When Julia Gillard announced the election, back in what feels like 1648, it seemed like it was going to a humdinger of a race.
In one corner we had a former member of the Socialist Alternative, who was an outspoken atheist and had no children, and in the other we had a fundamentalist Christian, who admitted that politicians don’t always “tell the truth” and had a thing for (partial) public nudity. It was two people that you couldn’t ever imagine agreeing or even being civil to each other, like Peter Griffin and Reverend Camden from Seventh Heaven.
Turns out the election kind of blows.
Apart from the coverage on TheVine and The Gruen Nation, the election hasn’t really captured my attention. So why waste time waiting for something exciting to happen on the 7.30 Report when you could watch a movie?
Here are my favourite movies involving elections:
Election (1999)
It’s a no brainer really. Reese Witherspoon while she was still in her pre Legally Blonde post Cruel Intentions cute and cuddly stage, totally slutting it up with teachers and ruthlessly climbing her way to the top of the student election at Papillion La Vista High. The level of shrillness and general irritability that Reese Witherspoon reaches in this film is quite remarkable in itself, but coupled with Matthew Broderick’s mid life crisis and that dopey face that Chris Klein seems to make in every movie, this movie is an absolute killer. If the 2010 federal election contained as much sex, debauchery and cupcakes as Election, then maybe I would flick on the news every once and a while.
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
I know it’s not cool to even mention that you once liked this movie, LET ALONE be caught DEAD in a ‘Vote for Pedro’ t shirt, but at the risk of losing what tiny shred of cool I have, I would definitely list this as one of my favourite election movies. Can I justify this decision? HELL YES.
a) Political campaigns don’t contain enough dancing
b) Political campaigns don’t contain enough Hayley Duff
Those are TWO justifications, now get off my back, OK??
Milk (2008)
I had to throw a serious one in somewhere, so it might as well be a film that causes me to cry hysterically and curl in the foetal position every time I watch it. Seeing all the energy and passion that Harvey Milk (albeit Sean Penn’s impersonation of Harvey Milk) inspired simply by preaching messages of equality and reason, makes the lack of exciting Australian politicians all the more obvious. In my mind, this movie ends with Sean Penn and James Franco getting married in a civil ceremony in California and living in a white mansion, like Ellen and Portia. Anyway.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999)
There is SO an election in it! Wikipedia clearly states “Senator Palpatine is elected the new Vice Chancellor to the Senate”.
The question is, who would you rather vote for?
P.S the ONE good thing about the election is that it gives you an excuse to sing along to swears with Dan Kelly: