Live Free or Die Hard: A Progressive Look at the Working Class Man?

     Len Wiseman’s 2007 movie Live Free or Die Hard follows the story of working-class, middle-aged cop John McClane, played by Bruce Willis. In the film, it is quickly established that McClane is “the brawn,” so to speak, and the savvy, wealthy antagonist Thomas Gabriel is “the brain.” What I found to be most interesting about Live Free or Die Hard is the fact that in its direct comparison of the low paid cop and ex-FBI member turned top-tier hacker, the film clearly puts more value on McClane’s working-class stature than Gabriel’s elitist intellectualism.

     Throughout the movie, we are given constant reminders of McClane’s out datedness. He is portrayed in terms of his technological illiteracy: in a scene where Gabriel has hacked into a webcam so he can see and speak to McClane, John covers up the camera with his hand and begins formulating a plan with his hacker friend Matt, thinking that Gabriel will no longer be able to hear them if he cannot see them, which Gabriel quickly mocks him for. In contrast, Gabriel’s strength lies solely in his knowledge of computers and how to manipulate them. He is a worthy adversary to McClane and, indeed, the entire FBI. However, his tech-savvy is no match for John’s brute strength: though Gabriel masterminds attacks on McClane time and time again, he is always thwarted by McClane’s physical power. When Gabriel changes the traffic patterns and the timing of the traffic signals in Washington D.C. and sends numerous henchmen to kill him, McClane overpowers them all, even going so far as to launch a car at a helicopter filled with baddies when he "ran out of bullets."

     The overarching slant of Live Free or Die Hard is clearly in McClane's favor: no matter how many times he is outsmarted by Gabriel, he still manages to overcome the odds by way of brute force. While it seems significant that we are rooting for the working-class everyman over the intelligent, technologically advanced programmer, I think this is due to the fact that, as an action movie, it is Live Free or Die Hard's duty to reinforce stereotypical views of violent masculinity as the norm. Do you think Die Hard's portrayal of brawn over brain beaks the mold, or do you think it plays into pre-existing stereotypes?