I think one of the best scenes that most reveals the character of George W. Bush is the scene where he’s eating lunch and meeting with the vice president, Dick Cheney. They are eating lunch together because Cheney wants to discuss what the possibilities of Iraq having nuclear weapons is. He puts together a proposal and uses a metaphor to help the president understand his idea. He asks Bush if he would eat his sandwich if he knew there was a 1% possibility that the lettuce contained E-Coli. Bush stares at his sandwich for a moment and then says “No.” Cheney the says that the majority of Americans would still eat the lettuce. Obviously, Cheney is actually talking about the 1% chance that Iraq has nuclear weapons and whether or not to invade based on that small statistic.
This scene showed how stubborn Bush is with his stance, and how he dislikes other people telling him what to do. Throughout the movie, we can see the relationship between him and his father. This is an important theme that we see several times, and the low standard his father puts on him. I think that in this scene, we see Bush trying to compensate for the condescending attitude that his father shows towards him, especially when he reminds Cheney that Bush is the president, not him. This scene shows how important it is for Bush to be reminded that he is in charge for once.
You do point out Bush's attitude and his need to be in charge, but you do no mise en scene analysis. Please reread the post on mise en scene and discuss some of the elements of M en S and show how those elements support your assessment of the scene.
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