Film should be reissued before the Election of 2016. The public should see it and realize that Trump personifies the nonsense that would emerge as pearls of wisdom from Chance's mouth. It would truly be a public service.
share...unlike the current President, who campaigned on detailed policy proposals and deep philosophical discourses like "Hope" and "Change."
In case you haven't noticed, both parties have been running Chauncey Gardiners for decades. People find technocrats who actually know how to do things boring, so they don't stand a chance.
It's not an exact parallel, but I do see one important similarity. It seems to me that Donald Trump gained as much popularity and success as he did because almost anything he said or did was immediately re-interpreted by his listeners. Early in his campaign, his supporters stopped cheering for what he promised to do, and began cheering for what they felt it meant. White supremacists saw him as an opportunity to have one of their own in power. Working class people saw him as someone who championed their neglected concerns. Americans who felt the government was out of touch with them, saw Trump as an outsider who would clean up political corruption. And so forth, every faction seeing and hearing what they wanted to.
I've heard interviews with some of his supporters who raved about his promise to expel certain racial groups from the U.S., and how that would logically lead to cracking down on minorities; and with other supporters, who laughed and said that of course he would never do such an awful thing, and didn't intend to. They listened to the same speech, but heard completely different messages. It seemed to be the same all around.
Just like Chance, Donald Trump was a blank canvas on which everyone applied what they expected, or what they wanted. He would say outrageous things sometimes, or ridiculous things, or even patently untrue things, and voters would hear something seemingly unrelated to his actual words. It worked, but what happens next? He's been elected now, and even his supporters still don't agree on what he can be expected to do. What would happen if Chance were elected president?
"You can't handle the post-truth!"
The analogy's been used on every newly elected President since the film was first released.
shareThe left repeatedly returns to the empty well of relative ridicule.
shareIt just occurred to me today to look up this movie because my vague recollection was that this is really mirrored today with the election of Trump -- more appropriate than any other president in my lifetime.
share"DDUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHH" - The Great OP
shareA comparison has been drawn between Chance and every sitting President since the film was first released in 1979. This is not some revolutionary line of thought.
sharePerhaps more apt than ever though, President Trump does use simple statements like 'Best Ever' and 'Fantastic' ad nauseum.
While Trump is a superior showman than most Presidents, you have to admit that his vocabulary is more limited in range than your average politican.
Chance with a mean streak.
shareNot a particularly apt comparison imo. Chance was an idiot, but he was sweet and innocent. Trump's an idiot, but he's a pathetic combination between a cocksucking bully and a pant-shitting crybaby.
shareActually, George W. Bush seems more like Chauncey Gardener than Trump.
Trump has always been actively evil, fucking over anyone he can in business, and seeking out publicity in any form - from reality TV to politics. Bush Jr. is more of the empty suit type, someone who looked good and said the right phrases for the camera, while his puppet masters pulled the strings.