Election

Tracy Flick, played with utter conviction and ruthless cheerfulness by Reese Witherspoon, is the most eager student at Carver High and the only candidate running for President in the school elections. Mr. McAllister is Carver’s most eager teacher. He secretly lusts after Tracy, but he also detests her and decides that there should be another candidate. His recruit is a slow-witted jock named Paul, but the competition gets really rough when Paul’s lesbian anarchist sister, Tammy, jumps into the race too… ‘Election makes the useful observation that although troublemakers cause problems for teachers, it’s the compulsive over-achievers who can drive them mad. What is Tracy Flick’s platform? That she should win simply because she is the school’s (self)-designated winner? When a candidate turns up on election day having baked 480 customized cupcakes for the voters, doesn’t she seem kind of inevitable?’ (Roger Ebert) As a sly metaphorical take on the political process in America, Election finds itself in line with other recent comedies like Bulworth or Dick: If real politics have given up analysis, enlightenment and the res publica as basic values, what have these values been replaced by? A series of libidinous-economic wet dreams, maybe? Stirring shareholder lust and sexual fantasy at the same time? Simply bragging about having the biggest dick – bigger, longer, uncut? What’s the place of Erections in Elections? (A.H.)