04.7.19

This one is mostly about Election (you know, the movie); you've been warned.

A tic that bothers me: People really, really like comparing female politicians to Tracy Flick, the small, blonde overachiever from the book and movie Election. They mostly mean the movie, which, to be fair, is probably a better-put-together thing than the book, crueler in certain ways. Anyway, Hillary Clinton was Tracy Flick (several times over). Kristen Gillibrand is Tracy Flick. Elizabeth Warren is Tracy Flick. And so on and so on. (Did I mention: Clinton.) People who hate these politicians do the Tracy Flick thing, people who like them do it.

Election is a great, funny, pitch-black movie and an enjoyable book. But I will be honest and say that this mass comparison thing sort of makes me wonder if most people have whatever the movie-watching equivalent of reading comprehension is. Viewing comprehension, whatever. I mean it’s true that the (truly horrifying) Election poster is basically Tracy Flick eating her enemies but I am going off the assumption that people watched the movie in a…