Class last Wednesday was a pleasant surprise for me upon realizing that Terminator was the movie being screened. This gave me an instant blast of nostalgia as the Terminator franchise was easily one of my favorite franchises when I was a kid. Arnold was the epitome of what I thought being a man was at the time. A built, stoic action hero, who let his actions do the talking for him. He was the embodiment of the terminal masculinity phases that occurred in the late 80's and early 90's. However the terminal masculinity was often used in contrast to these hard body heroes as they were more than just men sent out to protect society in war times. These characters are full of deeper emotions that they are forced to contain since there are more pressing matters at the time.
Its also worth noting how much of an influence someone like Arnold was at the time, he was the face of other successful action/scifi movies like total recall. His face essentially being the idea version of the heroic man in action films. However this can be considered very alarming as Jefford's states that Hollywood's racial undertones, make these films look like the sacrifice of a white hero. While there are clear issues present with race with action hero's of the past. It creates an imagine to youth like myself, that lauded alpha men are expected to be these selfless characters, who give up their life for the fate of the entire world. Its a one dimensional character, than has been written over and over again. But back to Arnold, in terminator we obviously, see the typical Hollywood action hero who oozes masculinity and sexuality. Yet we see another side of his character when it comes to taking care of John, we see that he is a essentially better parent than Sarah because his goal to save humanity is to keep John Connor alive. Even though Sarah is clearly the one who is emotionally connected to John, because Arnold isn't a living organism, making him incapable of feeling emotion.
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