An Honest Review of “The Game Changers”
By: Rachel Krantz
Tags: The Game Changers, Fitness, Film, Personal Essay, Vegan

“Have you noticed anything change physically since you went vegan? I’m realizing we never really talked about it, not fully. It’s six months ago now.”

“Well, like they were talking about in the movie, my recovery time got shorter, definitely. I also noticed I was building muscle more easily, like they talked about too. I had more energy to go the gym. I’d go work out and drive home, and then feel like I could go again, which was different.”

I nod, chowing down after Game Changers on a BimBap bowl (sauces on the side, please) at Luanne’s Wild Ginger in Fort Greene. Gael eats scallion pancakes and Udon noodles doused in all the delicious oils.

“Did the IBS stuff go away? I assume it did since you haven’t mentioned it.”

“Ya, pretty much a couple weeks after I went vegan. They called me for a follow-up referral and I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t need that anymore.’”

“Were you worried when you switched that you’d lose weight?” I ask, munching on some broccoli.

“Definitely. But I seem to stay at more or less the same weight no matter what I do or eat.”

“Must be nice.”

“Mostly the difference is also emotional, feeling good about what I’m doing. I noticed maybe my relationship with the cats in the house changed, too. Like they were more comfortable around me — but I think that’s more about my changing how I relate to them. Like I’m letting them be themselves and not trying to be like, I want to pet you and you better like it.”

“Ya, the same thing happened to me. You start respecting animals’ bodies and their consent more.”

“Oh, by the way — I saw you laughed in the movie at what they said gladiators used to be called. I wanted to ask, what was it?” Gael is fluent in English, but sometimes he’ll still miss a phrase.

“They said their nickname translated to ‘Bean and Barley Munchers,’ since they were mostly vegetarians.”

“Ah, OK.”

“And then I laughed because I thought how you and I are both bean and barley munchers and carpet munchers.’” I love his humble dimples, and my drink is making me feel armchair-philosophical. “I mean, that’s the thing with this movie. Like, on the one hand, I’m glad they’re telling people gladiators were vegetarian, but on the other hand — ”

“People being made to be gladiators was terrible and violent and they were often slaves.”

“Exactly! And I felt that sort of conflict the whole way through. Like, I want us to eliminate the most suffering possible, and this is an emergency for the animals and the planet, and so a part of me is like, whatever gets people there is great. And this movie is sleeker than any vegan doc I’ve seen. So I’m really, really glad it exists.”

“But then the other part of you?”

“The other part is wondering, what other oppressive systems are we reinforcing here — showing ‘the world’s strongest man’ throw a car over his head as proof you can still ‘be a man’ and be vegan? Like, what if that car could have helped someone!? And why does being a man equal being strong and in some way aggressive — or sexual? Like the scene proving men have more frequent and harder erections after eating just one vegan meal — what did you think of that?”

“I thought it was funny.”

“Totally, but then I wondered how someone who has erectile dysfunction would feel when that doctor said what makes a real ‘manly-man’ is sexual virility and fertility.” Gael shrugs in that way someone who’s resigned to a certain expectation about their gender shrugs. “Like, I enjoyed seeing James Wilks realize he’s fitter than ever after going vegan — but not so much watching him train US military to fight on a plant-based diet.”

“Or what about The Miami Dolphins team they showed that made it to the playoffs for the first time in years after they went plant-based? That was cool, but also it’s really easy for them because one of the player’s wives is a chef who cooks vegan meals for them every day,” Gael adds to our list of vegan nitpicking.

“Exactly! I kept thinking, what about the people who don’t have a personal chef/gorgeous and cool wife, or a background in vegan nutrition, let alone access to fresh produce? How will those people go vegan? Not that one film can get at all these things in time, but it felt like class wasn’t really touched. We should actually watch The Invisible Vegan on Vimeo — it’s good and gets into all that and more.”

“I was thinking about that too, about my family in Peru. It’s not so easy for everyone.” But for us, right now, it is. Gael and I take bites of our desserts: a raw Yuzu cheesecake and a decadent brownie topped with coconut milk ice cream. Deprived we certainly are not. I sigh tipsily, filled with that familiar cocktail of hope, guilt, and despair.

“I just want to see a world where we all leave each other’s bodies alone. Where no one has to train the military to fight, and we all just agree to be stewards of the environment and animals instead of trying to dominate the planet and each other. A passifict return to Eden but sex positive and all-inclusive, basically.”

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

“But that doesn’t seem to be human nature,” I say, taking another bite of cake. “It’s like how bonobos and chimps are our two closest genetic relatives — equally so. Bonobos are matriarchal, bisexual, mostly peaceful hedonists; chimps are patriarchal, fight, commit infanticide and rape. And you see in humans that pull, I think. Those two sides of our instincts always at war.”

“Which side do you think will win?”

“What do you think?”

I don’t eat as much of the dessert as I would if I were Gael. A certain voice in my head still warns me not to. You should keep your desire in check if you want to maintain your lovability, it whispers. The rules are different for you than for him. I talk back to the voice when I can, try to at least recognize its vacuity.

Either way, I don’t wait for a prince to save me anymore. But sometimes I summon one anyway. This one, perhaps the most tender yet, has magic hands. His palms are lightly calloused from healing strangers’ wounds, not making them. To me, this is awesome strength. Recognizing it as such, also a game-changer.