Taped in 2008, during the infamous U.S. presidential election, Frontrunners explores the drama and competition of high school politics. The documentary focuses on a public high school in New York City that bills itself as the most competitive in the city, only accepting 3% of its 25,000 admission applications each year. You say school for the gifted, I say school for early heart attacks. This is a real deal, take no prisoners election. Candidates for Prez and VP run as one ticket, they have a primary season, a televised debate...hell, even the school paper endorses a candidate. This is like the playground for the next generation of Washington elites. Breed 'em young I guess.
As I'm wrapping up reading the 2008 presidential election tell all Game Change, I think I had politics on the brain when selecting this movie. However, you don't need to be a political junkie to enjoy it - maybe you're just a fan of high school entertainment like GLee or High School Musical...I don't judge. But I will say what made this documentary most interesting was the connection to how our presidential elections have become very much like a high school election. There are some scary similarities, such as the personality, popularity and race factors - in fact, the high schoolers were pretty much in agreement that race did play a significant factor in their elections. I found that particularly telling - we are our parents' children after all.
Throughout the movie I kept telling myself that despite the similarities this was just high school after all, and therefore the priorities of these candidates were certainly not the same as real life political candidates. Right? I mean it's not like McCain was worried about making it to ROTC before the bell rang. Obama didn't have to stay up all night cramming for the SATs and Hillary didn't have to worry about her boyfriend checking out the cheerleaders. Well...maybe it was more like real life than I gave it credit for.
One thing's for sure, Frontrunners will provide you with some flashbacks to your teens - otherwise known as my awkward years. It's really not fair that flannel was popular during the 90s - I look like a gay lumberjack in every damn yearbook photo. Oh memories, how I wish I could erase you. So when a teen would pop up on camera and say something awkward, I cringed every time. Needless to say this movie has a lot of those moments, so I spent the majority of it watching through my fingers like a horror movie. This is why I can't watch MTV anymore.
All in all, Frontrunners was fun and interesting at times, but did seem to lack any real excitement or drama. It ended up far less dramatic than the actual presidential election - gifted teenagers are fairly boring after all, go figure. No one outspoke with an open mic on, no one cussed, no one impregnated their mistress, and no one really went for the smear campaigning. In fact, maybe they should start making Washington politicians watch this documentary to show how an election should be managed. I waited until the televised debate before I passed judgment on Frontrunners, but ultimately I decided on giving it a BREW & VIEW IT!
Before heading into this year's mid-term elections, check out the trailer.
3 comments:
It's been a week since you've posted. Sir.
Where the hell are your posts TMMC. You're losing readers. I miss your posts.
It's now been over a month. Ma'am.
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