True Lies

Unclear and Present Danger - A podcast by Jamelle Bouie and John Ganz

In this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch “True Lies,” James Cameron’s tonally-incoherent (but hugely successful) spy thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. They discuss the film as a straightforward take on the American crisis of masculinity in the 1990s, as a depiction of American beliefs and ideologies around sex and power, and as the beginning of a significant turn in the cultural depiction of America’s enemies. They also talk about American interventions into Haiti, welfare reform and James Cameron’s marriages.