of both Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist glisten under the unforgiving sun of the small town where they face each other in a tennis match that will crown a winner in more ways than one.

If you are a human being with access to the internet and even a slight interest in pop culture, you will know by now that Challengers chronicles 12 years in the deliciously intertwined lives of tennis players Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), Art Donaldson (Faist) and Patrick Zweig (O’Connor). It is also a sports movie that understands the teasing nature of lust like few others in recent memory and, in doing so, it pays special attention to nooks and crannies of the human body that might otherwise go unnoticed in the rush to jump into a bed and seal the deal. A foot pulling a stool a little closer, a finger wiping away sugar from someone’s cheek, a reddened back of the neck, a kiss planted softly on a knee.

Alas, it is one particular body part—well, a set of body parts—that gets to shine in Guadagnino’s take on the sports movie: the ears. Both Faist and O’Connor have protruding ears, or otapostasis, a condition that affects only around two percent of the population but makes 100 percent of that sample significantly hotter. In Challengers, cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom often resorts to low-angle shots that not only capture the dynamic nature of tennis with thrilling precision but also highlight both men’s appendages (clear your mind!), with Art and Patrick’s ears beautifully sticking out as they glide and grunt on the tennis court.

While the film’s flashback sequences feature both Art and Patrick with long, shaggy hair that mostly conceals their prominent ears, the present-day scenes bring with them shorter haircuts that greatly favour their most striking feature. In one of the film’s most poignant scenes, Tashi and her now husband Art are both in bed, Art with his body half dangling from the edge of the mattress, his soulful eyes made bigger by pleading. Tashi then lovingly strikes his face, her husband’s ears poking from the crescent of her hand, making the grown man in front of her look defenceless—it is a remarkable sequence that perfectly delineates the often blurry power dynamics in their tumultuous relationship.

Amazon MGM Studios

With Challengers, Faist and O’Connor become the impossibly hot ushers of a very welcome earassaince. Social media has caught up on the trend already, offering several other examples of both established and up-and-coming otapostasis sexy symbols. Amongst the bountiful and varied offerings are Bridgerton leads Jonathan Bailey and Luke Newton, Heartsopper’s Joe Locke, Masters of the Air (and Dua Lipa’s current phone background) Callum Turner, Foe’s Aaron Pierre and Feud: Capote vs. the Swans’ Russell Tovey.

Apple TV+

In a tweet/post by yours truly celebrating the momentum of big-eared men, thousands have joined the auricle appreciation movement. “I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life,” said user itsonlyzach, with the aptly named user Booger Ray adding that “we are experiencing a culture shift of epic proportions going from nose to ears” and fellow user Christian speaking up for all other big-eared men out there by saying, “as a big-eared person I’m ecstatic to hear I don’t need an ear job after all.” Many others have been quick to point out how big ears have been hot for years, citing examples such as Will Smith, Channing Tatum, Daniel Craig, and, most notoriously, Adam Driver.

So what is it about big ears that have people thirsting all over social media? The first point of comparison for many online is the myriad cartoon mice that have flooded pop culture for decades, from Mickey Mouse to Sniffles by way of The Rescuers. Can we say the main draw lies in their cartoonish appeal, then? There is a natural welcoming demeanour to big screen mice, always chirpy and friendly and sometimes downright swaggy, like the undeniably cool and always impeccably well-dressed Stuart Little and the unbelievably talented albeit a tad unsanitary chef Remy in one of O’Connor’s all-time favourite films, Ratatouille.

On X, a user named May has maybe nailed the rodent element at the heart of Challengers by saying that “Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist have perfect chemistry because Josh looks like a little rat and Mike looks like a little mouse” while another user named Andie emphasised the cutesy quality of mice-looking men that acts as a major draw for the younger yearners amongst us: “Josh O’Connor is like a little mouse that I want to carry around in my pocket and show the world like those people on TikTok who have been showing their pets the top shelves of their fridges.”

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Others have bypassed the sweet innocence of children’s cartoons entirely, speaking very—and I mean, very— explicitly about one particular aspect of big ears, or, how many have called them online, “handles.” This is a family-friendly article with a view to admire instead of objectify and therefore I will spare you the extremely graphic details of what some people online have expressed a desire to do with other people’s ears, but let’s say there is definitely a sexual appeal to ears that goes way beyond your run-of-the-mill biting of an earlobe here and there.

Personally, I believe the truth about the appeal of protruding ears lies somewhere between these two extremes, much because kindness and approachability are sexy. The cartoonish flair of big ears is certainly a primary draw, but there is a pizazz to a man comfortable in his own skin, even more so when it comes to a feature that for a long time has been cause for cruel, senseless vitriol. Maybe we can even throw in a biological quality to the appeal, too, considering children with big ears are scientifically proven to be cuter and our ears tend to expand as we grow older. Perhaps there is a primal instinct to care for someone with prominent ears, but I am as far from a scientist as one can get, so this is all highly speculative, of course.

A few years ago, in an article published in the lead-up to the third season of The Crown, O’Connor opened up about the insecurities he felt about his ears growing up. “When I was at school I was embarrassed by them and I wanted to pin them back,” he told The Press Association. Those ears, which eventually helped him land the role of Prince Charles in the Netflix hit show that launched him into the public eye, are also a major contributing force to his striking looks. He concluded his thoughts back then by adding, “Thank god I didn’t.” Thank god, indeed.

With Challengers fever showing no signs of cooling down, Callum Turner whisking away the hearts of Dua Lipa fans and agnostics alike and the newest season of Bridgerton and its neat period haircuts prone to showcasing ears in all their glory just around the corner, the earassaince seems to be here to stay. Thank god twice.