Unlike Ben Richards, I definitely do requests. And when my amazing reader Jordan asks me to analyze a film to see if it’s a chiasmus, I always say yes! He has a perfect track record, helping me discover the chiasmus in Tron, Escape from New York, Dreamscape, Akira, Conan the Barbarian, Scream, Goldfinger, Revenge of the Sith, and X2: X-Men United.

Now he gets to add The Running Man, the classic 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie, to his trophy case. That’s right, a movie about a dystopian future where mankind is ruled by a totalitarian regime and lulled to sleep by bread and circuses is told in a way that is perfectly symmetrical.

Let’s find out how The Running Man manages to create a chiasmus.

The Chiasmus

This is a list of events in The Running Man where each one in the first half corresponds to a matching one in the second half.

A. Ben Richards flies through the air in a helicopter and refuses to kill innocent people, getting attacked for his trouble as protestors are gunned down anyway
 B. Richards escapes from prison with help from his new revolutionary friends and enables lots of prisoners to get away unharmed
  C. Richards’ friend’s explosive collar comes off, but no one trusts that Richards is actually a good guy
   D. The Running Man game show host Damon Killian is introduced as a two-faced villain pretending to be nice but secretly mean
    E. Richards traps a woman named Amber Mendez in her apartment while a Captain Freedom exercise video plays, and he tries to explain he was framed for murder with doctored footage
     F. Killian tells his staff he wants Richards to be on the Running Man show
      G. Richards tries to leave the country with Amber by pushing her around, but she gets away from him and Richards gets caught by authorities without anyone dying
       H. Richards meets Killian and is forced to appear on the Running Man show where he’s expected to die
        I. Richards gets prepped for the Running Man show by getting hurt
         J. Amber sees lies being told about Richards on TV and rejects them because she knows the truth
          K. The Running Man show starts, and many girls dance
           L. Amber sees Richards in chains walking down her office hall, and then footage is shown of Richards being framed for the callous murder of innocent people
            M. Richards is surprised to find that his two friends are being forced to join him as Running Man contestants while Amber seeks the raw footage of Richards’ helicopter incident
             N. Subzero is selected as the first stalker to hunt down and kill Richards and his friends
             N. Richards kills Subzero, and then two more stalkers are selected to finish what he started: Buzzsaw and Dynamo
            M. Amber is surprised to find that she’s being forced to join the show as a Running Man contestant because she got caught stealing the raw footage of Richards’ helicopter incident
           L. Richards sees Amber in a Running Man uniform in the arena after he kills Buzzsaw in self-defense and spares a helpless Dynamo, showing that he’s not a callous murderer
          K. Two of the Running Man contestants are dead, and Killian announces a halftime show likely involving more dancing girls
         J. Richards gets an offer of money from Killian on a TV screen, and he rejects it because he knows it’s a lie
        I. Fireball gets ready for the Running Man show by testing his weapons
       H. Killian regrets forcing Richards onto the Running Man show when people start to bet on him to win
      G. Richards tries to evade capture with Amber while pushing her around, but she gets away from him and discovers dead former contestants while Richards kills Fireball
     F. Captain Freedom tells Killian he refuses to be on the Running Man show
    E. Richards and Amber are trapped and brought to revolutionaries’ hideout while a doctored video of Captain Freedom murdering Richards and Amber plays on the TV
   D. Killian starts the Running Man show knowing that Richards is still alive while pretending that he’s dead
  C. Killian’s mask comes off, and everyone sees that he’s a bad guy and Richards is actually a good guy
 B. Richards sneaks back into the Running Man set with help from his new revolutionary friends and enables lots of audience members to get away unharmed
A. Richards sends Killian through an underground tube in a vehicle and kills the guilty man, getting a kiss from Amber as his reward while viewers cheer the end of the Running Man show

That Hit the Spot

Arnold Schwarzenegger is no stranger to Cinematic Chiasmus. We’ve already found Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Conan the Barbarian, and Predator to have stories that are told in the format of a chiasmus. Maybe that’s why his films are so beloved. They’re more than just impressive action films; they have a lot going on beneath the surface.

Here are some of my favorite things about this chiasmus that hit the spot, as Ben Richards would say. Isn’t it interesting that Captain Freedom is a big part of E, as well as video reports of lies about Richards? For F, Damon Killian says he really wants Richards on his show and he also says he wants Captain Freedom out of the room. He sure has extreme reactions when he gets into desperate situations.

In G, I didn’t mention it in the chiasmus above, but in the second half, Richards and Amber Mendez talk about wishing their escape plan would have worked and they were already out of the country. Richards points out that they would be if she hadn’t ruined his plan. That’s a direct reference to the first G, which is pretty incredible. There are so many other interesting connections to talk about, but I’ll focus on the turning point (N) now.

I had no idea where the turning point would come as I watched this film. I had seen it before, but I didn’t remember it clearly enough to make an educated guess. So it took me by surprise when Subzero got selected and killed in quick succession. That’s the turning point of the film because up until that point, Richards was playing defense or at least always at a major disadvantage.

When he finally gets a chance, he fights back in a powerful way that leaves the audience stunned. Even Killian is at a loss for words. It really feels like a major shift has occurred. The rest of the film is focused on Richards killing stalkers and redeeming himself from the lies spewed about him as the Butcher of Bakersfield. And that creates a perfect chiasmus.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty of other Cinematic Chiasmus articles coming in the future. And if Jordan has more suggestions, I’m game.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

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