They're still at it...
More "No-Nonsense Gordon" posters hereIf you're an ignorant Yank like me, you probably haven't been paying much attention to the upcoming British elections (May 6), which is a mistake.
They're funny. Intentionally; ...or not.
Have I missed it? Are US elections ever funny... on purpose?
(Nice thing about being an American, though: it's so easy to feel smart. All you have to do is know there is an upcoming election in Britian.)
Guardian article "Satire will be the real general election winner" (May 1, 2010) notes, "Comedically, this election has been ripe."
And goes on to say,
"Labour will not win outright, of course, unless Gordon Brown pulls something incredible, rather than his trademark inedible... – for example, ... Putin-style, whipping his shirt off and riding a horse around looking buff."The reference is to Vladimir Putin Looking All Manly (left) in Siberia.
"Hard Man Gordon Brown" says:
"The Brown team has been buoyed by focus group results suggesting that an outbreak of physical fighting during the campaign, preferably involving bloodshed and broken limbs, could re-engage an electorate increasingly apathetic about politics.
They also hope they can exploit the so-called 'Putin effect', and are said to be exploring opportunities for Brown to be photographed killing a wild animal, though advisers have recommended that weather, and other considerations, mean Brown should not remove his shirt."
Personally, I am immune to Putin's putative charms, with or without his shirt.
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And then there's Belgium. From divine caroline's post on sexy politicians:
"[In 2007] Tania Derveaux, has stripped all clothes—and sense or propriety—from her bid for office. She is the NEE political party’s leading candidate for Senate, and launched an advertisement in which she posed naked and offered to create 400,000 new jobs (a parody making fun of other candidates’ outlandish promises)."
(She lost.)
Oh, wait--we do have a politician who has posed in the buff--the governor of California.
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Bianca Castafiore has put up a good post about the Fortieth Anniversary of Kent State. Nothing funny there.
May 4, 1970. I remember it. I was nine.
The "Kirk" effect, more like.
ReplyDeleteElections here aren't funny, (though they can get silly sometimes) - but we sure make fun OF them.
ARNOLD! He used the broom prop, just like Homer Stokes did in "O Brother Where Art Thou?"!
Clip here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiDFihP4CTc
Hey, M'get!
ReplyDeleteShould that be AH-NOLD?
I would like to see George W. wrestling an armadillo, please.
Your macronization of words/names surpasses my ability, FRESKUH. Yes - AH-NOLD is it.
ReplyDeleteW wrestling armadillo is easily imagined.
And somehow I can see him fighting the Gorn, too, (not intending to draw any comparisons there, although they are a little alike, Kirk and Dubbya - not in their ideas of motivations, no! but in how they carry them out.)
I've had some half-baked thoughts about how Arnold built a career exaggeratedly based on his body/looks, to then suddenly come swiping out of nowhere with hitherto unimagined competence and talent (apparently, to judge from his succes - I hardly know anything about his political standpoints). It's the kind of career strategy women have more or less always been forced to adopt. A number of years ago, I wanted to write something on the similarities of Arnold and Dolly Parton, who is incredibly talented but seems to have hidden that behind her body for much of her career.
ReplyDeleteI'll point out again that I'm completely ignorant about his political views, but I have a soft spot for Arnold because of his silly (pre-political) persona and a 1970s book I own by him, called Body Shaping For Women. I bought it expecting hair-raising but comically dated sexism, but it's full of sincere pep-talk about the potential of the female body. Arnold points out that if we have to call one of the sexes the weaker one, then we shouldn't pick the one that gives birth to babies. In one picture, he's sitting on the shoulders of a female weight-lifting champion who looks about five feet tall, not very athletic compared to women you might see in gyms today - and she's also holding a barbell above her head. All in all, Arnold represents an expansion of gender roles to me, all the more interesting because of the testosterone-heavy, stereotypical packaging. It's probably unintentional.
giggle.
ReplyDeleteand:
titter.
Oh, let's not forget the junior Senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, who won the seat after Ted Kennedy's death!
ReplyDeleteNude pics of the future Senator back in 1982. :D
Oh, and of course recently Obama was seen swimming in Hawaii and showing off his pecs. Looking for those images brings up a distressing slideshow of other leaders of the world caught bathing. Yipes. Yet there's something rather charming about all the flab and untoned, untanned skin, it's rather endearing in its own way.
ANNIKA: Interesting thoughts!
ReplyDeleteI like Arnold in movies--he's got such a surprisingly light and funny touch-- but his worship of physical power makes me nervous, even though he is quite democratic about it.
I proofread a book about him once, and he said he had hated to be a gym trainer because most people just want to do "sissy workouts".
As a sissy worker-outer myself, he makes me quaver.
JENNIFER: Wow!
Good research skills!
Thanks for adding those. Funny, but yes, rather distressing too, somehow, to see these guys exposed. Though Mr. Fox looks pretty golden...