Arnold Schwarzenegger

Although he is now an aging politician from California, Arnold Schwarzenegger ushered in the generation of bad ass. Prior to his appearance on screen our tough guy roles were played by James Dean or Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and other great actors with huge personas. But now it almost seems that you do not need a persona, you just need to be huge! The reason i chose Arnold was to show how the idea of a "star" can sometimes ruin a genre. Now don't get me wrong, I think what Schwarzenegger did for film was truly remarkable, highlighted by his roles in James Cameron's Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day. But, when you look back and see what has came from him it really is sad. Arnold became the image of the alpha male, as opposed to Brando and Dean whose images were something we could reach for within normal means. No one knew of the word "steroids" like we publicly do today. People saw Arnold and wanted to be him and as they dug deeper and deeper the result was synthetic drugs. Not only did this disarm the action genre in the long run, it disarmed what it means to be a fine upstanding American Man.

Take a look at some of those that followed him, Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, Rambo), John Cena (The Marine), Terry Crews (Training Day, Harsh Times). These are all extremely muscle bound and steroid infused freaks. Correct me if i am wrong but John Cena doesn't hold a candle let alone a damn lighter to Brando or Pacino. Even James Bond's Daniel Craig in Casino Royale was rumored to being HGH or the Human Growth Hormone. What's next, Vin Diesel as a Babysitter....Oh, wait that happened.

I completely understand where these people get their star appeal and image from. As an avid gym rat (non steroid user, obviously) I know that no matter what you take it is still a ton of work to look like any of the guys i have listed here. But i guess my attempt was to disarm the star image for once rather than just explain it or glorify it. Because when it really comes down to it, movie stars dictate fashion, physique, relationships, cars, and every other general way that we carry ourselves through everyday life. And these guys are promoting a life style that dabbles in drugs. I have researched steroids countlessly I know a good ammount of people on them, alot of the lure of roid rage is false and the ridicuous side effects as well, but it is still a drug. People do go through withdrawal, sometimes bad enough to take their own life. I think by building a star image like that is just too high and eventually people are going to give up. We need to hold on to our talented action stars like Bruce Willis and Matt Damon and understand that Arnold and Sly may be impressive, they are in a league of their own.