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| Game Change's gift of an improbable dignity to Sarah Palin | Game Change's gift of an improbable dignity to Sarah Palin |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Game Change, the book, was an example of campaign journalism at its most crass: an inelegant hodge-podge of rumors and supposition threaded together with a thesaurus and gall. Game Change, the movie, is an example of what happens when you remove the journalists from journalism: you get a story. | Game Change, the book, was an example of campaign journalism at its most crass: an inelegant hodge-podge of rumors and supposition threaded together with a thesaurus and gall. Game Change, the movie, is an example of what happens when you remove the journalists from journalism: you get a story. |
| A pretty good one, in fact. By choosing to focus on the psychodrama behind and following John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, the makers of the movie picked out the 2008's second most compelling narrative (the major one having something to do the history of race in America, whatever) – but by far its most intimate one. Not many people can really identify with the story of a man attempting to fulfill the destiny of an entire people; almost everyone has a story about a blind date gone terribly, terribly wrong. | A pretty good one, in fact. By choosing to focus on the psychodrama behind and following John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, the makers of the movie picked out the 2008's second most compelling narrative (the major one having something to do the history of race in America, whatever) – but by far its most intimate one. Not many people can really identify with the story of a man attempting to fulfill the destiny of an entire people; almost everyone has a story about a blind date gone terribly, terribly wrong. |
| By nature, the movie had to excise a lot of the clunky writing and ham-fisted exposition that weighed down the airy hypothetical conversations that made Game Change a bestseller. The private meetings where Palin supposedly revealed the depths of her ignorance – wanting to negotiate England's Iraq policy with the Queen, not knowing why there is a North and South Korea – are thinly sourced, at best; but in the context of hindsight and in the hands of skilled actors, they ring frighteningly true. | By nature, the movie had to excise a lot of the clunky writing and ham-fisted exposition that weighed down the airy hypothetical conversations that made Game Change a bestseller. The private meetings where Palin supposedly revealed the depths of her ignorance – wanting to negotiate England's Iraq policy with the Queen, not knowing why there is a North and South Korea – are thinly sourced, at best; but in the context of hindsight and in the hands of skilled actors, they ring frighteningly true. |
| Liberal viewers will, undoubtedly, find great satisfaction in seeing these scenes performed, especially given the eerily spot-on performances of the cast. The movie's producers went to completely unnecessary lengths, in some cases, to make the scenes appear, at least, to be documentary – even the bit-part actors are dopplegangers for their characters, and they attended to details such as McCain's preference in liquor or the look of the campaign's office. | |
| To their credit, though, the filmmakers don't just pile insults Palin. The movie does make a lot of use of the Saturday Night Live Palin parodies, but the gaps in her knowledge aren't played for laughs. Characters are constantly reinforcing the urgency of the task at hand and the idea that she could be the president; the reality of her proximity to the most powerful office in the world means that her inability, say, to state the major differences between the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq isn't funny, it's chilling. | To their credit, though, the filmmakers don't just pile insults Palin. The movie does make a lot of use of the Saturday Night Live Palin parodies, but the gaps in her knowledge aren't played for laughs. Characters are constantly reinforcing the urgency of the task at hand and the idea that she could be the president; the reality of her proximity to the most powerful office in the world means that her inability, say, to state the major differences between the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq isn't funny, it's chilling. |
| Some might be surprised by the very sympathetic portrayal of senior campaign adviser Steve Schmidt – even though he was largely responsible for getting Palin on the ticket. He was sympathetically portrayed in the book, as well. And someone had to be the hero in any narrative, or at least the protagonist – by Washington campaign-book logic that person is usually the individual who was most forthcoming to those collecting the source material. | Some might be surprised by the very sympathetic portrayal of senior campaign adviser Steve Schmidt – even though he was largely responsible for getting Palin on the ticket. He was sympathetically portrayed in the book, as well. And someone had to be the hero in any narrative, or at least the protagonist – by Washington campaign-book logic that person is usually the individual who was most forthcoming to those collecting the source material. |
| Not that anyone knows for sure, but Schmidt's arc, as presented in the book, has always been a bit puzzling: he pushed Palin on McCain (other senior staffers had deep reservations), but he emerges as the one who sees most clearly how dangerous she is. On paper, this seems self-serving. In the hands of Woody Harrelson, able to give three dimensions to someone in the business of only putting up a front, it's more Shakespearian: he just didn't know. | Not that anyone knows for sure, but Schmidt's arc, as presented in the book, has always been a bit puzzling: he pushed Palin on McCain (other senior staffers had deep reservations), but he emerges as the one who sees most clearly how dangerous she is. On paper, this seems self-serving. In the hands of Woody Harrelson, able to give three dimensions to someone in the business of only putting up a front, it's more Shakespearian: he just didn't know. |
| He had a complicated set of reasons for wanting to believe this risk would pan out. He is the stand-in for the American public, who fell for Palin pretty quickly at first, but soon started to wonder – as Harrelson says in the movie – "Oh, my God, what have we done?" | He had a complicated set of reasons for wanting to believe this risk would pan out. He is the stand-in for the American public, who fell for Palin pretty quickly at first, but soon started to wonder – as Harrelson says in the movie – "Oh, my God, what have we done?" |
| McCain gets off pretty easily, as well – also not a surprise given the "nobody could have known" narrative. And again, a character out of reality is made more real because an actor can portray depth when a politician must project an image. Also, movie-McCain is allowed to say "fuck" a lot, which always humanizes a guy. | McCain gets off pretty easily, as well – also not a surprise given the "nobody could have known" narrative. And again, a character out of reality is made more real because an actor can portray depth when a politician must project an image. Also, movie-McCain is allowed to say "fuck" a lot, which always humanizes a guy. |
| That Schmidt and McCain skate by history's (or at least, the movie's) judgment will upset some viewers, who understandably would like someone to blame for bringing Palin and her toxic discourse into national discussion. And Game Change, the movie, not only robs them of a scapegoat, but also, to some extent, a villain. Julianne Moore has played a whole string of brittle women fighting internal demons and external forces with only an eggshell carapace between the two, from a quasi-agoraphobe in Safe, to a cocaine-blasted porn star in Boogie Nights. She brings to Palin an almost-feral canniness that rings exactly true – but also a fearful self-awareness that is a gift from Moore to Palin, which many would argue Palin doesn't deserve. | That Schmidt and McCain skate by history's (or at least, the movie's) judgment will upset some viewers, who understandably would like someone to blame for bringing Palin and her toxic discourse into national discussion. And Game Change, the movie, not only robs them of a scapegoat, but also, to some extent, a villain. Julianne Moore has played a whole string of brittle women fighting internal demons and external forces with only an eggshell carapace between the two, from a quasi-agoraphobe in Safe, to a cocaine-blasted porn star in Boogie Nights. She brings to Palin an almost-feral canniness that rings exactly true – but also a fearful self-awareness that is a gift from Moore to Palin, which many would argue Palin doesn't deserve. |
| As played by Moore, Palin knows as well as anyone that she is the weak link in the balance of history. Moore's sensitivity shows in her eyes and in the hollowness of her bravado. When movie-Palin dredges up a good performance in a debate or an interview, she is not just coming through to satisfy her boundless ego; she is clawing her way into forgiveness, pathetically trying to placate the fates that have cursed her with fame and power. | As played by Moore, Palin knows as well as anyone that she is the weak link in the balance of history. Moore's sensitivity shows in her eyes and in the hollowness of her bravado. When movie-Palin dredges up a good performance in a debate or an interview, she is not just coming through to satisfy her boundless ego; she is clawing her way into forgiveness, pathetically trying to placate the fates that have cursed her with fame and power. |
| Palin has become a punchline for a lot of commentators, myself included. Her accent, her hair, her questionable fashion choices are easy comedic targets in a world that is all too complicated and grim. But she is a real person, whose flaws are familiar, if also more apparent than most. History could have made her president by now, if all the potential tragedies of modern politics broke just the wrong way. | Palin has become a punchline for a lot of commentators, myself included. Her accent, her hair, her questionable fashion choices are easy comedic targets in a world that is all too complicated and grim. But she is a real person, whose flaws are familiar, if also more apparent than most. History could have made her president by now, if all the potential tragedies of modern politics broke just the wrong way. |
| If thinking about that scares you, don't let the idea that she was an anomaly keep you from paying attention to the flawed humans running our governments now. Their mistakes may not be made into movies, just policy. And sometimes, history never makes it all the way to farce. | If thinking about that scares you, don't let the idea that she was an anomaly keep you from paying attention to the flawed humans running our governments now. Their mistakes may not be made into movies, just policy. And sometimes, history never makes it all the way to farce. |
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