Cynical Cinema

When Arnold Schwarzennegger ran for governor of California, it was a complete media circus.  Stuff that would ordinarily have been completely ignored was blown up to an international level by the media.  Mary Carey, a porn star, was also running for governor.  How many of us would have known that if not for Arnold.  And the sound bites!  Oh, God, the sound bites!  The idea that a guy can get elected based on closing every speech with lines from his movies?  “I’ll be back”.  OK…back to where?  From what?  What does that have to do with this election?  What’s happening?  “Hasta La Vista, Gray Davis”.  OK, at least that makes a little sense.  Poor Gray Davis though.  Here was a guy who got tossed in this special recall election, blamed for a lot of things that were his fault, and still others that were most assuredly not.  This is the tone of the Arnold movie.  And it’s true - Davis took more than his fair share of criticism, and lost to a guy who spouted catch-phrases and platitudes.  It’d be like losing an election to a corporate logo.  Can you imagine losing your job to Tony The Tiger, or Chester the Cheetah, or the Pillsbury doughboy?  This is actually what happened in California.

 Running With Arnold traces Schwarzennegger’s origins, from a young buy growing up in Australia and becoming obsessed with body-building, all the way to his landslide victory in the California gubernatorial election.  Most of the stuff in the middle we already know.  Remember Hercules in New York?  And Conan the Barbarian, and True Lies, and of course The Terminator?  Even if you don’t, there is a lot of film footage that has virtually nothing to do with the film.  The main point of the movie, it seems, is to paint Arnold as an incredibly power-hungry individual, driven to the point of obsession to be the absolute best and biggest he can be.  (Biggest, both literally and figuratively.)  Even as a young boy in Austria, he wanted to be president of the United States, because it was the Most Powerful Man In The World position.  He was never satisfied, always wanted more, even after winning five straight Mr. Olympia titles.  Even after conquering Hollywood and becoming the most bankable star in the world.  And now, even after becoming governor of the fifth-largest economy in the world.  Now, he is trying to get the constitution amended so that he can run for president!

The movie seems to be fairly anti-Arnold.  It’s narrated by Alec Baldwin, and constantly makes “is this man really qualified for the job?” statements.  They seem to suggest that this limitless ambition on his part is a sign of egomania and that it should somehow preclude him from doing things like changing the constitution of the United States!  But I say, more power to him!  Who ever becomes president, prime minister, governor, an elected official in any capacity, without having a larger-than average ego?  And although I thought Arnold’s victory was the end of the world when it took place - he was installed into the position by the same Republican crap-machine that managed to get Bush elected, with an eye toward helping get Bush re-elected.  He had some very shady ties with Ken Lay and the top guys at Enron.  And he ran on nothing but slogans!  It must have been the apocalypse!  But then something happened.

 Somehow, somewhere along the way, Schwarzennegger took a sharp turn to the left.  And distanced himself from the Bush Republicans as much as anyone ever has - stem cells!  The idea that stem cell research should be outlawed while abortions remain legal is asinine, and Arnold understood that.  He had some good advice on this one.  And he decided to forge ahead with stem cell research in California.  Then, he takes a hard-line stance on the environment.  HARD-line.  Cutting California’s air pollution by 50%.  Taking serious measures to copmletely cut California’s dependence on foreign oil.  All of a sudden, this guy is doing the right thing.  Time and again.  So…what happened?  Did he use that Republican BS machine to get elected, wait an appropriate two years and then start doing whatever the hell he wanted to do?  God, I sure hope so.  And was Gray Davis really that put-upon, come to think of it?  I somehow get the feeling that had Arnold been governor in those days of the rolling blackouts and power shortages in California, that he would have done something.  He wouldn’t have cared at all that he was in bed with Ken Lay.  You’re screwing with my state, we’re done.  Cut all ties.  Which is, sadly, the only way these days in the U.S. to be a good politician.  Stroke the right folks until you get where you want to be, then break away, completely.  I hope he gets the amendments he wants.  I hope this man has a chance to run for president once Barack Obama has served his eight years.  Because although he isn’t perfect, and he’s kind of sleazy and slippery, once he gets in there, he will actually listen to good advice and act on it.  Which is more than you can say for most politicians.