Eerie Visions of Donald Trump in 1981's "Shock Treatment" | Features
Not all of Denton TV’s shows remain on the air. One particular show, “The Denton Dossier,” is a talk show in which host Betty Hapschatt (Ruby Wax) interviews Denton’s leading social scientist, Judge Oliver Wright (Charles Gray). The judge criticizes the overly cheerful opening anthem (“Denton U.S.A”) as just another manipulative tactic to lure in the feeble-minded. Soon after this thinly veiled critique, the show is cancelled. The airwaves are no place to offer alternative viewpoints that fly in the face of the head sponsor. It’s not unlike banning members of the press from attending a rally because they once wrote something unfavorable about the candidate. One can’t help but notice that the Farley Flavors Fast Food commercial that airs afterwards has the brand logo—five F’s in a circle, eerily resembling another fascist symbol.
Farley is nothing without his Denton TV studio audience, who behave not unlike the “Rocky Horror” crowd at the midnight showings. They arrive pre-programmed to dance or shout phrases on cue, no matter how profane. Toward the end of the film when Farley comes out and addresses the studio audience directly, he is interrupted by Brad, who is basically protesting him in front of his people. Farley responds by having security throw him out as the audience chants in unison, “OUT! OUT! OUT!” Soon thereafter, Farley has his minions hand out baseball caps with his name on them to all his followers, as well as black-and-white striped straightjackets. By the end of the film, Brad and Janet have escaped the clutches of Farley’s TV studio while Farley himself exists at the center of a maze of rubber rooms, surrounded by his supporters, all with their arms bound and baseball caps on, ready to take on the entire human race.
"Shock Treatment," in 1981, satirized the coming of Reagan's America—a wholesome, enclosed wonderland that condescendingly proclaimed "a tolerance for the ethnic races" in its theme song. But unlike Howard Beale in “Network” or even Larry ‘Lonesome’ Rhodes in Elia Kazan’s “A Face in the Crowd,” the character of Farley is meant to be just a villain in the story and nothing more. The parallels to Trump are accidental, of course, but that is what makes all of these films fascinating to revisit today. While Beale represents Trump’s ability to go off script and attract followers who worship him for being an anti-establishment figure, and Rhodes represents Trump’s inability to maintain his mystique as everything in his past comes under scrutiny, Farley represents Trump’s showmanship and ability to dupe millions into buying into his all of his brands, whether it be fast food, a reality TV show or “the illusion of a happy ending.” Like Trump, he never learns a lesson, but will likely be no worse for wear once his TV show fades to black.
