A film made with the intention of delivering entertainment can reflect underlying meanings. A genre that is typically high on entertainment value is the action genre. During the 1980s flourished and produced a slue of financially successful films that are still seen today. The promise of a high body count and big explosions, reeled the American audience into theaters during the 1980s. Why is that? Was our perception of violence at an all time high during this decade? When it comes to pure action cinema, no movie upholds the ideals of the genre better than the 1985 feature Commando. What appears to be a plot revolved around setting up large scale action sequences, in fact contains coding that changes one’s look on the film. In this essay, I will deconstruct alternative coding in the film Commando. I seek to do this by analysis of both what is in the text of the film, and the film’s relation to contextual events of its day.
To start let’s consider the social context of this 80s action genre. Under the Reagan administration the action film was used to show strength of masculinity as something that was missing in the Carter administration. Though Reagan was an elder, he wanted to project an image of strength. For example riding horses was an effort at self-promotion. However a use of cinema could be a more efficient tool to get across his message. Thus was born the action hero male of the 1980s: A strong, white, heterosexual man capable of defending and embodying the ideals of Reagan America. Susan Jeffords goes into detail.
“In contrast to what Reagan’s public relations workers characterized as the weakened—some even said “feminine”—years of the Carter administration, in which the United States government was brought to a standstill by a Third World nation, the Reagan America was to be a strong one, capable of confronting enemies rather than submitting to them, of battling “evil empires” rather than allowing them to flourish, of using its hardened body—its renewed techno-military network—to impose its will on the others rather than allow itself to be dictated to.” (Jeffords 25).
Our central character, John Matrix (Schwarzenegger), is the epitome of everything deemed correct with America. A retired Colonel in the United States Army, he is also a single parent. Arnold Schwarzenegger is definitely not American born, but he has come to be associated with this country as much as any other actor has. This is because he represents the ideals of white male capitalist masculinity. Under the context of the Reagan administration as Susan Jeffords puts it: “during the Reagan era popular culture became the mechanism not simply for identifying but for establishing the relationship between the people and the State, through the articulation of that State as the unified national body of masculine character” (Jeffords 13). With this in mind, we see that Schwarznegger is a device for communicating ideals to the people; he is strong, straight, and white. Schwarzenngger’s size leads one to believe that his character is superhuman. In Commando, he is able to jump from an airplane and land with no broken bones or signs of pain. Other characters take smaller falls and are immediately dismissed as dead.
A montage at the film’s opening credit sequence shows his amazing parenting ability as it appears that he spends every waking moment with his young daughter Jenny. She plays an integral part in the plot, when she is kidnapped and her father is forced to kill a Central American president in order to have her returned safely. Intriguing is the hodgepodge of characters that kidnap her. We have two blacks, a Jew, a homosexual Australian, and a white male that is just short, scrawny, and offensive to women. This collection of enemies is as Lichtenfeld calls “… an “ideological vacuum. It also suggests the array of enemies aligned against America and its righteous action heroes. The rosters dictated by Wulfgar and Gruber resonate with the warning issued to Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando: ‘You’ve made enemies all over the world, John. It could have been the Syrians, the South Americans, the Russians, or a terrorist group. They’re going to find you.’ (Lichtenfeld 62)”
The film dictates the responsibility of the white male hero to do everything with as little of help as possible. Matrix is pushed into the rescuing of his daughter and by doing so successfully he fulfills his masculinity. Not only does he rescue his daughter but a mutuality exclusive side goal is the defeat of a deemed lesser nation.
Accompanying Schwarzenegger is perhaps the most ethnically diverse actress of our time: Rae Don Chong. Her mother is African-American/Amerindian, and her father is Scottish-Irish/Chinese-Canadian (IMDB). She plays the role of Cindy, a flight attendant. She is brought into the film because a white henchman, Sully, was hitting on her at the airport. Matrix takes note of this and proceeds to use her to get closer to the enemy, thus hoping to locate his daughter. The first thing Matrix does, is completely void respect for her property. This is demonstrated when he rips the passenger seat from her Sunbeam Tiger. She then follows his orders as as they follow Sully.
This leads to the second instance in which Matrix uses Cindy. With a motel key found, he knows where to find the next adversary that could lead him to his daughter. With Cindy accompanying our hero, they enter the motel room and await the next man to enter. When they hear a knocking at the door, Matrix rips off the top button on Cindy’s shirt. He explains, “Act like you had a good time with Sully”. In this instance she is used for her sexuality. The actor that played Sully, is white, which implies a mix racial coupling. Since Sully was hitting on her earlier, this works in the film’s favor on a racial plateau; but at the same time demonstrates the white male’s authority over the minority female.
What then proceeds is a machoism showdown. In the quaint motel room, Matrix squares off with a large black male named Cooke. Surprisingly Cooke is portrayed as a well dressed articulate professional. So professional is he that he spurts out a short resume while pausing in his fight with Matrix: “This Green Beret is going to kick your big ass”. Matrix retorts claiming that he eats Green Berets for breakfast and currently very hunger. At this point the fight continues and we are informed by Cindy that these guys eat plenty of red meat. While in the midst of this machoism, Matrix kicks Cooke through a door revealing a white male and female couple filming a sextape. Shortly after this exposing we witness the disposing of Cooke as Matrix throws him, inadvertently impaling him in the process. The killing of the black Cooke is another “triumph” for the white male. The coding during this series of events is summed up nicely as “Whites makes right; minorities are marginalized; only violence helps where violence rules; the heterocentric mythos remains at the center of the cinema.” (Dixon 50)
When pieces come together for our diverse pair, they steal a small airplane. Cindy can now fly a plane. For Cindy, there appears to be an upgrade in society as she moves from flight attendant to pilot. This is credited vocally as being from her training on a Cesna, but her takeoff is only possible through the forcing of the white male. Her flying skills are limited to basically taking the orders of Matrix; this includes flying low to avoid radar.
The stage is now set for perhaps the most violent oppression of Latinos in screen history. It is described by Alfred Charles Richard, Jr. as “singlehandedly slaughtered hundreds of Hispanics, soldiers in this case”, Richard goes on to conclude: “This violent para-vigilante carnage also included a bad Anglo for Arnold to kill to balance the ethnic equation—one Anglo is worth a 100 spics” (Richard 376). Commando contains the most brutal killing spree performed by one character on the film medium. When Schwarzenegger’s Matrix raids the compound of the villain, he is armed to the teeth. Equipped with an array of armaments, such as guns, knifes, and a rocket launcher; the heterosexual white male is ready to proclaim authority over all. The chief victims here are the Latino males. Matrix runs rampant through the compound. Firing rapidly he resists attempts to seek cover in a realistic fashion. Several Latinos die via bullets. Many are also killed with grenades and various other explosives.
Their deaths are justified in saying that they are soldiers. Since we don’t see any Central American citizens working a common job, this codes that all Latinos of the region are soldiers. This is similar to Negron-Muntaner’s reading of West Side Story: “Hence it was not a single Puerto Rican who was hailed as a criminal, it was the generalized ‘Puerto Rican’ Youth.” (Negron-Muntaner 86)
Hitting nearly every Latino in sight with gunfire, rockets, or knives; he eventually takes a small nick. Matrix then retreats to a small tool shed. Chased by his enemy, several men open fire on his place of refuge. With the smoke clearing, one of them is given the order to open the door. This of course leads to disaster for these soldiers as Matrix then wields a pitchfork, buzz saw blades, an axe, and machete. This scene is particularly gruesome because of the limbs removed and the blood expelled. One soldier takes a blow to the head with a saw blade that scalps him, bringing forth visions of Native American’s scalping whites. Next we see a man take an axe to the crotch followed another combatant taking a machete in the arm. According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, this scene was constructed slightly different; “During the scene in the shed, after Matrix cuts the soldier’s arm off, he was originally supposed to hit the victim with it and tell him to shut up. This scene was edited out as being too macabre. (Wikipedia)” This shed sequence occurs at the halfway point of Matrix’s tirade.
Continuing toward the mansion, Matrix takes no prisoners. When all is said and done, I counted eighty killed Latinos prior to the fight with the general, played by a Jewish actor, under the guise of a Central American. In one reading of this film, one can say that this domination of the Latino’s reflected hate toward the ethnic group. Commando associates the Latino community with crime. Every Latino shown on screen is deemed evil. Within the film’s context, we can see them as cruel and without families. One Latino soldier remarks that cutting a young girl’s throat is like slicing warm butter. No attempt is given to depict Latinos in a positive light. They are each devoid of character and act as a solid unit with one mission. So one dimensional is their roles, as fodder, that we never seen one eat or sleep.
If national context is in mind, the scenes mentioned above, can signify America’s need to control other nations. With Central America in our backyard, the American figure intervenes while completely avoiding bilateral relations with the leaders of the country. This demonstrates that the white American male can interfere and override another nations system. If had it not been for his interference, the rightful leader would have surely been assassinated by some means.
After Matrix runs out of Latinos to kill, the only options left is to find the homosexual and kill him. The homosexual is Bennett, Matrix’s nemesis. Highly noticeably is Bennett’s homosexual mannerisms. Most can be witnessed prior to the final showdown with Matrix. When Jenny thwarts her underpinnings, she uses a door knob to carve out a small hole in some wood planks. Noticing her gone, Bennett sees the missing wood that was covering the window. He then hurls himself toward the entire window, whining. Having fallen to the ground outside, he stands up and begins an intimidating limp wristed jog, searching for her with a knife drawn. Another mannerism that hints at his sexuality is the way he throws a gun, much like watching a small child learning to throw a baseball. There is also dialogue that helps to affirm a status quo breaking sexuality for his character. One example is when Matrix describes the job of assaignated a nation’s leader as “something Bennett would get off to”. Another is in Bennett’s urge to shot Matrix not between the eyes, but “between the balls”. Also of mentioning is the attire Bennett chooses to wear. Throughout the picture he is adorn in a grey knit vest, metal choker, black leather pants, leather fingerless gloves, a huge belt that makes his long knitwear appear to be an apron. His mustache is styled similar to that of the Village People and Freddy Mercury. All the clues are in place to make assumptions of Bennett’s sexuality.
Bennett’s body is clearly in sharp contrast to that of Matrix. Jeffords describes how opposition against a “hard body” was softer in the film First Blood:
“The town’s guardian, Sheriff Teasle, has for example, a body that contrast markedly with Rambo’s. Brian Dennehy was an excellent choice to play the part of Teasle, making Rambo’s judge and opponent the possessor of a corpulent male body, which in its weakness and lack of stamina and self-assured fullness represents all that Rambo sets out to defeat.” (Jeffords 31-32)
In the film’s final scene, the aftermath of warfare, Cindy brings the small plane to pickup Matrix and Jenny. This can be viewed as the African American serving the white family. In this manner she acts as a chauffer. In this regard we never hear a kind “thank you” from the tow whites. An alternative reading of this scene shows Cindy as the lover interest, for whom rock music is queued for. In typical Hollywood film, the hero and his lover interest share a kiss at the conclusion of their ordeal. Here however seems to be a retread to the days of a racist Hollywood, as Cindy and Matrix don’t kiss each other. This brings to mind the Tragic Mulatto stereotype defined as “a woman bon of a mixed-race marriage or sexual union.” She was often times dead at the end of a story as “punishment for her “sin” of being mixed race (Benshoff, Griffin 76)”. For Cindy there is no melodramatic death, but an othering to the audience that in the 1980s should have been comfortable with interracial relations. However as a status quo vehicle under Reagan administration, Commando harkens back to the old days of segregation.
The text of Commando is an embodiment of the establishment. Here we see all the ideals set into motion and on display for the American public to strive for. We have the oppression of gays, the need for white on white relationship, and stereotypes of Latinos. Furthermore we see the justification of the American over neighboring nation, and the ideals that reflect a retread to wartime masculinity. Latinos and gays are painted as enemies. Killing is justified particularly to these two groups. All the actions of the hero simulate a message of how different groups are to be dealt with and not tolerated. **½
Bibliography
Benshoff, Harry M.; Griffin, Sean. America on Film: Representing Race Class Gender and Sexuality at the Movies. Blackwell Publishing 2004.
Dixon, Wheeler Winston. Straight: Constructions of Heterosexuality in the Cinema. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003.
Internet Movie Database. 13 April 2006. Rae Don Chong <
Jeffords, Susan. Hard Bodies: Hollywood Masculinity in the Reagan Era. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1993.
Lichtenfeld, Eric. Actions Speak Louder: Violence Spectacle, and the American Action Movie. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2004
Negrón-Muntaner, Frances. Feeling Pretty: Westside Story and Puerto Rican Identity Discourses.
Richard, Alfred Charles Jr. Contemporary Hollywood’s Negative Hispanic Image: An Interpretive Filmography 1956-1993. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1994
Wikipedia. 13 April 2006 <
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