Election

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🎙️ EPISODE 593: 11.08.22 Early on in Alexander Payne's classic 1999 film Election, high school history teach Jim McAllister (a phenomenal Matthew Broderick) posits the question: what is the difference between morals and ethics? Outside of a strictly dictionary definition given by goody two-shoes student Tracy Flick (an equally great Reese Witherspoon), we never really get a clear answer. Even the adults don't know the difference. The student council election is a fight between three parties: the aforementioned Flick and the brother-(adopted) sister tandem of Paul and Tammy Metzler (played by Chris Klein and Jessica Campbell, also outstandingly, especially Klein). These three people are avatars for American personalities (two real and one imagined): the evil, greedy, 'will step on anyone to get ahead' Flick; the apathetic Tammy; and the wounded athlete/genuinely nicest guy in the entire school, Paul. Paul Metzler's character is an ideal: simple, pure of heart and uncorrupted.

It's not fictitious in the moment (I knew kids like that in high school), but his time in the sun is fleeting. In the fantastic epilogue we see the beginning of his demise, as he's getting wasted at a frat party. It's only a matter of time before that happy-go-lucky boy gets sucked into a path of righteous, entitled complacency. He is a white prince; he's been born into it. It isn't even really his fault. But this is America. We know the score.

Paul's arc is neither tragic or heroic: it simply is. The other student avatars represent sides of this great human experiment with unflinching and unchangeable hearts. The fuck-it-all Tammy is the majority (like Ruth in a Citizen Ruth). She's not a bad person at heart, but she understands that to carve out a piece of happiness for herself, it's is going to take a good amount of selfishness. Tracy is the powers-that-be. The entity which sees everything and anything in her way on her path towards SUCCESS as insects to be stepped on, fodder to be chewed up and spit out. And the genius of this story — based on Tom Perrotta's novel and so expertly adapted by Payne and partner screenwriter Jim Taylor — is that these kids are just the backdrop for the real saga: the plight of Mr. McAllister.

How much he ultimately doesn't give a shit about the election is great. He just wants to bang his neighbor's wife. His base, immoral id takes over and the childish election stuff goes straight to the back burner. This is really about the monotony of suburban life amidst the anguish of aging in a country where it's impossible to get ahead without being evil. He invents a drama in his daily routine. It starts with the election but he was only waiting for something else to happen. And then his eye gets jacked up by a bee sting and he's sleeping in his car. It's not that the deck is stacked. It's that your not even allowed to buy into the game.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 593A - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 594⫸

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Election is a 1999 American black comedy film directed by Alexander Payne from a screenplay by Payne and Jim Taylor, based on Tom Perrotta's 1998 novel of the same name. The plot revolves around a student body election and satirizes politics and high school life. The film stars Matthew Broderick as Jim McAllister, a popular high school social studies teacher, and Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick, an overachieving student whom he dislikes. When Tracy runs for student government president, McAllister sabotages her candidacy by backing a rival candidate and tampering with the ballot count. Although not a success at the box office, Election received widespread critical acclaim. The film received an Academy Awards nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Golden Globe nomination for Witherspoon for Best Actress, and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film in 1999. It was released on April 23, 1999.