26 Teen Drama Shows That'll Make You Feel Young Again

What is Zendaya's movie Challengers about?

Zendaya's Challengers follows her character Tashi, who's destined to be the biggest tennis player in the world — until an injury forces her to pivot to coaching instead. Now, she's got to whip her husband Art (Mike Faist) into shape, especially when he's pitted against his former best friend, and Tashi's ex, Patrick (Josh O'Connor).

Before signing up for the movie, Z was already a fan of how director Luca Guadagnino "creates [a] visceral environment,” and the fact the trailer is nothing but tension and chemistry between the three leads proves it. Zendaya's talked about how she prepped for those steamy scenes by bonding with her co-stars.

“We played tennis together, we went out together, we rehearsed together," she tells THR Roma. "We got to bond and feel good with each other.”

And when faced with the tennis of it all, Zendaya spoke with another star: Serena Williams. The Spider-Man actress organized a Zoom call with Serena to pick her brain about the sport, but the duo bonded over experiencing fame at a young age as well. Because of the fact she became the "breadwinner" for her family (and her Type-A personality), Zendaya felt pressure to be “this perfect being, and be everything that everyone needs me to be, and live up to all these expectations.”

"I have complicated feelings about kids and fame," she shares. "Only now, as an adult, am I starting to go, 'Oh, okay, wait a minute: I’ve only ever done what I’ve known, and this is all I’ve known.' I’m almost going through my angsty teenager phase now, because I didn’t really have the time to do it before."

Zendaya's Challengers Press Tour Looks

Zendaya and her stylist Law Roach started the Challengers press tour with a splash. This v-neck Aquamarine dress from Loewe features a literal tennis racket and tennis ball printed on the front, but thanks to the gown's slit and shimmer, it comes across elevated instead of too kitschy.

While promoting the movie in Paris, Zendaya wore a green and white Louis Vuitton by Marc Jacobs minidress. The whole outfit feels like a mix between The Crown and Madelyn Cline's gingham bikini from Outer Banks. It's playful yet sophisticated in a way I can't stop thinking about!

Zendaya continued the green (and Louis Vuitton by Marc Jacobs) theme with a lime ensemble. It's soft! It's casual! And it proves the pajama vibe can still be sexy.

The Challengers actress looked angelic in custom Louis Vuitton. The sweeping train, low waist, and eye-catching jewelry (especially when paired with Zendaya's voluminous hair and deep side part) feel very old school glam.

Zendaya took the tennis motif to a whole new level with a sporty mini dress from Loewe and white heels with literal tennis balls attached to them. This 'fit solidifies that glitter and sequins aren't going anywhere, and dresses up athleisure in a way we don't often see.

Calling back to her otherworldly Dune 2 press looks, this edgy and experimental Calvin Klein blazer + skirt combo might be a lesson in minimalism, but it leaves nothing to be desired.

B+C: Why do you think so many of us are overthinking things, especially in the age of modern social media?

Amanda Montell: I decided to title the book The Age of Magical Overthinking because I couldn't help but notice that there just seems to be an inexplicable, excessive [amount of] delulu in the culture despite the fact we're living in the so-called information age. Everything from people with Master's degrees basing their genuine decisions on astrology to, you know, my neighbors opting not to get the Covid vaccine because a TikToker — a like, white girlie with a Bindi — told them it would downgrade their DNA.

Stuff like that didn't seem to check out for me, especially since we're ostensibly living in a time when you can fact check anything with the click of a button. I was like, 'What is going on here,' and as it turns out, what is going on is this innate clash between our innate decision-making shortcuts — the processes by which we always jump to conclusions in order to make quick decisions to make sense of the world enough to survive it. There's a clash between those age old decision-making methods called cognitive biases and the information age in a way that is ending up pretty explosive for society at large...and is causing us a great deal of existential pain.

So, magical thinking — or the idea that our internal thoughts can affect external events — is a human quirk that has been around since the dawn of our species. But I think overthinking is really a product of the modern age or result of this capitalistic pressure to be right about everything under the sun...

B+C: How do you think this is impacting the way we interact with each other?

Amanda Montell: There's a lot going on. We need to interact in person in order to have empathy...to establish the social glue that keeps us from getting into extremely fraud and sometimes violent ideological conflict. I think there's the idea that the internet is causing ideological rifts to widen and I think in a way that's true, but what's more problematic is the fact we are engaging in social discourse in a medium that prevents that empathy from holding us together.

I think almost everyone can relate to the experience of receiving a curt email from a boss or receiving a salty Instagram comment that sends us into fight or flight. We're responding to non-threats — these sort of abstract disagreements or fake problems — that we're projecting panic onto.

B+C: Can you break down the halo effect for our readers?

Amanda Montell: It was so much fun to explore this particular cognitive bias early in the book because I felt like it really would set up the whole thesis of it quite well. Basically the halo effect is this penchant admire one quality in a person — their fashion sense, their intelligence, the way they blend an oat milk latte — and then assume they must be perfect overall. This halo effect connects to the ways ancient humans used to find role models for survival purposes in our communities.

Ages ago, you used to clock someone in your small village with big muscles...and figure, 'Oh they must be a skilled hunter or they've avoided disfigurement from battle. I would love to align myself with this person for survival,' even though you're jumping to conclusions about them. Their big muscles might not necessarily indicate that they're skilled in battle or they're a good hunter, but it's an efficient enough decision to make.

We're not mapping that conclusion jumping onto modern parasocial relationships. We see a pop star whose music we really connect to and assume they must be educated, worldly, nurturing, they're political beliefs align with ours in this particular time when we're losing so much trust in the government...Basically since the Regan era — our first celebrity President — celebrities have really started swerving into other aspects of life (spiritual, political, etc.,)...

Rapid Fire Q&A

B+C: What are some some of the things you're currently obsessing over?

Amanda Montell: That's so funny you asked that because on this new podcast — The Magical Overthinkers — I also am opening every episode by asking 'What's an irrational thought spiral that's living rent-free in your head?'

I am totally overthinking my book tour outfits right now. Speaking of consumerism as like a distracting or numbing exercise, launching a book is very stressful and the one thing that made me feel some sense of relief is just shopping for cute outfits. I've been buying a lot of plaid skirt suits. The vibe is definitely 90s nostalgic, a little dark academia meets cochette.

B+C: If you were to give yourself five days to unplug from social media, how would you spend your time?

Amanda Montell: Great question. You know what? I'm setting up a week like this for myself in May after the book tour stuff dies down. After my last book Cultish came out, I was unwell in the mind. I felt so exposed and so fragile. I was like, 'I need to send myself on some kind of retreat,' so I sent myself on this little solo excursion to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina and it was so healing...I went and lived in an Airstream for a couple of days. I was doing nature walks and lying in a hammock journaling...

The Age of Magical Overthinking

Watch the Full Interview with Amanda Montell:

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