"Meanwhile, politics is about getting a candidate in front of the public as a star, politics as rock'n'roll, politics as a movie"
About this Quote
Politics as celebrity is the point, and Joe Eszterhas knows the machinery from the inside. Coming out of Hollywood, he frames campaigning in the only language that reliably sells: star-making. The line doesn’t argue that politics has become entertainment so much as it shrugs at the inevitability of that conversion. “Meanwhile” is doing quiet damage here, implying the real work of governance is happening offstage (or not happening at all) while the spotlight economy takes over.
Eszterhas’s choice of rock’n’roll and movies isn’t decorative; it’s a diagnosis of medium and mood. Rock’n’roll signals rebellion, swagger, a crowd’s adrenaline. Movies signal narrative control: the carefully lit origin story, the villain, the comeback arc, the satisfying final reel. In that world, policy becomes set dressing and a candidate’s authenticity is less a moral quality than a performance style. You don’t need voters to agree with you; you need them to feel like they know you, or want to be near you.
The subtext is a critique of a public trained to evaluate leaders the way it evaluates pop culture: charisma over competence, “screen presence” over administrative skill, meme-able moments over slow institutional wins. Eszterhas is also indicting the media ecosystem that rewards spectacle, because it’s easier to package a “star” than to explain a zoning board, a tax credit, or a foreign aid bill. The dark punchline is that this isn’t a corruption of politics by entertainment; it’s politics finally admitting what it’s always needed: an audience.
Eszterhas’s choice of rock’n’roll and movies isn’t decorative; it’s a diagnosis of medium and mood. Rock’n’roll signals rebellion, swagger, a crowd’s adrenaline. Movies signal narrative control: the carefully lit origin story, the villain, the comeback arc, the satisfying final reel. In that world, policy becomes set dressing and a candidate’s authenticity is less a moral quality than a performance style. You don’t need voters to agree with you; you need them to feel like they know you, or want to be near you.
The subtext is a critique of a public trained to evaluate leaders the way it evaluates pop culture: charisma over competence, “screen presence” over administrative skill, meme-able moments over slow institutional wins. Eszterhas is also indicting the media ecosystem that rewards spectacle, because it’s easier to package a “star” than to explain a zoning board, a tax credit, or a foreign aid bill. The dark punchline is that this isn’t a corruption of politics by entertainment; it’s politics finally admitting what it’s always needed: an audience.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
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