Election
Alexander Payne came out hot with his first two films. Both “Citizen Ruth” and “Election” and bold satires of American politics, and political discourse, and I really hope to rewatch “Citizen Ruth” again in the near future, because “Election” holds up beautifully, and could be made now and be just as relevant as it was in 1999. That year had scalding satire on its mind in a big way.
Adapted from the novel by Tom Perrotta by Payne and longtime co-writer Jim Taylor, “Election” sees a Student Body President election campaign through two, particular sets of eyes- those of Jim McAllister, the ethics teacher who will oversee the election, and Tracy Flick, the determined young woman whom begins the movie running unopposed. Tracy is that stereotypical overachiever that people in authority are annoyed by in movies, and McAllister knows a little too much about her after his friend, Dave, admitted to having an affair with her, resulting in him getting fired. That’s not necessarily why McAllister is frustrated by her unopposed run for Student Body President, however; he wants to see something akin to democracy be served, so he gets Paul Metzler, a popular former jock (Chris Klein) to run against her, something that rattles her, even if he doesn’t seem like he’d be a formidable opponent. McAllister trying to balance the election with his personal life- including his wife (Molly Hagan), with whom he’s been trying in vein to get pregnant, and Dave’s ex-wife (Delaney Driscoll), whom he’s become attracted to- gets more and more difficult as another candidate, Tammy (Paul’s sister, played by Jessica Campbell), enters the race, and becomes a populist favorite, upending everything.
The film is, essentially, about what American elections were becoming in the ’80s and ’90s (Perrotta wrote this after the 1992 election), but more than that, “Election” is about how insecure a woman who is driven, doesn’t fit into typical gender roles, and will stop at nothing to get where she wants to go, will make men. Tracy Flick has been raised by her mother (Colleen Camp) to be a strong, independent woman, and for this high schooler, that means taking part in as many extracurricular activities as possible. She doesn’t do this for the appearance of engagement with her classmates, to make herself feel like she has friends, although Paul’s natural charisma when he enters the race is something she is jealous of; she does it because she has a drive to do great things in her life, and this is how she chooses to go about doing it- by pushing herself. Tracy never lacks for confidence in who she is, and what she knows, and that is one of the most engaging and appealing moments about her as a character. There is only one moment where we feel that she is being genuinely dishonest- where we KNOW she is being dishonest- and I’d be lying if I did not admit that, I get why she is lying in that moment; she knows it will ruin everything for her. We understand why she did what she did, because it’s a microcosm of the anxiety and frustration she is feeling at that moment, how things are getting away from her, and it is a great moment in Witherspoon’s performance. What Tracy doesn’t expect is that someone, whom she does not know has witnessed the truth, will also be dishonest for their own purposes about what they saw Tracy do. They could not be more different in who they are, but the witness- Tammy- has her own motivations for doing so, and maybe even feels a solidarity with Tracy, in that moment; does she disagree with the way it appears McAllister is trying to squash Tracy in this election? Maybe, but Tammy’s campaign always had a different motivation, and is less about doing something good for other people but throwing a monkey wrench in a process she thinks is ridiculous- this is another way for her to do so, although it also sees personal consequences for her that, on the outside, feels like a punishment, but for Tammy, is exactly what she wants.
McAllister is the other side of this coin, and Broderick has gone from the rebellious charmer he was in Ferris Bueller to part of the establishment, whom is meant to inspire people, and keep the mechanics of high school moving smoothly. He also has deep insecurities about women; he says he loves his wife, but only when he fantasizes about another woman can he get himself off. And Tracy would seem to be a teacher’s dream, but McAllister sees her as a “know-it-all” whose drive only gets in the way of his ability to teach. He enlists Paul, seemingly, because he wants to see a genuine, democratic, election, but as the film goes on, it becomes clear it is primarily about pandering to the base instincts of the electorate by giving them as bland a cliche- the cool jock- as an alternative as possible. If this film had been made in the aftermath of the 2016 election, it would have been slammed as being too on-the-nose to hit its satirical points, but the truth is, this is one of the most brutally honest political movies of our time; unlike some male candidates, Klein’s Paul is not a sexist sociopath, however- he’s just a lug that people like, and doesn’t really have any ideas on his own. McAllister is the sociopath here, and Broderick is terrific in the role as the character’s life goes from bad to worse, oblivious to the fact that it’s of his own doing, blaming everybody else but himself.
I’ve missed this satirical Alexander Payne- though I’m a great admirer of films like “Sideways,” “The Descendents” and “Nebraska,” Payne’s more pointed films are the ones I think I enjoy the most. His 2017 film, “Downsizing,” didn’t completely work for me, but I think it’s because the high-concept nature of the film dulled some of the social commentary. With “Election,” he is working with razor precision as he shows us a glimpse of our society, in one of the most cliche-ridden microcosms of said society- the high school comedy- and makes it sting.
