Word: arnolds
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Arnold taps into this. He is, after all, the ultimate creature of the 1970s. If you don't believe me, go rent Pumping Iron, the extraordinary documentary of Schwarzenegger's rise in the nascent bodybuilding culture of the time. He took a minor and largely derided sport and made it a world-wide sensation. And he extolled its pleasures and reveled in its vanity. He said he used to compare a good workout in the gym with an orgasm--and on Oprah! You can see frames of him smoking what looks like a big fat joint after a contest...
...merry dollop of irony. He was one of the first major movie stars who winked at the audience, understanding that they too were intelligent enough to see through the pyrotechnics and absurd dialogue to be amused by the pure entertainment of the spectacle. In his first two careers, Arnold deeply understood both the bohemian and conservative aspects of the popular culture of which he was a part. He immersed himself in them and helped bring them together...
...know of any other politician like that? One of Arnold's predecessors as Governor, Ronald Reagan, was a child of the popular culture. But he belonged to an earlier generation; he never made fun of himself as a movie star (that was left to others). And in office, his occasional appeal to movie references--"Go ahead, make my day"--was uneasily balanced by a moral Puritanism that helped cement a post-Dixie South into his coalition. Clinton tried to make himself look hip. But he always seemed suppliant to Hollywood, as if he were trying to be cool by association...
...Democrat, the Republican right would attack him with the venom they reserved for Clinton. Indeed, some Republican scolds like Alan Keyes chastised Schwarzenegger last week for being on the "evil side" in the culture wars. But when left-wing feminists tried the right's anti-Clinton tactics on Arnold--making much of the last-minute flurry of accusations of sexual misconduct--they sounded bitter and not a little hypocritical. In their scolding of the big-grinned Arnold, they seemed as uptight as the far right and were rejected by the post-Clinton electorate. So Arnold snuck through the left-right...
Actors like Barbra Streisand, Tim Robbins, Charlton Heston and Alec Baldwin seem content to offer unsolicited political tips on everything from drug laws to foreign policy. But a coterie of other celebrities have suggested that, like Arnold, they may want to do more than just talk politics (or, as in the case of Harrison Ford, play them in the movies). As we have just seen, getting into the Governor's mansion may not be much harder than getting into an Academy Awards ceremony--and you don't even have to be nice to Joan Rivers. --By Harriet Barovick and Kate...