Good Night, and Good Luck is a forty-three time award winner out of seventy one nominations. ( ) This movie is shown on a black and white film, which complements the feel of a 1950s setting. Communism was a huge controversy during the ‘50s where many people became so afraid of the topic that they would lash out whenever it was brought up. Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) is the big shot broadcaster, he is the host of two hit CBS shows on television. Edward is the first newsman to put controversial information on television. This information is not completely factual, but it speaks out against anticommunism and the government in hopes of taking down Joseph McCarthy. Joseph is the senator of Wisconsin who plays a big role in brainwashing Americans. He is a governmental figure who puts fear of communism in his supporters. Edward goes on national television and singles out the beloved and trusted senator McCarthy for his fake accusations against Milo Radulovich that created a lot of attention and ultimately ended up costing Milo his job. This is the turning point of bringing back the freedom to the people who start to pin supporters against McCarthy. After Edward put his story of McCarthy on TV, McCarthy hostilely replied by saying Edward was a communist. McCarthy also falsely accused Edward of joining communist unions. Apart from the nominations and awards won, I just did not believe it was that enjoyable. The movie did not even appear to be that interesting or popular until I saw a lot of A-list celebrities. Seeing George Clooney is the only thing that kept me focused on the screen and prevented me from wandering off. There are not many spontaneous scenes. They are all in the CBS Newsroom: either in the office, or on set. A ... ... middle of paper ... ... on what McCarthy is doing to the American citizens he claims to be protecting from dissenting political views.” Frago creates a positive and adventurous tone from this passage of his review, it shows interest and applause with the way director George Clooney sets up the scenes. However, I believe that the scenes are unattractive to the viewer’s eye, and did not allow much creativity since it was the same thing over and over again. Although we almost completely disagree about our opinions of the movie there are a few similarities. We both agree that the movie educates our generation with the 1950s communism scare. We also agree on how the movie portrays a time when the media did not show a personal opinion, but Murrow came in and changed the broadcasting game. He adds an approach to sharing news that changes the way things would be broadcasted from that point on.
There are similarities and differences in how the authors of “American History” and “ TV Coverage of JFK’s Death Forged Mediums’ Role” use Kennedy’s assassination in their writing. The intended effect of “American History” was to entertain and show how TV news and news in general affects people. In contrast the intended effect of “Tv Coverage…” was to inform readers how John F. Kennedy's assassination affected the news. The author Joanne Ostrow and Judith Ortiz Cofer both use Kennedy’s assassination in their writing to explain how TV news affects people in a community.
Joseph McCarthy was a man of many talents, oration being one that surpassed the majority of the rest. McCarthy’s ability to use motifs, tone, and repetition in a way that supported his message impeccably was one of the reasons he excelled at persuasion.
The film received mostly positive reviews. Roger Ebert praised the film as "one of those stories with the quality of a nightmare, in which foolish young men try to out-macho one another until they get trapped in a violent situation which will forever alter their lives.”
In the start of his speech, Murrow talks about how history will be what we make it. Then he states that if people were to record a week of television they would find evidence of corruption, escapism, and insulation from the realities of the world unless you watch it between the time of 8 to 11 p.m., Eastern Time (4). At this time period people will find the brief and twitching allusion to the fact that the nation is in mortal danger. At any other time, television insulates the people from the realities of the world in which they live in. If this continues the citizens will pay for using one of the most powerful instruments in communication to shield them from the harsh, hard and
In 1949 when Orwell’s novel was published, television was a relatively new invention. Fewer than 10% of the United States households had a television set in them and at this time programming was limited to mainly news-oriented shows. Many people believed that television would never surpass radio as the chief means of mass communication; they could not have been more incorrect.
Since the 1950s, most Americans have condemned the McCarthyite witch-hunts and show trials. By large majorities, Americans oppose firing communists from their jobs or banning communist speakers or books.[2] But over the past several years, increasing numbers of historians, writers and intellectuals have sought to minimize, explain away and justify McCarthyism. A spate of books and articles touting new historical evidence has tried to demonstrate that communism posed a real danger to American society in the 1940s and 1950s. They argue that even if some innocent people suffered and McCarthy was reckless, he was responding to a real threat.[3] As a result, Joe McCarthy doesn't look so irresponsible in hindsight.
In Good Night and Good Luck, director George Clooney follows the conflict between outspoken television journalist Edward R. Murrow and anti-communist Senator Joseph McCarthy during the hard times of the Red Scare. Murrow uses his television show to expose McCarthy’s fallacious arguments, while providing his own opinion on the matter. He begins by defending former Air Force pilot Milo Radulovich as not being the Communist agent McCarthy charges him to be. Due to his radical messages against McCarthy, advertisers begin pulling their advertisements. Thus Good Night and Good Luck was placed at an undesired time slot on Sunday afternoons, and allotted five last episodes. The conflict between Murrow and McCarthy is so deep that due to his outspoken messages against a politician, the program eventually becomes subject to cancellation. Although his arguments are controversial for that time, Murrow shows courage while exposing McCarthy’s fallacious arguments, by displaying how McCarthy is making false accusations towards Radulovich.
He displayed his distaste in McCarthyism in “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”. The Characters of the show, the people who reside on Maple Street, are quick to go to blaming one another. Their quick ability to persecute others is similar to McCarthyism. People during post World War II were quick to prosecute others, because of McCarthyism. These actions are abundant in “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” for instance when the power goes off in the neighborhood, people turn on each other to figure out who caused the blackout. This insane paranoia led to these once peaceful neighbors and friends to begin suspecting each other of being the monsters who shut off all the power. Every little thing such as a working car, a light turning on, and even making a joke about being a monster caused the neighbors to all place suspicion on each other. And just as soon as one person thought someone was a monster, the rest of the neighborhood quickly agreed. This symbolizes McCarthyism in that people were just as frantic to accuse each other of being communists over minor
"Kennedy, John F." Television in American Society Reference Library. Ed. Laurie Collier Hillstrom and Allison McNeill. Vol. 3: Primary Sources. Detroit: UXL, 2007. 65-76. U.S. History in Context. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. Source.
The Hollywood Blacklisting that followed the Red Scare of the 1950’s forced the media to change in order to survive the scrutinizing committees of the HUAC and various congressional committees that pushed for the social “purging” of America in hopes of searching out the “Reds” which they believed were hiding among them. This change in media came at a time when the public had become extremely receptive to such influences due to the spread of the television and the growth of the middle class who had extra money to spend on luxuries such as going to the movie theatres. The constant barrage of conformity and conservatism as well as xenophobia seen in everyday shows and movies shaped the perception of the average American to believe that liberal or radical ideas were not what normal people supported and believed in.
Murrow uses repetition to inspire his listeners into siding with his argument by saying that “I believed 20 years ago and I believe today that mature Americans can engage in conversation and… I believe that … we can compete and successfully, not only in the area of bombs but in the area of ideas.” His matter of fact and objective tone changes into one of empathy to better connect with his audience.
Joseph McCarthy followed strict, right-wing republican rules and is considered to this day to be an extremist. Revealing that the communists, who all of America greatly feared, were working so close created a sense of fear. Americans felt uneasy and unsafe at the thought of the enemy working in their government. Part of McCarthy’s plan was to use the fears and feelings of peril to create an outright war against the communists. He w...
...movie that I fell in love with. But most of all I love how the story line is a great overlap into the cinematically engaging movie. There is a great use of camera, timing, shots and story line that are portrayed in this movie without being too overwhelming. This allows the audience to relax during the movie and just take in the scenes as a story from reality. To this day, and even still doing this paper I still come to find different aspects of the movie that I missed the previous times I have watched it.
McKibben, Bill. “TV, Freedom, and the Loss of Community.” Colombo, Cullen and Lisle, ed. Rereading America. Boston: Bedford Books, 1995: 712-23.
I have to disagree with both these reviews. I believed that the story was brilliantly written and the cinematography was beautiful. This movie touched me and had me in tears which believe me is hard to do. I do agree with the New York Times and New Yorker that it was a little dragged out and that Kiera Knightly acting was over rated. Other than that I would defiantly recommend this movie.