Core Response: Schwarznegger's Hypermasculinity

The articles by Bukatman and Jeffords make clear that there are multiple forces at work in the shifting construction of Arnold Schwarznegger's cyborg character in the Terminator series: first and foremost, the transference of masculine designation from hardened action-hero to family man, and masculinity's tenuous relationship with technology and digitization. Jeffords analyzes the films within the context of the waning of the Reagan era, which marked the splintering of "hard-bodied militarism and a warm-hearted familialism" within the conservative movement. Hypermasculinity could be considered as hegemonic within the context of 1980s America, when “hard bodies” became the dominant model, overshadowing racialized masculinities and femininity alike. The original Terminator pushes this logic of white male hegemony to the extreme – Schwarznegger's hypermasculine male loses all shreds of humanity, and seeks to eliminate a woman who poses a threat because of her reproductive capacities. His embodiment of the cyborg is all the more threatening because of his star-image as the ideal male figure, having established himself as a modern-day Hercules and honed a body burnished by years of body-building. The Terminator shows the dark side of masculinity built as hard, emotionless and invulnerable. Masculine perfection is so terrifying that it becomes horrific as the indestructible Terminator lacks any feelings of pity, compassion or remorse. He looks like a human being and is played by one, but the film reveals that his human skin conceals an analog metallic endoskeleton.

In the film we watched last week, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, many of these traits are problematized or thrown out altogether, as Jeffords points out. The Terminator who seeks to exterminate Sarah Connor in the first film returns in the second as a protagonist whose programmed mission is to protect the teenage John Connor, Sarah’s son. Schwarznegger's presence is reassuring rather than menacing, and I can definitely see how his migration from action to comedy films influenced his characterization in the 1991 film. Like Dean, I too knew Schwarznegger as Kindergarten Cop before I saw him in any of his "hard body" films, so up until this point I took for granted the notion that his hypermasculinity was blatantly performative and mildly ridiculous. The film does include many humorous moments, especially with John Connor's realization that the Terminator is bound to obey him. The killing machine becomes a harmless toy in his hands, a mechanically simple and thus likeable hulk. Whereas the original film used bodily horror to harden its Terminator, Terminator 2 uses laughter to soften him, as it does when the Terminator monotonously parrots John's teachings, like an out-of-touch father learning his son's teenage lingo.