Politics as Media Spectacle - Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor

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Politics as Media Spectacle - Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s California recall election gubernatorial victory demonstrates the

increasing collapse of the boundaries between entertainment and politics in an era of media

spectacle.

Over the past decades, major struggles around politics, race, gender, and sexuality have

played out in the media. In the 1990s, the O.J. Simpson trial, the Clinton sex scandals, and

the proliferation of tabloid journalism made serious political issues and conflicts the stuff of

popular entertainment and culture.

Moreover, presidential politics on the level of campaigns and governing have also exhibited

a growing politics of the image and spectacle. In our media-saturated society, politicians

become celebrities who fine tune their image through daily photo opportunities, spin out

their message of the day, and, like celebrities, employ image management firms to make

sure that their performance is playing well with the public.

In an era of media politics, celebrities can become politicians and take on increasingly

political roles. Hollywood stars of film and television were prominent opponents of the

Bush administration’s 2003 Iraq war, while teams of celebrities were employed by both

sides in the California recall election.

Arnold Schwarzenegger had a familiar role to play in the California recall election scenario.

The people were angry at higher taxes, energy costs, and what appeared to be a deteriorating

economy and were looking for a savior. Arnold presented himself as the hero on the white

horse who would ride into California and solve the problems.

His “Rescue California” ...

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media present his policies, actions, and colorful past. Schwarzenegger has allegedly paid

over a million dollars to purchase the original and outtakes from his 1976 film Stay Hungry

that allegedly has him singing “Springtime for Hitler” and prancing about in Nazi regalia

and poses, and there are Nazi poses of Schwarzenegger floating through the Internet. In an

era of political spectacle, image is all and negative images can produce critical views of

politicians and their policies as George W. Bush is learning from images of daily carnage

and mayhem in Iraq that put in question his foreign policy decisions. Schwarzenegger too

will become an important part of the spectacle of contemporary politics and what role he

plays will be determined by his policies and politics, the media, and how a volatile and

fickle public perceives him.

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