Posted on 10/25/2011 11:56:54 AM PDT by Brookhaven
There was something about the recent Heman Cain "smoking" ad that seemed familiar to me, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. Then it hit me, it reminds me of the Edgar Friendly speech from the movie Demolition Man.
For those not familiar with the film, it is a Sylvester Stallone move set in the not too distant future where the nanny-state has come to full fruition. Use of crude language is fined, food is restricted to "healty choices," music is limited meaningless dittys, and even kissing is prohibited as a safety hazard because it transfers bodily fluids. Citizens lead safe, happy, government-directed, meaningless lives.
Society is managed by someone named Cocteau, who rose as a benevolent saviour after after a major war. Behind the scenes, you come to understand that Cocteau's benevolence has less to do with the good of society and more to do with maintaining personal control over the population. He's perfectly happy creating a utopian society, as long as that utopia reflects his vision of what utopia should be.
The rebels in the film are a group of people whose only crime is wanting to live life according to their own vision. Cocteau considers them such a threat, that not only has he driven them underground, but he goes to extraodinary lengths to eliminate them--permanently--by killing the rebels.
Which brings us to the Edgar Friendly speech, where late in the film he explains exactly why he doesn't want to be part of the Cocteau's utopian society:
You see, according to Cocteau's plan, I'm the enemy, 'cause I like to think; I like to read. I'm into freedom of speech and freedom of choice. I'm the kind of guy who likes to sit in a greasy spoon and wonder, "Gee, should I have the T-bone steak or the jumbo rack of barbecued ribs with the side order of gravy fries?" I WANT high cholesterol. I wanna eat bacon and butter and BUCKETS of cheese, okay? I want to smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in the non-smoking section. I want to run through the streets naked with green Jell-o all over my body reading Playboy magazine. Why? Because I suddenly might feel the need to, okay, pal? I've SEEN the future. Do you know what it is? It's a 47-year-old virgin sitting around in his beige pajamas, drinking a banana-broccoli shake, singing "I'm an Oscar Meyer Wiener".The freedoms he's fighting for seem trivial (eating a steak, smoking a cigar) and silly (green Jello?), but they raise the question: why should any of this be the government's damn business?
This is the same feeling Cain's smoking ad evokes. It's a huge middle-finger to the nanny-state that declares the way I live my life isn't any of the government damn business?
Was that the movie where all the restaurants were Taco Bell?
Yep.
A very underated movie, imho. A good action film, strong comedy, and a political story with real relevance to today’s situation.
“Let’s blow this guy.”
“No, it’s ‘Let’s blow this guy, away.’”
Yes, the only restraunts were Taco Bells and it was considered fine dining. Its a great movie because it reflects a lot of what we see happening with political correctness.
The funny thing is, at the time this movie was made, there wasn’t much of a PC movement and in the movie Stallone calls the leader a fascist. I think that this was a movie made by hollywood to criticise right wing ideology. Of course the irony is that fascism and socialism are really the same thing in most respects - total control and big government.
That’s because it’s based on ‘Brave New World’.
If you want the original read that one. :)
It had a very uneasy quality about it, perhaps a film noir or avant garde element to it.
Your idea of him giving the finger to the nanny staters makes a lot of sense...particularly considering that rather sarcastic grin he slowly developed at the end. Either very strange or very clever.
That being said, no one forced him to smoke. The government is full of busy-bodies with inflated self-visions of importance.
The government should butt-out!
Mark Block addresses smoking role in latest Cain video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxd28bBqtBE
Much ado about nothing :-)
Makes me want to see if it’s on On-Demand on FIOS.
Please spellcheck & proofread. Way too many typos in that post, as well as the title of the thread.
Run around in front of my little kids nekkid with green Jello smeared all over you, and I’ll make it my business.
Don’t care what you eat, drink, or otherwise; just don’t dangle your privates in front of my little girls. They’ve got a right to live in this world without being confronted with perverts.
BINGO!!!!
He figures that whether he wins or not, he can at least call the tune the candidates dance to. Pretty damn smart if you ask me, and way smarter than anyone else in the race except maybe Newt but even Newt isn't as cunning. Cain for President, Newt for VP, that's going to be the ticket because the rest of the boobs, no matter how much money they have and in spite of the media cheer leading for them, are just not even on the same planet as the electorate.
It's not just having your cash ripped off, your job prospects reduced by absurd regulations, and your freedom of speech and religion taken away, it's being told you can't smoke a cigarette and drive the car you like while you look for work that pisses people off. Just think how FDR would have done if he had outlawed movies and big band music in order to get people “focused” on saving the planet back in ‘33. Well, that's what Bozo and his Wookie are up to and yes, it's as bad as ‘33 already there are just more assets for most people to burn through before the reality finally hits with full force.
JMHO
Regards
Demolition Man - Stream-able on Netflix.
In retrospect, it was all quite clever. Produce and release a strange video that goes viral...and then go on TV to explain/defuse and drive the message home.
Bottom line for me of the whole smoking video affair...positive, quirky, and maybe even a little fun.
Dennis Leary was EXCELLENT as Edgar Friendly.
Dennis Leary was EXCELLENT as Edgar Friendly.
You could not be more correct.
A campaign professional like Block would certainly understand the conventional wisdom against doing something like smoking in an ad. People who smoke often annoy people who don't smoke, and one generally does not want to gratuitously turn off any part of a potential audience.
But in this context, it is a message that Cain stands for freedom. Even most non-smokers understand that Big Government in places like New York City and San Francisco persecutes smokers, and that Big Government feels it has the right to tell people whether they can smoke, eat salty foods, eat foods with trans-fat, eat french fies, and on and on. And liberals argue that people who do these unhealthy things are imposing costs on the rest of society because society pays or should pay for their healthcare through nationalized health care or its equivalent (on the other hand, liberals are in favor of promiscuous homosexual bath house sex with people carrying deadly diseases, so go figure).
I'm looking forward to the next ad in which Block explains another reason to vote for Cain and then at the end enjoys a supersized French Fries and a milkshake.
I was never very strong on Cain before. This stupid commercial just about put me 100% sure I can't vote for him.
His tax plan really sucks. He has no chance. The polling numbers are fraudulent. And also show how pathetic the other Republican candidates are.
Give me a wake-up call for 2016.
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