Daily Dialogue — January 6, 2019

Jim McAllister: Paul, what’s your favorite fruit?
Paul Metzler: Pears.
Jim McAllister: [goes to the chalkboard] Pears, good. OK, let’s say…
Paul Metzler: Oh, no wait! Apples.
Jim McAllister: Apples. Fine.

He starts drawing circles on the chalkboard.

Jim McAllister: Let’s say all you ever knew were apples. Apples, apples, and more apples. You might think apples were pretty good, even if you got a rotten one every once in a while. But then one day…

He draws another circle which looks the same as the others.

Jim McAllister: …there’s an orange. And now you can make a decision, do you want an apple or do you want an orange? That’s democracy.
Paul Metzler: I also like bananas.

— Election (1999), screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, novel by Tom Perrotta

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Politics.

Trivia: The ending was re-shot, presumably after poor test screenings. The original ending was closer to the novel, featuring Mr. McAllister working at a car dealership and Tracy going to visit him before she leaves for college.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Here Jim (Matthew Broderick) attempts to explain the basics of democracy to Paul (Chris Klein) whose mental capabilities are such that he just doesn’t quite get it.