Network

I knew Network was a satire when I began the film; I reassured myself that it was only a satire throughout; and yet, the only time that I could convince myself that what I was seeing wasn’t a prophetic vision of the modern media machine was when the news executives in the film decided that their only solution was to kill their problematic news anchor. Who knows, maybe we’ll get there yet.

I watched a feature of Walter Cronkite talking about his and his news buddies’ reaction to seeing Network – they found it hilarious and realized that Chayefsky’s screenplay exaggerated how the best features of the news could be manipulated by the worst instincts of business. Network was funny in its time, an outlandish idea of what the news could become; today, however, I didn’t find myself laughing as much but rather watching in grim fascination. Howard Beale deserved better help, not better ratings, and so too does the American people.