A reflection on ambition and success in 'Tracy Flick Can't Win'

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Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

You've probably seen it: Reese Witherspoon playing ambitious, throat-cutting Tracy Flick in the 1999 movie Election. It's the film adaptation of Tom Perrotta's novel of the same name. Now, Perrotta has written a sequel called Tracy Flick Can't Win. In it, we meet Tracy Flick in middle age and just a tad bit away from accomplishing her high school dreams of becoming president of the United States. In an interview with All Things Considered, Perrotta told Sascha Pfiffer that he wanted to revisit this character's story to reflect on ambition, success, and the softening that happens in middle age.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Before today's podcast, we've got a favor to ask you.
0:08.5	NPR is doing its annual survey to help us understand our podcast audience, and it mean a lot if you could fill it out.
0:15.9	It's easy and anonymous, and you can find it at NPR.org slash podcast survey, all one word. Thanks so much for
0:23.3	taking the time. We really do appreciate it. Again, it's at npr.org slash podcast survey. So now
0:29.9	on to the show today, just recently, I watched that movie election from 1999. And if you haven't
0:35.4	seen it, it's an absolute trip to watch now, considering,
0:39.4	you know, everything that's gone on. Matthew Broderick plays a sort of hapless teacher at high school,
0:44.8	but it's Reese Witherspoon who steals the movie. She plays Tracy Flick, an ambitious student who has
0:50.4	a sexual relationship with one of the teachers. The movie's based off a book by the same name, and its author, Tom Perrata, has finally
0:57.6	written a sequel.
0:58.9	It's called Tracy Flick Can't Win, and he talked to NPR's Sasha Fiver about looking back
1:03.9	at Tracy's life after all these years.
1:07.1	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
1:11.8	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
1:16.4	On our new show, Sources and Methods.
1:18.4	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
1:22.1	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:25.7	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your
1:29.3	podcasts. Tracy Flick had big plans in high school. She was going to be president of the United
1:37.0	States. And whether you met her through the movies starring Reese Witherspoon or the book
1:41.6	written by Tom Perada, both called Election.
1:49.9	She seemed like she might actually make it to the White House as she headed off to Georgetown University.
	...

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