“Not every legend is a myth. Some are flesh and blood. Some legends walk among us.”
Truly feeling inspired is euphoric. Anything feels possible: getting rich, going viral, getting into your top choice for college, buying your mom a fancy car. Obviously, this can be dangerous. Not everyone can do everything. I can’t play professional basketball or win a Fields Medal. Still, it can be useful to have someone to be inspired by for whatever our goals should be.
For me, inspiration brings up feelings of existential connection. Like “There are other people out there existing, who have their own thoughts, who are creating and innovating, building things that are clever and hilarious and beautiful.”
I’ll read something and think, “Holy fuck! How did someone come up with this?” and “What could I come up with?…”
It feels like everything isn’t terrible, that some greatness exists.
We all come across art that moves us, a song, a movie, a play. But that doesn’t mean the creators of any of those works are our heroes. But sometimes, someone *themselves* is inspiring. Their *life* brings inspiration rather than just what they’ve made.
They are our Heroes.
Why Arnold?
I’ve written before about my love of movies starting in childhood. I don’t remember when I first watched the Terminator movies. They were always there. Like Nickelodeon cartoons and Bruce Lee, they were comforting pieces of media that childhood John got obsessed with. But the more I saw and learned about Arnold, the more he appealed to me.
Why was Arnold such a hero of mine growing up? Let me try to explain.
If you’ve been living under a rock and don’t know the legend of the Austrian Oak, the very abridged version goes something like this: a young Austrian immigrant with no money comes to the U.S. and starts winning all the biggest bodybuilding competitions. This strongman starts several successful businesses including mail-order fitness supplies and construction (appropriate for the musclebound) and becomes a millionaire in the process. Then, overcoming all of Hollywood telling him he couldn’t be in the movies because of his ridiculous body and arguably even more ridiculous accent, he becomes a working actor. He goes from silly roles in bad films to box office movie star. Is his myth done yet? No, he goes on to become the two-time “Governator” of the most populated and richest state in the union, a country he wasn’t even born in. This is the story of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Let me borrow from a famous role-playing game’s rules to try to explain what makes Arnold amazing…
I’ve never actually played Dungeons and Dragons but I have friends that do. When you’re setting up your character, you roll dice to see how high your stats are in different categories. So I might roll a 3 in Dexterity which means I’m as agile as Frankenstein’s monster. If my Dexterity was 20, I’d be like Legolas jumping around on orcs.
It’s like Arnold rolled a natural 20 in both Strength and Charisma and at least 16 in Intelligence.
This Youtuber Dominick Izzo had an interesting take on Bruce Lee. Even though it was critical of Bruce, I thought he was spot on about a lot of what made Bruce so notable is that, like Arnold, he was physically extraordinary and also charismatic. Just being a physical specimen wouldn’t have been enough for achieving the level of stardom Bruce and Arnold did.
If he was just strong, he’d maybe be famous in the bodybuilding world but not anywhere else. But he’s not only strong, he’s charismatic as fuck. He has what Scott Adams calls a “talent stack”.
It’s also probable Arnold has what is called a “hyperthymic temperament”. It’s basically this highly enviable personality type where you’re full of energy, confidence, and everything surrounding that. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. “Why don’t I have that?” Get in line, dear reader.
I was impressed when reading a review on GoodReads of a biography on Arnold, that the reviewer thought the same thing, given that hyperthymic temperament is a relatively obscure concept.
His Playful Sense of Humor and Charisma
I have a playful sense of humor, so seeing that really appeals to me.
Some moments to show this:
Arnold teaching Linda how to find an excuse to flex, and his “good looks” comment:
Basically every moment from Pumping Iron, but here are some highlights:
Take a look at this reaction to someone throwing an egg at him at a campaign rally for California governor:
Reporter: “What was your reaction uh, you got hit by an egg? What do you think?…”
Arnold: “Well, this guy owes me bacon now. I mean, there’s no two ways about it because I mean, you can’t just have eggs without bacon.”
“But this is just all part of, you know, the free speech. I think it’s great. You see these people here screaming out. Now imagine you’re in some communist state or some dictatorship. You couldn’t do that. That’s why I love this country. And you have to take the whole package when you love something. I think that California’s great. I think America’s great. Everyone can speak out. Everyone has freedom of speech. That’s what creates the ultimate of democracy. So I believe in that and I welcome that.”
That bacon thing, what a line.
How he smokes his stogies:
To see how far he came, look at this clip. Arnold was credited as “Arnold Strong” in his first role and his lines had to be dubbed over because his accent was so thick.
And here’s a bonus to hear him speaking in German:
He’s Unapologetic
Arnold is unapologetic. Being unapologetic doesn’t mean never admitting you’re wrong. It means owning things, good and bad. He doesn’t trip over himself apologizing for things just because the dominant culture at the time doesn’t like it. I wish more people were like this.
Two examples of that:
While he was governor of California, TMZ asked him about Tommy Chong saying they used to smoke together.
Did Arnold hem and haw? Equivocate about having “never broken the laws of his country” or say he “didn’t inhale” the way Bill Clinton did? (Credit to Bill, it was a less progressive time, though.)
No:
“We always had a good time. We knew how to enjoy ourselves.”
Did Arnold take steroids? Owns it immediately:
Needing Greatness
I grew up in the agricultural hellhole that is the Central Valley of California. I felt an affinity for people who grew up in dead areas and longed for more. People like George Lucas, who grew up in the same area I did and then got the hell out of there. And Arnold.
“I’d felt from the time I was ten years old that I was destined for something bigger than staying in Austria, even though, at that time, I didn’t quite know what I was going to be.”
“My hair was pulled. I was hit with belts. So was the kid next door. It was just the way it was. Many of the children I’ve seen were broken by their parents, which was the German-Austrian mentality. They didn’t want to create an individual. It was all about conforming. I was one who did not conform, and whose will could not be broken. Therefore, I became a rebel. Every time I got hit, and every time someone said, ‘You can’t do this,’ I said, ‘This is not going to be for much longer because I’m going to move out of here. I want to be rich. I want to be somebody.'”
I didn’t become a movie star but getting out of the Central Valley opened up the whole world for me. (Sidenote: I would highly recommend moving from an isolated place to a real city, or at least near a real city. Easier said than done if you don’t have any lucrative skills, but it’s worth having as a goal to plan towards.)
Arnold represents the American dream incarnate.
He wanted to get out. And he wanted to be somebody. I was gonna type “Don’t we all?” but I thought of all the people perfectly content with living and dying in the same place they grew up. We don’t all. But my heroes and I did.
The Terminator Mindset to Overcoming OCD
As an adult, I realized I had suffered from many symptoms of OCD as a kid. Intrusive thoughts and images would stick with me and cause me tons of distress. I developed coping mechanisms for dealing with them. I idolized the Terminator’s ability to just do what needed to be done without worry.
I would imagine myself as the T-800 and picturing things with its HUD while doing the dishes or pulling weeds or doing things out of my comfort zone. I liked the idea of just being able to do something without having to be overwhelmed with the “what ifs”.
Male Friendship
One thing I admired about my dad growing up was that he had some deep male friendships. They made me feel safe. It’s something I also appreciate in Arnold.
Many of his friends are fellow big dudes that Arnold got small parts in his films.
Dudes like Sven-Ole Thorsen:
And Ralf Moeller (the guy from Gladiator):
And of course, his bestest friend, Franco Colombu.
Arnold met Franco at a bodybuilding competition in Germany and they stayed lifelong besties until Franco’s recent death in 2019. You see their beautiful friendship in Pumping Iron. Franco also makes a cameo as a Terminator in The Terminator.
I was bummed to hear Franco died. Maria Shriver even posted a beautiful tribute including many pictures of him and Arnold despite them being divorced.
Often my dad’s friends were people who he initially fought with.
Like my dad’s way of making friends, Arnold eventually become besties with Sly Stallone after hating each other:
Franco was actually Sly’s personal trainer for some films like Rocky II.
He’s Not Tied to Partisan Bullshit
Arnold was a Republican most of his American life. He supported Republican politicians and ran as a Republican governor. That said, he didn’t stay stuck in tribal ideologies. Arnold has tried to use his masculine idol status for promoting progressive, liberal issues.
He went from saying famous gaffes like: “No, I think gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman.”
To this:
He’s had a long fight to end gerrymandering:
He pushes for action on climate change:
He also, of all people, switched to a mostly vegan diet:
Movie Recs
Now I haven’t seen them all, but Arnold hasn’t made a movie I really loved since Jingle All the Way in 1996. I remember being a kid and watching Terminator 3 in the theater and feeling something was off even though I didn’t really wake up to “good” and “bad” movies until I was older. His movie career’s been on a steady decline since Batman and Robin and especially post-Governorship. He’s made some okay movies but he was never an actor outside of action or comedy, and action doesn’t convincingly lend itself to aged heroes, The Expendables series be damned.
For those who have somehow gone their whole life without seeing these, here are Arnold’s movies in tiered rankings. (The tiers are for other people, not my personal ranking which would have Jingle All the Way in the top three…) I would recommend starting with:
God Tier
- The Terminator
- Terminator 2
- Pumping Iron
Great
- Total Recall
- True Lies
- Twins
Good
- Predator
- Commando
- Kindergarten Cop
- Jingle All the Way
Bonus
His bit part (not famous enough then to be a cameo) in The Long Goodbye
Missed Roles
If I could see Arnold in one role he almost played, it’d be as Animal Mother in Full Metal Jacket. Apparently, Kubrick thought of Arnold specifically. Seeing a Kubrick-directed performance from Arnold would have been out of this world. Probably would have been his best-acted role. Adam Baldwin did a great job of course but damn if I wouldn’t give up that and Running Man to see it.
Second one would probably be a James Cameron directed Spider-Man with Arnold as Doc Oc. Hard to picture but every movie Cameron and Arnie made together was great.
In a callback to the heroes of old, Arnold’s own idol, Reg Park, appropriately played Hercules, and Arnold’s first starring role was playing Hercules in New York! The hero of my hero playing one of the greatest heroes: a lineage.
If I Met Arnold
If I met Arnold, one of the things I’d really want to talk about is how isolated he may feel. It must be hard for people to really know him with his charismatic, public persona. Of course, he might give me a charismatic public persona answer. It’s annoying when people can’t turn it off sometimes. Like the scene in Good Will Hunting when Sean wants him to be real:
The other thing I’d really want is to try to save him. In the transhumanist sense, not the Christian one.
“I have always been extremely pissed off about the idea of death. It’s such a waste. I know it’s inevitable, but what the hell is that? Your whole life you work, you try to improve yourself, save money, invest wisely, and then all of a sudden — poof. It’s over. Death pisses me off more than ever.” -Arnold
I’ve written extensively on how against death and aging I am. I was devastated when Bill Paxton (appeared with Arnie in The Terminator and True Lies) died so young. It’s losing someone F-O-R-E-V-E-R.
I wish so badly that people didn’t have to suffer and die. With our current level of technology, the best we can do for people who may die soon is have them sign up for cryonics.
I hope it’ll become more mainstream and easier to convince people I appreciate like Arnold to support longevity research and sign up for cryonics. Otherwise, you have to passively watch people deteriorate and die and it sucks.
Wrap Up
It’s nice to find someone to look to when you need some inspiration. When I’m slacking on exercising, I think of Arnold saying “Two more (reps)” in Pumping Iron. When I need to be brave and push through something uncomfortable, I think of Arnold as the Terminator blowing his way through a biker bar.
Thanks, Arnie.
When I say the word “hero”, who comes to mind?
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