Alexander Payne's "ELECTION"

[Fenris]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126886/

Okay, I've been thinking a lot lately about this movie. Like all of Alexander Payne's movies, Election is somewhat unsettling. Tracey is clearly a ruthless overachiever who is willing to crush all of those before her to get ahead in life. She is willing to do what she feels is necessary, and it won't take the audience that long to really, really hate her.

But at the same time, Mr. McAllister is also a low-life. By the time the movie ends, it is likely that the audience will feel just as repulsed as they do toward Tracey. Watching him "prep" for his affair in that seedy motel room is almost painful to watch.

So we want Paul to defeat Tracey in the election, and yet we don't. If she wins, it satisfies her need for acceptance and victory. If Paul wins, it will mostly be to the benefit of McAllister.

So what we're left at is that Tracey is a horrible human being, but so is McAllister. And even though she may be deserving of misfortune, she is just a kid.

Damn I'm over-thinking this.:dunce:

[democracyindanger]

1. But she's a kid

with a highly advanced sense of manipulation and evil. Like an 18-year-old Karl Rove. Whereas McAllister didn't start out as a lowlife, but became one in order to defeat her.

[Fenris]

3. Yeah, I guess that's sort of the point.

Obsession with winning corrupts.

[Marshall McClueless]

2. I think the scary thing is Tracey's future potential.

That's what terrified me, anyway.

Mind you, it's not as utterly, soul-crushingly depressing as 'Happiness'.

[Fenris]

4. 'Happiness' is like being beaten with a baseball bat.

"If only I had been abused as a child! *Then* I would know authenticity!"

Great movie, but not something you watch often.

'Storytelling' at least had the advantage of a great soundtrack.;)

[Marshall McClueless]

5. Yeah.

And it's slightly, just slightly, less misanthropic. What has Solondz been up to recently? I've lost track.

[Fenris]

6. His last movie was a strange one about abortion called 'Palindromes'

He's getting less and less misanthropic but no less controversial.

[Marshall McClueless]

10. Ah.

Nothing says 'cheery comedy' like a Todd Solondz movie about abortions.

[Fenris]

12. Not light viewing.

'Citizen Ruh' is a much easier film on the subject.

[Marshall McClueless]

16. Yeah - I'd heard that.

There's an interesting sub-thread - what's the earliest movie to specifically deal with abortions? I seem to remember it being an issue in the original Alfie.

[flamingyouth]

17. The earliest film might be "Flaming Youth," actually.

It was released in 1923. However, while the book mentions a character terminating a pregnancy, I don't know if the movie actually goes that far. And actually, no one does since all but about three minutes of the film is lost to time, sadly.

Other silent films tiptoed around the topic. There's an interesting book on pre-Hays code Hollywood that lists several of them.

[Marshall McClueless]

19. Yeah, pre-Hays, there was quite a lot of surprisingly risque stuff.

I imagine there's some dreary mid-fifties Brit films that deal with the issue, but I don't know if they would be explicit about the subject.

[Fenris]

18. Julien Duvivier's 'Un carnet de bal' broached the subject in 1937

It's French, so it may not count. ;)

[Marshall McClueless]

20. Maybe there's some German Expressionist cinema on the subject

- after all, if Fritz Lang could make 'M', there clearly weren't many taboos in old Weimar-land.

[Fenris]

21. Which is probably why the republic was so short lived.

[Marshall McClueless]

22. Yeah - that sort of thing would tend to create a backlash.

Sadly, that was one hell of a backlash.

[flamingyouth]

11. It's good to see you back.

You have been missed.

[Marshall McClueless]

15. Thanks.

I missed me too.

[flamingyouth]

7. We all have our own Tracys to bear.

God knows I do. x(

[Fenris]

8. SNAP!

:D

[flamingyouth]

9. Does Sandy ring a bell?

;)

[Fenris]

13. NO SMOKING AT STIKTEK!

[flamingyouth]

14. Sorry, no sense of humor either.

Rules is rules!

[asthmaticeog]

23. I'm trying to think of a single sympathetic character in that film.

And I've got nothing, save for the Tammy subplot.

Which I rather enjoy - one can really sink one's teeth into a film's situations and moral dilemmas when nobody's wearing white and black hats.

[RandomKoolzip]

24. That movie left me feeling as sad and doomy as any I've ever watched.

And ultimately, I think it was kind of cheap and manipulative for Payne to put an audience through that. What were his intentions? Were we supposed to laugh? Get angry? Feel pity? All of the above?

I just think it's too easy to make a movie with ZERO sympathetic characters, ZERO character development, and ZERO lessons learned. I mean, I could make a film of myself witlessly insulting strangers all day, but asking others to wtch it would be presumptuous.

Payne's refusal of any redemptive factors really got to me. I have no desire to ever see that movie again.

PS, I didn't like it.

[henslee]

25. "Dear God, thank you for all your blessings. You've given me so many

many things, like good health, nice parents, a nice truck, and what I'm told is a large penis and I'm very grateful."

[Susang]

26. The beauty of the film is in it's character's complexities

All the adults, especially Mr. McAllister are seriously flawed. For once, Paul, the jock character, is sensitive (but still dumb). Tracy has what normally would be considered admirable qualities, but her drive and lack of a moral center is truly frightening.

Election was constructed like a parable. All of the characters, while flawed, have likable qualities at the beginning of the film. By the end of the film, they've pretty much turned into parodies of their earlier selves. Tracy appears malevolent and evil, McAllister seems pathetic and bumbling, all are hysterically funny and terribly sad.

[henslee]

27. Kudos to Tom Perrota the novelist. Funny how Payne seems to

get all the credit for his stories when they are largely adapted.... Not to diminish his greatness. Plus to his credit, he is always plugging the novelists he adapts from.

[Loonman]

28. That movie is brilliant

Shows how low people will go if allowed. Not your typical Hollywood bullshit.