Network (1976)
I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!
THE SUMMARY: The end of his show by low ratings prompts a newsman to go mad, and his network exploits his rage rather than help him or tell the truth. For a nearly fifty-year-old movie, every premise holds up, and it’s a funny reminder to question everything we hear from the news media: not just what they say, but why they say it.
NO MOVIE-PICKER COMMENTARY: Network was a random selection from the IMDb top-250 list, as the nominated movies were rejected by vote last week. It currently ranks #230.
JAMIE AND JEANNE’S AI FACESWAPS:
This is just straight up true.
Okay good - I did get this scene.
This network has a bigger duct tape budget.
We'll see how long YouTube allows that N drop.
Dang it - I wanted this scene.
The actual arrangement is the reverse.
THE BEST:
They don’t exist to inform you - they exist to make money: News media, like anything else, is a business. That doesn’t mean people are bad or wrong to make a living. It does mean that not all market forces are created morally equal. The market is a reflection of us as participants in it. Degenerate demand creates degenerate supply.
Network is an excellent exploration of that dynamic. UBS corporation largely abandons its core purpose of bringing people the news, because the boring news doesn’t attract the eyes and ears to make it profitable. So not only do they indulge in sensationalist silliness, but they cross all sorts of moral boundaries in pursuit of the dollar, such as:
Exploiting an unwell man for profit: As Howard descends into madness, rather than help a man whose life has lost its purpose, and whose mental condition is deteriorating, UBS executives decide to exploit his unwellness for profit.
Controlled opposition: UBS executives allow Howard to develop into a popular dissident voice, but only insofar as he doesn’t threaten the company. As soon as he differs from company interests, he’s done. With life. Because they kill him. Howard fills the role the power center wants - he allows the release of just enough steam for the frustrated masses to feel heard and understood, but not so much that the power center is actually threatened.
The news works with BLM/Antifa: It’s amazing how certain trends hold over time. Diana works closely with the militant revolutionary group the Ecumenical Liberation Army, both to create and document the chaos that makes for compelling stories. Think about the relationship between many media outlets and similar groups like Black Lives Matter and Antifa in recent years. Is it possible that, like this movie, they aren’t just cozy, but actually contracted?
To understand the news, understand that motive. These people don’t have jobs because they have some unique connection to facts and information, let alone truth itself. They have jobs because they hold your attention. Choose wisely how to award that attention.
If you want the truth, go to God: Crazy Howard has a lot of wisdom in his rants, but none more so than when he tells his audience that television is all lies, and if you want the truth, you should go to God. Exactly right - some men are closer to truth than others, and certainly more worthy of your trust than others, but men are still men. Imperfect in their connection to the truth and not capable of controlling it if they try.
If you believe in an objective reality to the world, and a purpose to it, someone or something is behind that. Seek that, not some guy, whether he has a big audience or not.
Calling out the career woman: As I write below, I’m not a big fan of the Max and Diana romance plot line, but I understand its necessity to reach its important conclusion: don’t be a home-wrecking career woman. Be a wife. Be a mom. There are many things you can do with a womanly life otherwise, but get that core component established before anything else. Otherwise, you’ll end up exactly as Max describes: alone in her arctic desolation. There are few lies more cruel than the lies that lure a woman away from marriage and motherhood. They rob her of her life’s purpose.
The actual globalist rant: Howard’s ‘I’m as mad as hell’ rant is probably Network’s most memorable, but to me, the ‘world is a corporation’ rant from the company president is the best stuff of the show. He describes so perfectly the dynamic I mentioned above: when money and business interest eclipse morality itself, the world really does become a corporation. It’s no longer about family, community, country, or God - it’s just about the bottom line for Soulless Corporation and company.
It makes me sound like a commie when I write that - far from it. I believe wholeheartedly in private property rights and market forces. It just means that money itself is not the highest value. Case in point - there are things you wouldn’t do for money, at least most of us. Like sell your wife as a sex slave. Or kill your neighbor. Or watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show again.
Why wouldn’t you do those things for money? Because there’s some moral value that’s higher than the dollar’s value. When we forget that, we become a collection of corporations, instead of a country, or a family, exactly as this company president describes.
I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!
If you want the truth, go to God.
You have meddled with with the primal forces of nature!
THE WORST:
Can everyone please stop yelling?: The whole movie is a scream-fest. I get it. It’s impassioned. But it does get annoying.
The Max-Diana affair is drawn out: As I wrote, the payoff of the truth delivered to Diana is generally worth it. But I’m not sure I need to see so much Max and Diana development for that to happen. I don’t need a stupid dinner date. And the weird cabin sex. And all the other hemming and hawing before they finally break up. I would have liked more Howard and less Max and Diana. Or just reduce Max and Diana and get the movie closer to an hour and a half, instead of over two.
It’s a high-brow comedy, not necessarily obvious and laugh out loud: This movie is clever and funny, but it’s more subtle and high-brow about it. There’s a lot of wisdom delivered in less obvious ways. For the most part, that’s actually a good thing to me - I’ve been thinking about the layers of this movie since watching it Thursday. But if you want an easy, turn-your-brain-off type comedy or satire, it’s probably not this one.
This payoff is great, but it's a long windup.
THE RATING: 4/5 Wickies, and right on the cusp of the coveted Five. It’s a little drawn out and a little dry, but the points it makes are timeless wisdom. Or at least modern era wisdom.
YOUR RATING: Vote here ⬇ Note: if you get a notification saying you have already voted and you haven’t, this is because of an issue with iOS (Apple mobile devices). Try voting on a desktop or laptop computer.
NEXT WEEK: Room (2015). Room is a random selection from IMDb’s top-250 list, after the rejection of the nominees in last week’s vote. It currently ranks #216.
AFTER THAT? YOU PICK - VOTE! October’s movie nominations are from listener Brandy. Remember: Brandy has submitted five movies, and Matt and Blonde have submitted one each. You will not know who submitted which movies until they are selected.
This next selection will be reviewed on the October 6 show, since there will not be a show on September 29.
Note: if you get a notification saying you have already voted and you haven’t, this is because of an issue with iOS (Apple mobile devices). Try voting on a desktop or laptop computer.
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