Pumping Iron — Daddy Issues & Flexing Fatherhood

Pumping Iron — Daddy Issues & Flexing Fatherhood — YouTube

The funky, porno-like theme song for the movie composed by Mike Small initially seems at first out of place, but Some of its lyrics are prescient — especially the line, “everybody wants to be bigger than dad”.

It’s a line that relates the eternal struggle for every young man to move out of the father’s shadow and become their own man. Bodybuilding is in a sense, a form of self creation that helps drive this process.

In an interesting parallel origin story, both Arnold and Lou’s fathers were police officers and overbearing figures in both men’s lives. Only when Arnold was able to break away and become his own man by leaving Austria could he outgrow his father’s influence.

Even the “little guy” in the gym recounts how even though he “couldn’t be as tall as his dad, he wanted to be as wide as he was”, clearly shows the common desire for transcending the power of the father.

The theme of son vs Father is poignant in Arnold’s own recounting of his father’s passing as he relates his “decision” not to attend the funeral due to an upcoming contest.

Arnold’s rocky personal relationship with his father growing up has been fuel for speculation that this was the tinder that sparked the fire of Arnold’s burning obsession with success.

Gustav Schwarzenegger