To keep it bodybuilding related I want to mention something about Arnold. Because there are some threads about him and his acting, or lack thereof, abilities and how he never really made great movies. Maybe so, but it mattered, at least to me, that it was Arnold on that screen.
When I was a teen and read his first book, his autobiography, I thought it was a bit odd, maybe even a little bit conceited, that a guy in his early thirties is already writing his biography. There was also a part in that book where he mentions how he's going into acting and going to be a millionaire and all that stuff. And how in his mind he was already successful and accomplished all that it was just a matter of going through the motions. That made me think about that scene in PI where he tauts Louie and his dad that he already called his mom and told her he win. That in his mind is was already a done deal. It's just a matter of going through the motions. I remember scoffing at him reading that boast in his book. At his arrogance. That there are some things in life you just can't control. You can't make people like some muscle man, with a funny accent and an unpronounceable and "unspellable" name and accept him as a leading man on films.
Max_Rep might remember that there was point in his first campaign for governor where Arnold started acting like he already won. The press were mocking him because he was already hiring his staff, making plans for his office, getting his kids pre-enrolled in the schools in Sacramento. It was like in his mind he already won the election and it was just a matter of going through the motions. When I saw him on TV talking like he was already the governor and all the things he was going to do it was then I knew he would win.
It's like Arnold is one of those few men in history that can determine his own fate and destiny through sheer force of will.
And it was in the 1980's that he let the world know who he is. And I can't think of a more recognizable person in this world than Arnold. And seeing
Arnold on the screen during the eighties, knowing that he really was going to make his mark in this world, rise above an obscure subculture that most find odd and a bit weird, mattered because he was one of our own. He made me smile that he even had a large contingent of his meat head friends from the good days raising a ruckus and making themselves heard during his inauguration.
