"Television is not the truth. Television is a goddamn amusement park. Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, story tellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, sideshow freaks, lion tamers and football players. We're in the boredom-killing business."
When Howard Beale (actor Peter Finch) shouts this to his hoard of listeners (60 million strong at the time), I start to feel chills that I imagine researchers probably felt upon discovering Nostradamus' last book.
When Howard Beale (actor Peter Finch) shouts this to his hoard of listeners (60 million strong at the time), I start to feel chills that I imagine researchers probably felt upon discovering Nostradamus' last book.
Okay, so maybe that is taking things a wee bit too far, but come on, it's like Paddy Chayefsky wrote the character to be the perfect prophet, foretelling things not only in the present to near future, but in the distant future as well. Director Sidney Lumet's film is a perfect social criticism on the world of broadcast media. Although I only caught half of the film during our classes screening, I have to say that the film was quite an experience.
Television is the bane of my existence, and although I recognize it's importance in our popular culture, I can't help but find it completely useless in my life. I have not had cable aside from living within the four walls of my parents home, and that one time I spliced my landlord's cable as a special way to say "Thanks!" for raising my rent, but all in all I see television as evil. I read a study on childhood obesity, and it talked of how parents will overfeed their children if a television is on during eating times, as well as consume more themselves. Children learn from their parents and pick up tendencies, one of which can be overeating, which is affected indirectly by the television through the parents. Are you still with me?
When we were watching the film, I found myself really enjoying the theatre production that was Howard Beale. Everything he said made me smile a little, especially his rant on television in general. The film was a good insight into what it would be like working in the power-hungry, money-grubbing hands of television executives.
All in all I enjoyed the film, Faye Dunaway was a stone-cold fox and the film provided me with the most awkward sex scene I have seen aside from that of Ben Stiller's in the Heartbreak Kid remake, in which Malin Ackerman screams "Jackhammer me!" Old Ben had no clue.
My one gripe is that the ending sucked. It was meaningful, but much like the ending in Easy Rider, it is just like they gave up, but I am nobody to lecture on the importance of hard work and not procrastinating, therefore i will just shut up now.
Television is the bane of my existence, and although I recognize it's importance in our popular culture, I can't help but find it completely useless in my life. I have not had cable aside from living within the four walls of my parents home, and that one time I spliced my landlord's cable as a special way to say "Thanks!" for raising my rent, but all in all I see television as evil. I read a study on childhood obesity, and it talked of how parents will overfeed their children if a television is on during eating times, as well as consume more themselves. Children learn from their parents and pick up tendencies, one of which can be overeating, which is affected indirectly by the television through the parents. Are you still with me?
When we were watching the film, I found myself really enjoying the theatre production that was Howard Beale. Everything he said made me smile a little, especially his rant on television in general. The film was a good insight into what it would be like working in the power-hungry, money-grubbing hands of television executives.
All in all I enjoyed the film, Faye Dunaway was a stone-cold fox and the film provided me with the most awkward sex scene I have seen aside from that of Ben Stiller's in the Heartbreak Kid remake, in which Malin Ackerman screams "Jackhammer me!" Old Ben had no clue.
My one gripe is that the ending sucked. It was meaningful, but much like the ending in Easy Rider, it is just like they gave up, but I am nobody to lecture on the importance of hard work and not procrastinating, therefore i will just shut up now.
I have always liked the line where Dunaway's character says she's written some "Jeremiahs" for Beale to deliver.
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