Heat cubed – with Airfarce One as a counterpoint. On leaders and leadership

Watched Air Farce One last night. What a brilliantly-made (directed, acted, edited) terrible movie. It had nothing to say about anything, because it was a movie rather than a film (1). That’s not to say “said” nothing – see the Unclear and Present Danger podcast folks for a take on how it helped Dubya become POTUS (muscular kickass president etc). Or that it can’t say something about leadership (as opposed to leaders).

Quick post about that, drawing on two other movies from the 1990s (I went to the cinema a LOT in the second half of that decade).

First, the stone cold classic Heat, which I have seen a bunch of times since. It does that thing that goes back to (at least) Fritz Lang’s M, of showing an explicit parallel between the methods of the state and those of the criminals.

There are lots of ways of watching Heat – Competent Men Being Competent – director Michael Mann’s fascination – or as a parable about The Job Taking Over, or whatever. But I like to look it at as two contrasting styles of leadership. Al Pacino’s cop can and does just order people around and fuck their feelings etc. Robert De Niro’s thief has to be far more consensual, respectful. Its the “better” style in that it draws out better performances etc. In the film’s world it kinda sorta works, except for bad luck. And the nature of the state, and its powers. And the thief’s desire for vengeance, for his dead colleagues, or just because that’s the code he lives by…

Next up, a film from maybe a year or two later, the same year as Air Farce One, albeit with a slightly smaller budget; Cube, the sci-fi film which used one set to great effect. Here is a story about failed attempts to build a team. In theory they have the resources they need to get out. But toxic masculinity, impatience, fear, arrogance etc combine to make ‘success’ (i.e. survival) unlikely and ultimately a crap shoot.

Back to AFO – Harrison Ford’s character is mostly the Heroic Lone Wolf (Die Hard in a Plane). Even when he ‘works’ with his colleagues, he’s in charge, albeit with nicer manners than Al Pacino. A crucial part of the survival of most of the people on the plane is down to a black woman speaking up with crucial information, but not in space that he had created.

Leadership is tough. Some people display elements of it, and then become “leaders” – as others abrogate their responsibilities (and why wouldn’t you). Leaders abuse their power so often, or mishandle it. Come to believe their own propaganda/get high on their own supply. We wait around for saviours to prov,ide salvation, what I have referred to as the scraped knee theory of activism…

To get all social evolutionary-ist, the challenges we face now are so far beyond what we faced on the savannah (when the main task was not to get eaten by a hungry cat) or later, when we were hunting down big old balls of protein. I doubt very much that we have the collective capacity for more nuanced leadership, followership and everything in between. The ship has sailed…

Footnotes

(1) “if you’ve got a message, send it Western Union” as the old anti-polemic line went.