Two Modern Masterpieces and What They Teach Us

Mega Man recently expressed interest in comparing Commando with another Schwarzenegger film, The Running Man. That's his project, though, and my goal with this entry is different. Mega Man and I watched The Running Man today, and I couldn't help but relate it to a book that a special person recently loaned me: Russian novelist Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. I'm currently reading this book and have only reached the half-way point, but it has me thinking about Stalin's regime (the book satirizes that regime). Some features of Soviet life under Stalin are strikingly similar to features of The Running Man's vision of American life in 2017. America is a police state, as the scrolling text at the film's opening tells us. What does all this mean? I contend that The Running Man is subtly but distinctly ant-Soviet, Cold War propaganda, with a timely 1987 release.

I offer the following as evidence for my thesis:

1) At the beginning of The Running Man, the sexy Schwarzenegger sidekick, Amber Mendez, has a stash of stuff hidden in her apartment. The stuff includes illegal clothing, music from the "banned list" that Ben Richards (Schwarzenegger) makes brief mention of, a travel pass, and cash. Bulgakov's novel (along with a lot of other artwork) was suppressed in Russia, much like the music that Amber hides is suppressed in America. The travel pass? The government wants to keep track of where citizens go within their own country. Sounds a little bit like a certain dictatorship which purported to be a communist government that I've mentioned. As for the banned clothes, I would guess that this police state wants its citizens to dress conservatively. In The Master and Margarita, the police arrest anyone who's outside in long underwear. And the currency? Why would Amber need to hide money? Probably because the police state government regulates who gets the money, much like a communist government, and will not stand for private hoarding.

2) The stalkers on The Running Man game show are offered real estate as part of their contracts, much like Russian artists were often offered resort houses under communism.

3) Among trumped-up charges listed against against Amber are what follows: dating two or three men in the same year (can you even imagine?), cheating on college exams, and sleeping with Ben Richards. Apparently this is enough for the government and government-sponsored network ICS to issue Amber a death sentence. Amber's promiscuity, real or fictionalized, is made into an offense against the state, which likely promotes nuclear families. Cheating on exams doesn't seem like much of a crime, but in a highly regulated communist society the best jobs would likely go to the people with the best exam scores.

I've made my point, and I'd finally like to salute the makers of two great masterpieces, Mikhail Bulgakov and whoever it was who directed The Running Man. I can't remember. The guy who played Starsky on the "Starsky and Hutch" TV show.