Why Arnold Matters: The Rise of a Cultural Icon

No question this is a weird book. It's not a bio and it's not a fan book. There are sections you could never expect to find in a book about a famous person. For example, there is an entire chapter on the hundreds of dreams the authors had about Schwarzenegger. Believe me, the dreams are VERY worth reading. They are the weirdest part of this book, in fact. But there is a ton of interesting stuff about Arnold S., including chapters about his movies and about his getting elected to governor. I laughed out loud at a couple of parts, and I was really surprised to learn how powerful Arnold is in terms of his influence on language and culture. I cannot understand the bad reviews of this book. It may not meet your expectations if you want a regular biography, but it's a totally fun book to read.

I loved this book! If readers cannot find a mountain of absolutely fascinating material in this book, they must be looking for a very particular experience and won't open their minds at all. It's unbelievable how many ways Schwarzenegger has crept into our minds and vocabulary. The headlines following his election to governor are wild and sometimes scary! The chapter on the dreams the authors have had about Schwarzenegger are too too funny and weird. I felt like a voyeur, and I candidly admit that I enjoyed that sensation! The little bits on the movies actually made me want to go and see a few more than I've seen of Arnold's movies. AFter I read the one-star review on this website, I was amazed that someone could be so shallow! This book makes for great bedtime reading, bathroom reading (my husband has it in there these days!), bus reading, or any place. But if you want a plain old biography, then DON'T buy this book. It's not plain and it's too clever for you, then!

This is not an intellectual review. I just want to say how much fun this book is to read! Maybe some of the other readers were hoping for a stuffier biography, but I found this book a real pleasure. So many quirky facts and weird cultural things related to Arnold. I had no idea! Probably one of the best airplane-reads I've had in years!

What gives with these one-star reviews??? Have these people actually read this book? I read it in two sittings, and every page has at least one surprising thing on it. I had no idea how far inside the "mind" of American life "Ahnold" had gotten. The authors show example after example of truly bizarre ways that Schwarzenegger has become THE quintessential example of almost everything in the culture! I thought I knew the basics about the guy, but it turns out he is connected to a lot more than movies and bodybuilding. The ways that people have used his name, his image, just the idea of him, amazing. The authors have done VERY thorough research on this guy, and this book goes in a totally different direction than the recent biography (which I read and would rate maybe 3 stars). There is even a chapter about the authors' dreams and the meaning of the fact that they had hundreds of dreams about Arnold while they were learning about him. Besides the fact that the dreams are weird and interesting, the authors connect the dreams to the ways that Arnold has been creeping into our lives. Bottom line: read this book! If you find it boring, it's time to worry about how narrow your imagination has gotten!

I know of no better book for introducing students to a creative, scholarly, and cross-disciplinary approach to cultural studies. I've excerpted chapters and passages for undergraduates and graduate students and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Lively, funny, witty, sharp, deep. An excellent example of how writers can collaborate successfully, and integrate popular culture, politics, philosophy, sociology, technology, and media studies on their own terms. Sophisticated, scholarly, and very unique. Would that all academic analyses were this original, laugh-out-loud funny, and topical. If you want a taste of what the authors do, check out their website: google "Dreaming Arnold."