History Film / Election

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: [[spoiler:After Tracy gets accepted to Georgetown, she expects that she'll easily make friends there under the assumption that all of the students will be just as ambitious and likeminded as her. Instead, she finds that most of them are just privileged rich kids who got there because of their family connections and she's just as alone there as she was at Carver.. She also imagines getting elected head of the student council will give her considerable influence and authority only to find out the council is completely dysfunctional making it impossible for her to achieve anything, and no one else, not even the people on it, take it seriously.]]

** Paul recovers from his injury, rejoins the team, becomes [[HighSchoolDance homecoming king]] ''[[HighSchoolDance and]]'' [[HighSchoolDance prom king]], and goes on to play football for the University of Nebraska. [[spoiler:He wonders where his life would have gone had he won the election, but concludes that he'shappy where he is.]]

* CoolLoser: Tammy. [[spoiler: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], as it eventually became part of her plan.]]

** Paul recovers from his injury, rejoins the team, becomes [[HighSchoolDance homecoming king]] ''[[HighSchoolDance and]]'' [[HighSchoolDance prom king]], and goes on to play football for the University of Nebraska. [[spoiler:He wonders where his life would have gone had he won the election.]]

''Election'' is a 1999 American satirical {{teen|Drama}} {{dramedy}} film [[TheFilmOfTheBook adapted from]] Creator/TomPerrotta's 1998 novel of the same name, directed and co-written by Creator/AlexanderPayne and starring Creator/MatthewBroderick, Creator/ReeseWitherspoon, Chris Klein, and Jessica Campbell.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: In the wake of the #metoo movement and in response to initial reactions that painted the [=McAlliser=]/Flick heroism/villainy as overly black and white, Tom Perrotta wrote a sequel to his original novel (''Tracy Flick Can't Win'') which adds more texture to these interpretations. In it, Tracy explains the nuances of the consent issues with her relationship with her teacher and admits she might have been a victim. In the sequel, Tracy explains she was befuddled by [=McAllister=]'s actions, which could be interpreted as her being more unaware of the harm caused to [=McAllister=] rather than an intentional effort to stop anyone in her way.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: In the wake of the #metoo movement and in response to initial reactions that painted the Mr. McAllister/Tracy heroism/villainy as black and white, author Tom Perrotta wrote a sequel (Tracy Flick Can't Win) which adds more texture to these interpretations. In it, Tracy explains the nuances of the consent issues with her relationship with her teacher and admits she might have been a victim. In the sequel, Tracy explains she was befuddled by McAllister's actions which could be interpreted as her being more unaware of the harm caused to Mr. McAllister rather than an intentional effort to stop anyone in her way.

* FlyoverCountry: Although Alexander Payne seems to be proud of his native city Omaha, Nebraska, making it the setting for three of his films including this one, he certainly doesn't try to make it look glamourous.
* TheFilmOfTheBook

To foil Tracy's dreams of using an election victory as a springboard for her future, [=McAllister=] recruits injured star football player Paul Metzler (Klein) to run against Tracy. This inspires Paul's lesbian sister Tammy (Campbell) to run as well, in order to get revenge upon Paul for dating Tammy's ex-girlfriend (who dumped Tammy after deciding that [[IncompatibleOrientation she wasn't a lesbian after all]]). Meanwhile, [=McAllister=], feeling a lack of passion in his love life (and fearing his own sexual interest in Tracy), sleeps with Novotny's ex-wife. All of this culminates into the mother of all bad days as all of these trains crash into each other.

To foil Tracy's dreams of using an election victory as a springboard for her future, [=McAllister=] recruits injured star football player Paul Metzler (Klein) to run against Tracy. This in turn inspires Paul's lesbian sister Tammy (Campbell) to run as well, in order to get revenge upon Paul for dating Tammy's ex-girlfriend (who dumped Tammy after deciding that [[IncompatibleOrientation she wasn't a lesbian after all]]). Meanwhile, [=McAllister=], feeling a lack of passion in his love life (and fearing his own sexual interest in Tracy), sleeps with Novotny's ex-wife. All of this culminates into the mother of all bad days as all of these trains crash into each other.

''Election'' is a 1999 satirical {{teen|Drama}} {{dramedy}} based on the [[TheFilmOfTheBook 1998 novel of the same name]] by Creator/TomPerrotta, starring Creator/MatthewBroderick, Creator/ReeseWitherspoon and Chris Klein and directed by Creator/AlexanderPayne.

Overachieving high school student Tracy Flick is running unopposed for StudentCouncilPresident. This draws the ire of history and civics teacher Jim [=McAllister=], who [[PickOnSomeoneYourOwnSize hates Tracy's attitude]] and feels that the students should have a choice -- any choice -- in the election. There's also the fact that [=McAllister=] is holding a massive grudge against Tracy for engaging in [[TeacherStudentRomance a sexual relationship]] with his best friend/fellow teacher Dave Novotny, which wound up getting him fired and destroying his marriage -- while Tracy (thanks to her mother) got the school to cover up the entire thing in order to protect her reputation.

To foil her dreams of using the election as a springboard for her future, [=McAllister=] recruits injured star football player Paul Metzler to run against Tracy. This inspires Paul's lesbian sister Tammy to run as well, in order to get revenge upon Paul for dating Tammy's ex-girlfriend (who dumped Tammy after deciding that [[IncompatibleOrientation she wasn't a lesbian after all]]). Meanwhile, [=McAllister=], feeling a lack of passion in his love life (and fearing his own sexual interest in Tracy), sleeps with the aforementioned friend's ex-wife. All of this culminates into the mother of all bad days as all of these trains crash into each other.

The film had a mediocre take at the box office, due to the studio [[NeverTrustATrailer screwing up its marketing]] and portraying it as a straight-up teen comedy as opposed to a drama with BlackComedy overtones -- presumably an effort to cash in on the success of ''Film/AmericanPie'' (the fact that Chris Klein is in both films adds a bit of credence to that theory), which came out earlier that year.

In 2022, Perotta wrote a sequel,

A sequel,''Tracy Flick Can't Win'', was released in 2022, finding the title character as an assistant principal in a New Jersey high school...and not at all happy about where life has taken her. [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/election-sequel-in-the-works-reese-witherspoon-1235277907/ A film sequel based on the new book is being developed]] for Creator/ParamountPlus, with Witherspoon and Payne set to return in their roles.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: [[spoiler:After Tracy gets accepted to Georgetown, she expects that she'll easily make friends there under the assumption that all of the students will be just as ambitious and likeminded as her. Instead, she finds that most of them are just privileged rich kids who got there because of their family connections and she's just as alone there as she was at Carver.]]

In 2022, Perotta wrote a sequel, ''Tracy Flick Can't Win'', which finds the title character as a assistant principal in a New Jersey high school...and not at all happy about where life has taken her.

''Election'' is a 1999 satirical {{teen|Drama}} {{dramedy}} based on the [[TheFilmOfTheBook 1998 novel of the same name]] by Tom Perrotta, starring Creator/MatthewBroderick, Creator/ReeseWitherspoon and Chris Klein and directed by Creator/AlexanderPayne.

To foil her dreams of using the election as a springboard for her future, [=McAllister=] recruits injured star football player Paul Metzler to run against Tracy. This inspires Paul's lesbian sister Tammy to run as well, in order to get revenge upon Paul for dating Tammy's ex-girlfriend (who dumped Tammy after deciding that [[IncompatibleOrientation she wasn't a lesbian after all]]). Meanwhile, [=McAllister=], feeling a lack of passion in his love life (and fearing his own sexual interest in Tracy), starts dating the aforementioned friend's ex-wife. All of this culminates into the mother of all bad days as all of these trains crash into each other.

* LovableJock: Paul is a genuinely kind-hearted person who doesn't say or do a single unkind thing throughout the film. He's almost too nice to be for real. There is the pain he causes his sister by dating and humping her former soulmate Lisa, but due to his sheer naivete he is ''completely'' unaware of this or that Lisa is doing it to get back at Tammy.

** Jim does not live up to his civic ideals, as he manipulates the student council election in increasingly unethical ways. There are subtle hints of this early on; he makes a big presentation to Paul about the dangers of candidates running unopposed; we later learn the the vice presidential candidate has no opponent, and he has no reaction.
** Tracy has her moments, at one points she speaks earnestly about wanting to be a voice for students who are struggling at school...only to dismiss the supporters of Paul and Tammy's campaigns as losers and nobodies.

* SocialClimber: Tracy is primarily the Snob subtype, showing disdain both for the people with money and connections who are more successful than her and the "burnouts" who are less successful. Especially toward the end she shows shades of the Backstabber variety as well. Notably, she openly views herself as this and believes that it is a good thing, that she is simply overcoming challenges.

* StepfordSmiler: Tracy, especially in Mr. [=McAllister=]'s view, the way she can go from sweet to [[CuteAndPsycho borderline psychotic]]. In several scenes, she flicks on her smile like a light.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Jim does not live up to his civic ideals, as he manipulates the student council election in increasingly unethical ways. There are subtle hints of this early on; he makes a big presentation to Paul about the dangers of candidates running unopposed; we later learn the the vice presidential candidate has no opponent, and he has no reaction.

* AmbitionIsEvil: The film takes this stance vis-à-vis Tracy Flick.

* GreyAndGreyMorality: Tracy is a [[CuteAndPsycho sweet but borderline psychotic]] overachiever who [[spoiler:tears down Paul's posters in a fit of rage]], Paul is a well-intentioned but [[PopularIsDumb fairly clueless]] guy who's only running because he was told to by his teacher, Tammy is only in the race to get {{revenge}} against Paul and Lisa, and Mr. [=McAllister=] cheats on his wife and [[spoiler:rigs the ballots to deny Tracy the victory]].