Cowboys, Politicos and Primes
I took screenwriting from Thomas Pope, Hollywood screenwriter. His as-yet-unpublished second book focuses on script doctoring. Well- he would say it focuses on second drafts, since in an ideal world redrafts are done by the original writer. I have a wire-bound proof of this yet-to-be published volume (which he used to teach the class) on my shelf; it’s awesome.
Among the many lessons Pope teaches for clarifying, tightening and sharpening a script, he talks about heroic archetypes. There are many throughout history, but in his opinion (and since he makes his case very convincingly mine as well) there are- at least in America- only two remaining ‘functional’ heroic archetypes; two types of characters recognized to be ‘validly’ heroic by the public on an emotional level. Cowboys and Abraham Lincoln.
Tom was delighted (in his own ironic way) when I informed him that Autobot leader Optimus Prime? was intentionally written as a 50/50 blend of John Wayne and Abraham Lincoln. (Explicitly; his original Budiansky-penned profile even includes the line He has the personality of an Abraham Lincoln.) He’s not fond of how fantasist movies have taken over Hollywood, but it was gratifying to learn that the most enduring and powerful heroic figure of the genre essentially confirmed his thesis.
(Yes, he’s aware that the Western is an entirely fictive construct with no basis in history, and that Honest Abe was only a made a Saint in popular culture, the actual details of his life being surprisingly messy. Now hush!)
I was struck Tuesday by a sudden realization; if the last two ‘heroic’ archetypes Americans admire to are Cowboy and Inspirational Politician….
Jimmy Carter - Inspirational Politician
Ronald Regan - Cowboy
George Herbert Walker Bush - ?
Bill Clinton - Inspirational Politician
George W. Bush - Cowboy
Barak Obama - Inspirational Politician
Bush Senior is sort of an odd-man-out there (I guess he tried for inspirational) coasting into office on Regan’s coattails. (Veeps don’t seem to fit the pattern.) Clinton’s a tough sell too, he’s so defined by his sex scandals in recent memory… but I remember how he was originally presented, as the fresh-faced idealistic outsider here to bring hope back, and his later role of caregiver-in-chief firesiding the country through traumas was definitely more in that role. And in the 2008, John McCain was presented to the American public as a Maverick, with Sarah Palin doubling-down on his Cowboy credentials….
This is just… disturbing. Disgusting even.
Notice that ’skilled administrator who does his job well and quietly’ is not one of the heroic archetypes Americans vote into high office. (They have to slide in as Veeps.)
*sigh* Oh well. I suppose it beats the alternative. Among the other (no longer functioning) heroic archetypes Pope lists are Achilles, Benevolent Dictator and Cop. Given those kinds of alternatives… I guess we could do worse.