The Apprentice

I've watched the movie Donald Trump wouldn't care if I watched or not. As I am what he would label as "lib'ral," he'd never care about my opinion. However, I've watched the movie he wouldn't want his fan base to watch and for that reason he, the self-proclaimed defender of free speech, issued a cease-and-desist order against the movie producers and distributors and did everything possible in his power to make sure it was not released in the United States. His lawyers even wrote in the C&D letter that showing it now would constitute election interference.

There are still distributors who are not afraid of him. They made a limited release of the movie possible at least in urban areas. And I was excited that the Tinseltown theater in Erie, Pa is showing it. So I took my good friend to watch it and we didn't regret it.

To analyze the movie, I will use my media literacy formula, at the heart of which is the idea that to be of value and impact, a media product should work for the audiences on at least one of the following four dimensions (however, the more the better):

Cognitive dimension (What have I learned from the movie that I didn’t know before?)

I didn't learn much from the movie as I already knew a lot about Trump. It was, however, good to see the dramatization of his relationship with Roy Cohn that arguably was more formative for Trump than the relationship with his own father. The transformation of Trump from Fred's errand boy who was personally collecting rent in Trump Village in Queens into what his father and Cohn called a "winner" or "killer" would have been impossible without the notorious Nixon lawyer known for putting the Rosenbergs to death. At the same time, The Apprentice is not a biopic and I had to keep reminding myself that the filmmakers took a dramatic license on Trump's life and relationships.

I did learn, however, that the three famous rules Trump lives by even today have been developed not by him but by Cohn, who starts his mentorship of Trump with those three rules:

1. Attack, attack, attack. Never let anyone hit you first.

2. Deny, deny, deny. Never admit any wrongdoing or mistakes.

3. Claim victory even if you clearly lost.

These are classical rules of gaslighting that resulted in January 6, 2021. Trump clearly still lives by these rules. If anything, he got calcified in them.

Affective dimension (How did the movie make me feel, which emotions did it evoke?)

Interestingly enough, the scene with the pregnant Ivana after his brother Freddie died made me feel just a tad of empathy for Trump. But that was the only time. Most of the times, I felt just as I expected - revolted by his huge ego, buffoonery and self-aggrandizement. And cheapness. Something tells me that the cufflinks made of cubic zirconia passed by Trump for diamonds as a birthday present to Roy Cohn was borrowed from Charlie Sheen's story. Nonetheless, it worked really great in the movie to illustrate how cheap and uncaring Trump is, even toward those he claimed he loved.

Aesthetic dimension (How did the movie give me the aesthetic pleasure?)

I absolutely loved the movie's aesthetic of portraying the decadent and entropic New York City of the 1970-80s. Trump rose from that aesthetic pretty much like the opulent black-and-gold towers he built all over the city, the country, and the world (as he dreamed). The camera work and acting by Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as Cohn are exceptional as well. You might also recognize Maria Bakalova, who plays Ivana Trump, from the most recent Borat mocumentary in a scandalous scene with Rudy Giuliani.

Moral dimension (What moral and ethical lessons does the movie teach us?)

Basically, don't be Trump. Even if you think you are an aspiring temporarily frustrated millionaire or billionaire, don't be Trump. Only Trump can be Trump and even he is failing, with his own world crumbling around him.

Do watch the movie, however. It is struggling to recoup even its production budget of $16M, having hardly made $3M in box office sales due to Trump's active efforts to suppress it.