Good Night And Good Luck Film Analysis

Good Night, and Good Luck

Good Night, and Good Luck, directed by George Clooney is a mostly historically accurate film of the timeline of McCarthy’s communist ‘witch hunt’ taken from the point of view of the famous news show, CBS News. The movie follows the story of Edward Murrow, the host of the show See It Now, and his coverage of McCarthy and his pursuit to eliminate communism in America. After analyzing the film, one can find little anomalies in the events showed during this historical movie. This includes the use of characters, props, and music during the film. One of the most interesting choices of the movie is how Joseph McCarthy’s impact on America is portrayed. For one, Clooney did not cast anyone to play the role of Senator McCarthy.

Joseph and Shirley’s relationship shows how difficult it was to be married coworkers, especially during the 1940’s, as many workplaces did and still don’t allow for relationships between coworkers and are promptly told they will be fired at the end of the film due to many layoffs occurring in the corporation and speculation that the two were together. Shirley does not wear her wedding ring whilst at work and talks to Joseph in a polite matter. Mr. Wershba on the other hand, is not as careful and still makes sly comments if the couple is ever alone together in a room. This shows how women were expected to act proper and work well despite any outside conflict (emotional distress, hormones, etc.), whilst men were given lenience on these policies. Women are also shown to be given easier tasks than the men in the film, such as being secretaries and running information around the office for the male journalists. The film keeps with the fashion of the time period as well, showing women in short-sleeved dresses and simplistic makeup and men with suits and slicked-back/gelled hair. These male and female stereotypes are not the only time period generalities depicted