Movie Symbolism

If I were to undertake a formal study on the power of movies and the media to virtually control majority perceptions and beliefs, Arnold Schwarzenegger would be the featured example.  Though I'm utterly dismayed over the vast majority's willingness to be duped by propaganda, I accept it as manifestly obvious in spite of my desire to think better of my fellow man in general.   My concerns go to the mental and spiritual thieves and robbers who are taking advantage of the intoxicated gullibility of the masses, their tactics and devices, and, mostly, their purposes and intents.  And who has, through the media, more successfully parlayed zealous self-worship into international fame, fortune, and honor across numerous cultural, political, and religious lines better than Arnold Schwarzenegger? 

In a generation that seems to accept Nike's old trademark that image is everything, Arnold is the ultimate image...but image of what?  And how did that belief about this man get from an obscure Austrian gym into the hearts and minds of people around the world?   Obviously, the media has been central to this uncanny rise to stardom, but aside from the profit motive, there is ample evidence that the image of the man Arnold Schwarzenegger that has been served and devoured by the people has been as deliberately and meticulously prepared as the fanciest gourmet dinner.  It isn't even hard to see the blatant inconsistencies between the real man and the image, but, as an example of how image is indeed everything in the hearts and minds of this generation, this unrepentant mega-hedonist even found support in his gubernatorial campaign from the most outspoken voices of the so-called moral majority. 

It is a dismal view, indeed, but Arnold's public image as a savior on a white horse entering into the political arena is obviously the product of a propaganda campaign spanning four decades that has very little to do with the truth, serving as proof that the truth is for sale in America.  The American people have not only largely overlooked the "rest of the story" about this man (though it isn't hard to see), they have actually made him and his promoters wealthy buying the pre-packaged images of his movies; they pay for their own delusions!  

Before the election, Arnold's public image was mostly built, managed, and projected  through his movies and television appearances.  While one might dismiss the relevance of the imagery and symbolisms of his movies as fiction, the fact that Schwarzenegger himself casts and is internationally recognized by those same images supersedes that to some extent.  It doesn't necessarily mean that he is actually like the Terminator character, for instance, but it does mean that he wants to be seen as possessing some of those characteristics, which does say something about the man himself.  When a woman wears high heels and a slinky dress to go shopping, it says more than that she needs to get groceries -- it says something about her.  Likewise, when Arnold wears his Terminator character on the campaign trail, it also says something about him and adds currency to discerning his true persona through the imagery and symbolisms of his movies.

In "Who Is Arnold Schwarzenegger …Really?!" (http://www.montalk.net/conspiracy/76/who-is-arnold-schwartzeneggerreally) the author¹ chronicles how she came to reconsider the possibility that Schwarzenegger might be the biblical antichrist after looking more closely at the apocalyptic messages exuding from his movies.  Drawing from several sources, she outlines a number of interesting points:

• "Arnold’s father was a Nazi, his mother married the head of the Austrian Parliament, he is friends with and avid supporter of former SS Officer, Kurt Waldheim, as well as being affiliated with Bohemian Grove and rubbing shoulders with the world’s elite, and of course, he’s married into the powerful Kennedy clan. These facts alone denote somebody of prominence who is “going places”."
• "I independently, like many others, made a connection between the titles of some of Arnold’s movies and the events that were unfolding before us in the “real world”. The most obvious being Arnold’s 1990 movie “Total Recall”, linking to the California Recall Election, which was Arnold’s ticket to the Governor seat."
• "We have movie titles which flagrantly foreshadow things to come – Total Recall, and The Running Man – Arnold was running for Governor of California, using the opportunity of the California Recall Election. Character titles seem to hint at the role Arnold will play – The terminator, villain, destroyer, commando, barbarian. predator, eraser…..(but erasing / eliminating what? Or whom??) Others allude to the time period in which Arnold will find himself coming into power or hint at what will be in store – End of Days, Judgment Day. Still other titles speak in general about what the deal with Arnold is in general – and what the American public is being served up – True Lies, Raw Deal… and someone who will Do little…??"
• "Other interesting and possibly meaningful character names include Adam Gibson and Jericho Cane, of The 6th Day and End of Days, respectively. Jericho is an historic biblical Middle Eastern city, destroyed by Jehovah. Then we have Adam Gibson, a reference to the mythological first son of God in a movie about man cloning humans. I found this to be interesting, two movies back to back with such heavy biblical overtones and references to creation and destruction."
• "Then...the movie Twins, regarding two men genetically created by man as a lab experiment, which ties into The Sixth Day and the theme regarding Arnold having a clone…whatever that could be implying. Will leave that one open for interpretation. But do note that in Twins, Arnold’s character of Julius is a strapping, man made “superhuman” genetic lab experiment who received all the pure and good genetics, with a tall, strong physique – not unlike the Nazis and their genetic experiments and obsession with creating an Aryan super master race. Considering Arnold’s family’s Nazi connections, that’s very interesting. And let’s take a closer look at the name of his Twins character: Julius Benedict – Julius, as in Julius Cesar, the powerful Roman emperor, and Benedict, as in Benedict “Arnold”, traitor to the Americans during the American Revolution. Does Arnold truly have the best interests at heart for the people of California, (and possibly the American public as a whole in the future) or is he a traitor? Then you have John Matrix in Commando, a reference to our matrix grid program / reality."
• "There’s Red Sonja and Red Heat, and as we know, “red” is a slang term for Communist. His character Ivan Danko is part of the Russian State Police. We have Collateral Damage…but who is the collateral damage? Us?? Also, in my above list I highlighted character titles such as “Baron”, “Prince”, “Major”, “Colonel”, “Captain”, “Dr.” etc. as being of interest because they denote importance / regality / stature, someone of power and authority. Mr. Schwarzenegger seems to play a lot of roles with titles like that, a possible foreshadowing of his future role and position."
• "His character in Raw Deal has the alter name of Triple Identity. What could be Arnold’s triple identity? Body builder, actor, Governor? Actor, Governor, President? Governor, President….Anti Christ?! Can only speculate on this one. It all hinges on whether he winds up eventually becoming President, and where that role takes him in life. And on the Goro Adachi blog comments section I saw one poster mention that he always suspected that Arnold would rise to power during the Ice Age, because he played the character Dr. Freeze. That was definitely food for thought which I hadn’t considered."
• "And let’s not forget that infamous reference to Arnold becoming President in the 1993 Wesley Snipes, Sylvestor Stallone movie “Demolition Man.” In a scene between John Spartan (Stallone) and Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock) Huxley casually mentions in passing the “Swarzenegger Presidential Library”, much to the shock of Spartan, who has been cryogenically frozen for 36 years and missed out on all this Schwarzenegger fun. But yes, she explains that Schwarzenegger was so popular that they did away with the second amendment of the Constitution, just so he could become President." (Source: Montalk.net)

NOTES

1. The author of this article subsequently regretted publishing it and requested that her name be removed from references to it on this site.

The new DVD will inlclude:

• Commentary by John McTiernan
• Text commentary by film journalist/historian Eric Lichtenfield
• Deleted scenes and outtakes
• "If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It: The Making of Predator" documentary
• Inside the Predator: seven featurettes
• Three Predator "red suit" special effects
• Two Predator camouflage tests
• Photo gallery
• Predator profile
• Widescreen anamorphic format

   Copyright © 2004 Oak Productions, Inc.