1. Jot down your impressions of Arnold as a cultural phenomenon: what are your first memories of him? How might we describe him? Who that we’ve studied might you compare him too? In Stars, McDonald writes that ‘stars are significant for how they make . . . elusive . . . [concepts of identity] into a visible show’ (180). What concepts of identity does Arnold help us visualize? How?
Significant memories or Arnold revolve around his identifiable persona as the muscle-man and action hero. We think of him as the foreign man with an accent, Mr. Universe, the Terminator, conservative governor, and the embodiment of his most famous movie lines “hasta la vista baby”. Arnold is larger than life and a caricature of himself, he is essentially a real life action figure.
Arnold can be compared to Marilyn Monroe as both is not their acting ability but rather their physicality, Marilyn for her sex appeal and Arnold for his brute strength. Additionally Arnold could be compared to Elvis as a sex symbol for a new generation because he has the quintessential “perfect” body. Arnold helps us visualize concepts of hypermasculinity as he embodies what a strong, stereotypical masculine man should look like. He also embodies exoticism as he is a foreigner with an untypical appearance, and accent that can be seen as extraordinary and unique.
2. When studying Marilyn, we discussed ways in which her star image was closely tied to her body, that is, issues of embodiment were tightly bound up with her star persona. Is this true of Arnold? If so, how are visual representations of his body like or unlike representations of Marilyn’s body? Could we say he’s positioned as a spectacle? To what end? What role does genre play in how Arnold is imaged?
We see Arnold positioned as a spectacle similar to Marilyn, but in a more traditionally masculine way. Marilyn, or more so Marilyn’s body was objectified and sexualized through various aspects of her film roles -- angles, plot, etc.. -- as well as the image projected outside her roles. In contrast, Arnold’s body was used to portray strength and masculinity, sometimes in a sexual way, but often not. This is shown within seconds of Terminator 2 as seen through the nude shots of the open which begin to sexualize Arnold, but we must also take note of how quickly they move on. This shows a stark difference from the scenes Marilyn stars in which linger on her body, giving time for audiences to form their opinions. Genre also plays a significant role in how Arnold is portrayed. Specifically, action movies facilitate the use of Arnold’s body as a display of strength because the genre calls for big stunts in order to move the plot forward.
3. How do the readings for today relate Arnold’s importance as a star to the cultural moment from which he emerged? Put differently, why Arnold in the 1980s and 1990s? How are these two decades different? Do you buy Susan Jeffords’ argument? What other popular cultural images of the period connect up with the image of Arnold?
Arnold’s rise to stardom can be related to the reaction to the war on drugs and militarization that facilitated the action movie genre. The politics of the Reagan era created a narrative of otherization of the foreign and criminal world, and it played out in the media with more content being created around the idea of vanquishing any threats to the preservation of the American family dream. Arnold, in all his muscular glory, was the perfect hero to fight off those evils. The rise of cable TV also created more opportunities for B-movies and lowered the standards for what qualifies a movie star. Arnold embodied the new wave of someone who didn’t necessarily have to be the best actor, but could carry a movie with his persona and physical presence. It was a revitalized masculinity as the “body without organs” as Bukatman’s article highlights. We also see the contrast between Terminator 1 and 2, where he is there to protect the family ideal in Terminator 2 as opposed to him destroying the world in 1. The 90s was about preserving the American family that the politics of the 80s had worked hard to idealize. The 80s were all about preventing threats (like Arnold in T1) and the 90s were about preserving the family of the 80s (Arnold in T2). Other cultural images that can be associated is the entire Baywatch cast and the Jane Fonda workout tapes.
4. What role does femininity play in a film like T2? How is Arnold’s hypermasculinity sketched in relation to femininity? Can we relate this to wider cultural issues of the 1980s and 90s?
In Terminator 2, femininity is a concept that takes on dual roles in the film because the practically single female in the film upholds masculine stereotypes while simultaneously being relegated to roles reserved for females. This dichotomy between masculinity and femininity in the context of females roles is most easily identified in the character of Sarah Connor. In T2 Sarah is a hypermasculine female, established in the first shot where we see her doing chin ups thanks to a muscular physique. She does not embody stereotypical images of femininity but rather she is another version of the macho action hero. As Jeffords notes, “in the first [Terminator film] she is uncertain, frightened, and weak; in her rebirth she is tough- minded, fearless, and strong. . . She wears fatigues, totes heavy weapons and has a mission to perform” (160). What’s interesting is that this description noted by Jeffords is almost exactly how one can describe the hypermasculine Schwarzenegger in the both films. Yet despite upholding masculine stereotypes and traits, Sarah Connor is still relegated to the role of the incapable, uncertain, weak female that occupies so many action films. She begins the film in a mental institution where no one believes the claims she makes about the Terminator. She is brutalized throughout the film and by the end she can’t finish the job of destroying T-1000 on her own so the male Terminator must help her finish the job. Here femininity is disregarded in Sarah’s appearance but rather reinforced in the ideologies and roles her character takes on, or really what she doesn’t take on.
This relegation of the female character to minor parts and stereotypical roles in the film can connect to larger cultural shifts where heavy depictions of masculinity were present during the 80s and 90s. When the 70’s came to a close, the aftermath of the Vietnam war and the second wave of feminism, masculinity was questioned and came to a crisis point. As a result, the 1980s and 90s were a reactionary period where the masculinity that was being questioned was alternatively being reinforced in extreme ways. Thus, we get the hypermasculine action films for which Arnold is the buff posterboy.
5. How can we understand the relationship between Arnold’s past as a Hollywood star and his more recent present as a political player?
Arnold’s Hollywood acting career is product of the Reagan era, when the dominant ideology expressed a desire to return to conservative, traditional values. Arnold’s politics reflect these ideas - he ran as a sort of hypermasculine Ronald Reagan: a conservative Republican who wanted to be seen as charismatic, dependable, and able to return the country (or state) to fiscal conservatism. His political career also intersects with his film career. He used movie lines as campaign slogans. The media called him the “Governator,” a title he ran with.
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