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mysantapicsnightmare.com

Ah the joys of pre-holiday season consumption in America!

I made the mistake of cutting through the mall (to go see the outdoor Christmas tree) with my kids yesterday. Much to my horror, Santa was not only highly visible--even from the second floor of the mall--but also completely available. My four year old seized the moment and before I knew it I was asking the cheerful teenager selling the photo packages if Santa took plastic. "Of course he does," she answered, "this is America!."

Yes indeed it is. And now I endure three times a day tug-of-wars between my children over who gets to carry which of the preposterous eight pieces of the absurd photo package of Ben's flashing his grimace grin into which of the already overflowing with all manners of crap rooms of my now worth less than half of what I paid for it five years ago house.

"Wait...is that noise coming from the washing machine...

"Daddy...it looks like an ocean in here..."

mysantapicsnightmare.com will prove nothing compared to my buyanewwasheranddryer.com nightmare.

"It's that most wonderful time of the year.."

Schwarzenegger and California's "Warrior Dreams"

In his essay "Warrior Dreams," James Gibson makes a compelling argument that shifting gender roles, defeat in Vietnam, the civil rights movement, and even an internationalizing economy have left American men feeling a bit besieged. In their anxiety about these changes and a perceived loss of control—especially among white men who had such unquestioned authority before the 1960’s and 70’s—men (and some women) have embraced ultra macho heroes who triumph against the forces of failure, mediocrity, and, to an extent not fully discussed by Gibson, political correctness. To me, no cultural figure better embodies the warrior myth than the terminator. A machine with a heart, the terminator, especially in T2, returns to restore heroic masculinity against the onslaught of technological and cultural change: protector of women and children, old-school machine who triumphs over newer, more efficient models, and individualistic hero who is willing to sacrifice his life for others, the Terminator offers a reassuring answer to all of the uncertainties of turn of the century American cultural, political, and economic life. Not coincidentally, the star of the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, effectively translated his heroic image in these films into a heroic political alter ego: the anti-establishment political hero who would ride into town against the corrupt “politicians” and fix all of California’s complex problem. Despite no political experience and an ultimate response to issues like the deficit and energy problems that was no different than his predecessor’s approach, Schwarzenegger appealed to Californians because he offered hope that the strong willed individual could overcome what appeared to be intractable, systemic problems. Our governor embodies a new, political “Warrior Myth.”