WEBVTT - Network Review | Archive 0:00:21.244 --> 0:00:24.604 Film Spotting is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all you 0:00:24.605 --> 0:00:27.605 can watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in 0:00:27.685 --> 0:00:31.405 just two visits. See any standard two D movie anytime 0:00:31.725 --> 0:00:34.725 with no blackout dates or restrictions. Sign up now on 0:00:34.765 --> 0:00:36.964 the Regal app or at the link in our description 0:00:37.165 --> 0:00:41.004 and use code film spot twenty six to receive fifteen 0:00:41.045 --> 0:00:41.685 percent off. 0:00:42.364 --> 0:00:46.364 You know, Josh, I remember one of the first bonding 0:00:46.485 --> 0:00:51.765 experiences that producer Sam and I had was we were 0:00:51.805 --> 0:00:57.525 at a get together for a wedding. We were groomsmen, 0:00:57.804 --> 0:00:59.605 maybe I don't know, or we were just hanging out 0:00:59.645 --> 0:01:02.645 with friends. A friend of ours was getting married and 0:01:02.925 --> 0:01:05.804 we were hanging out with other people involved in the wedding, 0:01:06.005 --> 0:01:08.605 and we were like in the same canoe. And that 0:01:08.645 --> 0:01:11.005 meant we got to talk movies the whole time we 0:01:11.005 --> 0:01:14.605 were young film spotting. Film spotting had just begun maybe 0:01:14.725 --> 0:01:16.485 or I don't know, film spotting had even begun at 0:01:16.485 --> 0:01:18.405 this point, and yeah. 0:01:18.164 --> 0:01:18.565 It had. 0:01:18.845 --> 0:01:22.645 And we started talking about our favorite movies. And Sam 0:01:22.685 --> 0:01:24.964 informed me that not only was he not a fan 0:01:25.084 --> 0:01:27.965 of Fay Done Away, he didn't really like the movie 0:01:28.045 --> 0:01:30.765 Network and you didn't. And yet now I came out 0:01:30.804 --> 0:01:34.044 of the canoe. I wanted to, and and yet I 0:01:34.125 --> 0:01:36.565 continued doing the show with him, and our our friendship 0:01:36.565 --> 0:01:41.725 has somehow stayed, It survived all of these years, and 0:01:42.005 --> 0:01:44.084 I was a little bit worried. I didn't know when 0:01:44.164 --> 0:01:48.605 we got together. Later in twenty twenty one, did this 0:01:48.685 --> 0:01:52.525 seven from seventy six series looked at seven films from 0:01:52.525 --> 0:01:55.165 that great movie year. We were going to talk about network. 0:01:56.205 --> 0:01:59.725 I wondered, could history repeat itself? Could I sit down 0:01:59.725 --> 0:02:03.325 for a conversation with you, Josh, and you might tell 0:02:03.325 --> 0:02:05.885 me that you don't appreciate this movie one of my 0:02:05.925 --> 0:02:08.165 all time favorites, and was I was? I just gonna 0:02:08.165 --> 0:02:09.445 have to be crushed all over again. 0:02:09.765 --> 0:02:12.645 Well, I don't want to spoil anything because listeners are 0:02:12.645 --> 0:02:15.525 about to hear it. But I think in this conversation, 0:02:15.645 --> 0:02:16.925 Faye Donaway gets her due. 0:02:17.125 --> 0:02:19.325 I think that's fair. She got her due. Then I'm 0:02:19.325 --> 0:02:22.725 pretty sure a Best Actress nomine. The film was nominated 0:02:22.765 --> 0:02:26.485 for Best Picture. And we're playing this from the archive 0:02:27.165 --> 0:02:31.245 as we continue our Oscars theme leading up to the 0:02:31.325 --> 0:02:34.885 Academy Awards here in March. But we also want to 0:02:35.325 --> 0:02:39.645 acknowledge the passing last week of Robert Duvall who is 0:02:39.805 --> 0:02:44.565 part of this great ensemble? Featured in Sydney Lamette's Network. 0:02:44.644 --> 0:02:47.925 So here it is. It came to theaters fifty years 0:02:47.965 --> 0:02:51.084 ago this November. Our review of Network. 0:02:51.405 --> 0:02:53.365 Last night, Howard Beale went on the air and yelled 0:02:53.405 --> 0:02:55.484 bullshit for two minutes, And I can tell you right 0:02:55.525 --> 0:02:58.165 now that Tonight's show will get a thirty share at least. 0:02:58.965 --> 0:03:00.325 I think we've lucked into something. 0:03:00.605 --> 0:03:04.044 Oh, for God's sakes, Diane, you suggest we've put that lunatic. 0:03:03.845 --> 0:03:05.405 Back on the air yelling bullshit. 0:03:05.605 --> 0:03:07.645 Yes, I think we should put Bill back on the 0:03:07.644 --> 0:03:09.645 air tonight and keep him on. Did you see the 0:03:09.685 --> 0:03:12.245 news this morning? Did you see the times We've got 0:03:12.285 --> 0:03:15.005 PRISCE coverage on this You couldn't buy for a million dollars, Frank, 0:03:15.805 --> 0:03:18.924 that dumb show jumped five rating points in one night. 0:03:19.085 --> 0:03:19.885 Tonight's Show has got. 0:03:19.764 --> 0:03:22.405 To be at least fifteen was released in the fall 0:03:22.405 --> 0:03:24.885 of seventy six. It went on to be nominated for 0:03:25.044 --> 0:03:29.165 ten Oscars, tied with Rocky for the most nominations. It 0:03:29.245 --> 0:03:33.525 included Best Picture and Director, winning four Beatrice Straight for 0:03:33.565 --> 0:03:36.925 Best Supporting Actress, Fae Dunaway for Best Actress, Patty Chaievsky 0:03:37.005 --> 0:03:41.445 for Best Original Screenplay, and Peter Finch won Best Actor posthumously. 0:03:41.765 --> 0:03:44.605 He died in January seventy seven, not long after the 0:03:44.645 --> 0:03:48.485 movie was released. It received a total of five acting nominations, 0:03:48.525 --> 0:03:52.205 which actually hasn't happened since William Holden and Ned Batty 0:03:52.685 --> 0:03:56.205 also were nominated, and we'll probably talk about it at 0:03:56.285 --> 0:03:58.925 least a little bit. I'm gonna say Robert Duvall deserved 0:03:58.925 --> 0:04:03.005 a nomination as well, really really yeah, oh love him 0:04:03.005 --> 0:04:06.725 in this movie. Okay, how best to describe Network to 0:04:06.805 --> 0:04:07.645 the uninitiated. 0:04:07.685 --> 0:04:08.405 There's the plot. 0:04:08.565 --> 0:04:11.725 Finch's veteran news anchorman, Howard Beal, is forced to retire 0:04:11.725 --> 0:04:14.845 because his ratings have gone soft. He announces his firing 0:04:15.005 --> 0:04:17.005 on TV and then states that he's going to kill 0:04:17.085 --> 0:04:19.924 himself live on television and then in the world created 0:04:19.965 --> 0:04:22.605 by Chaievsky, Beal go on to become a rating sensation 0:04:22.805 --> 0:04:25.525 as the mad profit of the airwaves, thanks to his 0:04:25.605 --> 0:04:28.245 famous on air declaration that he's mad as hell and 0:04:28.285 --> 0:04:29.885 I'm not going to take this anymore. 0:04:30.405 --> 0:04:31.085 The characters. 0:04:31.325 --> 0:04:34.965 There's the ambitious young network executive Diana Christensen played by Dunaway, 0:04:35.205 --> 0:04:38.565 Holden's old school Newsigzec, who tries in vain to retain 0:04:38.605 --> 0:04:41.325 his own personal integrity and the integrity of the news division, 0:04:41.765 --> 0:04:46.525 Duval's money obsessed corporate hatchetman, and Baby's sinister board chair. 0:04:46.805 --> 0:04:49.245 And then there's a band of terrorists called the Ecumenical 0:04:49.325 --> 0:04:52.244 Liberation Army, who are given a series called The Mause 0:04:52.404 --> 0:04:55.765 Tungue Hour. The movie was critically acclaimed at the time, 0:04:55.925 --> 0:04:58.885 though there were dissenters. Roger Ebert loved it, writing, so 0:04:58.925 --> 0:05:01.325 the movie's flawed, so it leaves us with loose ends 0:05:01.365 --> 0:05:04.164 and questions that finally doesn't bother me because what it 0:05:04.205 --> 0:05:07.005 does accomplish is done so well, is seen so sharply, 0:05:07.125 --> 0:05:10.605 is presented so unforgivingly, that Network will outlive a lot 0:05:10.605 --> 0:05:14.125 of tidier movies. Pauline Kale did not love it. The 0:05:14.245 --> 0:05:17.045 entire picture is Chaievsky sticking his head out the window 0:05:17.485 --> 0:05:21.125 and yelling. She wrote, here's my thought. They solely on 0:05:21.165 --> 0:05:25.245 those conclusions. Anyway, they're both right now. Josh, you somehow 0:05:25.365 --> 0:05:29.165 weren't sure if you'd seen Network before. Let's answer that first, 0:05:29.805 --> 0:05:30.805 had you? I? 0:05:31.445 --> 0:05:35.205 Yes, I had. It wasn't just the compilation of famous 0:05:35.245 --> 0:05:37.445 clips that had piled up in my mind that often 0:05:37.485 --> 0:05:39.765 show up during Oscar ceremonies. I think it was like 0:05:39.805 --> 0:05:42.604 a go to over the years, some of these scenes. No, 0:05:42.725 --> 0:05:45.605 I did indeed see this whole movie before, glad to 0:05:45.605 --> 0:05:46.164 see it again. 0:05:46.725 --> 0:05:50.325 Then, what of Ebert's point that Network will outlive a 0:05:50.365 --> 0:05:53.164 lot of tidier movies. Neither of us can speak to 0:05:53.245 --> 0:05:55.085 what it was like to watch it in the seventies 0:05:55.485 --> 0:05:57.484 or the eighties, but I can tell you that it 0:05:57.525 --> 0:06:00.885 resonated differently watching it in twenty twenty one versus when 0:06:00.925 --> 0:06:03.245 I saw it originally, which would have been around nineteen 0:06:03.284 --> 0:06:07.244 ninety three or ninety four. A listener voicemail will provide 0:06:07.245 --> 0:06:09.445 some further provocation on that front. 0:06:09.605 --> 0:06:12.044 Hey, Adam and Josh. It's Josh Weinhold from South Bend 0:06:12.125 --> 0:06:14.044 sharing some thoughts on Network, which has been one of 0:06:14.045 --> 0:06:16.005 my all time favorites since I first saw it late 0:06:16.045 --> 0:06:18.485 one night in the college newspaper office more than fifteen 0:06:18.525 --> 0:06:20.925 years ago. At the time, I was transfixed by the 0:06:21.045 --> 0:06:23.965 pression depiction of the entertainmentification of news and of corporate 0:06:23.964 --> 0:06:26.365 interest putting the almighty dollar ahead of the public good. 0:06:26.645 --> 0:06:28.484 Returning to it this week, though, I was left wondering 0:06:28.525 --> 0:06:31.484 whether we've now gone far beyond anything Patty Shayefsky could 0:06:31.485 --> 0:06:34.645 have predicted. I was struck by how unifying Howard Beale's 0:06:34.725 --> 0:06:37.445 rage is. His ratings only grow larger as he embodies 0:06:37.485 --> 0:06:40.565 the public's collective anger and frustration, but his only agenda 0:06:40.645 --> 0:06:42.604 is to punch up. He never seeks to turn his 0:06:42.605 --> 0:06:45.844 audience against one another. Our cultural landscape now is littered 0:06:45.885 --> 0:06:47.604 with figures who are mad as hell and not going 0:06:47.685 --> 0:06:50.165 to take it anymore, but they rile up their audiences 0:06:50.245 --> 0:06:52.645 in an effort to divide. When the primal forces of 0:06:52.725 --> 0:06:56.044 nature begin reshaping Beale's message, his audience falls away. But 0:06:56.125 --> 0:06:58.805 in the twenty first century, those primal forces have mastered 0:06:58.805 --> 0:07:01.525 tactics that drive their audiences to channel their rage at 0:07:01.525 --> 0:07:04.044 each other. So, guys, I'm wondering whether you find Network's 0:07:04.085 --> 0:07:06.685 social satire as sharp as ever, or if, like me, 0:07:06.885 --> 0:07:09.925 you worry that society has collectively jumped the shark, which, 0:07:10.005 --> 0:07:11.725 come to think of it, sounds like a show Diana 0:07:11.805 --> 0:07:13.885 Christiansen might pitch for next year's Fall lineup. 0:07:14.125 --> 0:07:16.564 As long as that show culminated with losers getting fed 0:07:16.565 --> 0:07:19.885 to sharks, Diana christian Sid would undoubtedly green light it. 0:07:20.325 --> 0:07:24.405 Josh Chicago, how do you respond to Ebert and to 0:07:24.525 --> 0:07:25.765 Josh from South Bend. 0:07:26.885 --> 0:07:31.684 Well, I do think Network captured what we're a wash 0:07:31.765 --> 0:07:35.325 in today as well. I don't think what we see 0:07:35.365 --> 0:07:37.725 in the movie we're pretty much living in. I think 0:07:37.765 --> 0:07:42.365 the movie captures that. Essentially, we add reality television, right, 0:07:42.685 --> 0:07:44.645 it was just kind of on the forefront. Now we 0:07:44.725 --> 0:07:48.325 have reality television, which is the major development i'd say 0:07:48.645 --> 0:07:53.485 since Network came out. So I don't know. I think 0:07:53.485 --> 0:07:57.965 it was ahead of its time and still, you know, 0:07:58.125 --> 0:08:02.045 very much of its own time. I guess my quibble 0:08:02.085 --> 0:08:04.445 maybe with Josh is that I don't see Howard Beale 0:08:04.445 --> 0:08:07.565 as this champion of the everyman who's always punching up. 0:08:07.765 --> 0:08:11.445 I think there are moments when he's a true prophet 0:08:11.605 --> 0:08:13.645 in that sense, right, that would be a true prophet, 0:08:13.685 --> 0:08:15.965 But there's also moments where he's a false prophet. There's 0:08:16.005 --> 0:08:18.605 moments where he's he's a lot like our current Fox 0:08:18.685 --> 0:08:22.845 News hosts, and ultimately, to me rewatching this, he's more 0:08:22.845 --> 0:08:24.965 of a convenient prophet, which I think is a little 0:08:24.965 --> 0:08:28.125 different than maybe how Josh sees him. But I'll get 0:08:28.165 --> 0:08:30.445 to that maybe those distinctions a little bit later. To 0:08:30.525 --> 0:08:34.125 his point about Network as a satire and This speaks 0:08:34.165 --> 0:08:38.405 to the longevity that Ebert predicted as well. Undeniably, that's 0:08:38.445 --> 0:08:42.565 the strength of this film. That is where it's clicking, 0:08:43.085 --> 0:08:46.925 where its points are most effectively made and taken, where 0:08:46.925 --> 0:08:50.285 we can see the wisdom of this movie. Dunaway probably 0:08:50.565 --> 0:08:52.925 the other strength of the film. I would say, I'm 0:08:52.925 --> 0:08:55.765 sure we'll get to her. Partly this is because the 0:08:55.804 --> 0:08:59.605 satire is still dead on still applies. Also because think 0:08:59.684 --> 0:09:02.885 of all the really good films Network has inspired, these 0:09:02.965 --> 0:09:06.925 movies that diagnose the great American illness. Now, they all 0:09:06.965 --> 0:09:09.525 do it in different ways. I'm thinking of something like Idiocracy, 0:09:10.045 --> 0:09:13.324 I'm thinking of Bamboozled, I'm thinking of Sorry to Bother You. 0:09:13.365 --> 0:09:16.084 In recent years, these are all movies that tweak our 0:09:16.245 --> 0:09:19.925 enslavement to screens and the way that allows us to 0:09:19.925 --> 0:09:23.445 be manipulated, mostly as consumers. You know, Network wrote that 0:09:23.525 --> 0:09:27.365 script first, and I think that's why it's great now 0:09:27.725 --> 0:09:31.245 about that script though, about Chefski's script this time, I 0:09:31.285 --> 0:09:34.125 gotta say it's maybe where Oscar winning. I know I 0:09:34.205 --> 0:09:37.684 had a few issues just in terms of basic structure, 0:09:37.965 --> 0:09:40.365 but also when it comes to that profit element. But 0:09:40.725 --> 0:09:43.084 back to you first, Adam and what you kind of 0:09:43.085 --> 0:09:44.444 make of Josh's question. 0:09:44.684 --> 0:09:47.324 Well, there's so much to get to. First. 0:09:48.005 --> 0:09:51.285 I do think we see a difference to Josh's point 0:09:51.725 --> 0:09:56.684 in the pre Arthur Jensen sermon Howard Beale and the 0:09:56.725 --> 0:10:01.805 post Arthur Jensen sermon Howard Beale, and it largely lies 0:10:01.965 --> 0:10:05.925 in that populist ethos. He's talking first about rising up 0:10:06.325 --> 0:10:11.165 against oppressors, corporate oppressors. He's talking about individualism, and then 0:10:11.245 --> 0:10:14.485 after Arthur Jensen, he's saying, you know what, corporations, they 0:10:14.485 --> 0:10:18.365 really do run everything. There's no hope. The individual is dead. 0:10:18.605 --> 0:10:20.844 He's saying, everything we've ever come to believe, whether it's 0:10:20.845 --> 0:10:23.805 t who are not about America is dead and you 0:10:23.845 --> 0:10:26.804 should forget it. So I think I do understand where 0:10:27.045 --> 0:10:28.005 Josh is coming from. 0:10:28.005 --> 0:10:28.165 There. 0:10:28.205 --> 0:10:31.005 Another thing I'll say that just occurred to me is 0:10:31.804 --> 0:10:34.645 we've been watching these seventy six movies out of order, 0:10:34.804 --> 0:10:36.965 pretty random. We started with all the President's Men, then 0:10:36.965 --> 0:10:40.285 we went to Taxi Driver, and now to this. And 0:10:41.045 --> 0:10:44.805 it's an interesting progression, isn't it. Because in Network they're 0:10:44.845 --> 0:10:48.045 talking about this malaise. Certainly Howard Beale is tapping into 0:10:48.165 --> 0:10:51.925 how disillusioned everyone in the country seems to feel. He 0:10:52.085 --> 0:10:54.965 even references watergates. So when all the president's men, we 0:10:55.085 --> 0:11:00.125 see the making of this, the making of the country's undoing. 0:11:00.485 --> 0:11:03.645 And then in Taxi Driver you see someone like Travis Bickel, 0:11:03.684 --> 0:11:08.045 and you wonder, how would he react to Howard Beale 0:11:08.125 --> 0:11:12.125 if he wasn't just watching Soul Train or whatever is on, 0:11:12.485 --> 0:11:15.725 including like an old detective show or a soap opera 0:11:15.885 --> 0:11:18.325 or something. Maybe he'd be watching the news and he'd 0:11:18.365 --> 0:11:20.845 be the guy who would go to the window and yell. 0:11:20.885 --> 0:11:23.325 And some of these revolutionaries that we see. We talked 0:11:23.325 --> 0:11:26.805 about this with Bickel being this man of isolation, God's 0:11:26.845 --> 0:11:29.285 lonely man, and what we see just a few years 0:11:29.365 --> 0:11:32.805 later here in Network is a group of people coming 0:11:32.845 --> 0:11:35.525 together to rise up, maybe with a little bit more 0:11:35.564 --> 0:11:38.125 political purpose than Travis Bickel actually has. But anyway, I 0:11:38.165 --> 0:11:40.685 thought that I thought that progression was at least notable. 0:11:40.684 --> 0:11:42.845 I don't know if you were thinking about it too well. 0:11:43.165 --> 0:11:48.885 Bickel is absolutely in the audience for Beelle's false prophet phase, 0:11:49.205 --> 0:11:53.565 you know, where he is just telling folks to get angry. 0:11:53.965 --> 0:11:56.645 And I think it's very telling, and I love that 0:11:56.684 --> 0:11:59.885 you brought it around to Bickle because what does he do. 0:11:59.925 --> 0:12:04.645 Even in one scene where he tells them to express 0:12:04.725 --> 0:12:07.005 their rage, he even says something I can't remember the 0:12:07.005 --> 0:12:10.285 line exactly, but something like I don't know what you 0:12:10.325 --> 0:12:15.564 should do. After that, he gives them no direction. There's 0:12:15.645 --> 0:12:19.645 no like target, even good target. So if you think 0:12:19.645 --> 0:12:22.245 about you know, it's a limited truth that Beale is 0:12:22.285 --> 0:12:26.085 preaching when he's that false prophet and just telling people 0:12:26.165 --> 0:12:28.885 to express their rage. I think even that late night 0:12:28.965 --> 0:12:31.645 scene where he has this visitation, he hears this voice. 0:12:31.645 --> 0:12:34.565 The voice even says, we're not talking about eternal truth 0:12:34.605 --> 0:12:37.805 or absolute truth or ultimate truth. We're talking about impermanent, transient, 0:12:37.885 --> 0:12:40.845 human truth. So that's a limited truth. That is just 0:12:41.405 --> 0:12:43.844 the rage. He doesn't give them any direction, he doesn't 0:12:43.845 --> 0:12:46.925 give them any hope. It's unchanneled, unfocused rage. And what 0:12:46.965 --> 0:12:50.165 does that result in? It results in Travis Bickel, It's 0:12:50.245 --> 0:12:53.805 exploited by people like Diana, by other media outlets, It's 0:12:53.845 --> 0:12:58.245 exploited by corporations, as we'll see. You know, that last 0:12:58.325 --> 0:13:01.444 phase of Beal is tricky because he is being manipulated 0:13:01.445 --> 0:13:05.125 by ned Bades corporate over lord, even as he's sort 0:13:05.165 --> 0:13:07.645 of speaking his own truth at the same time, right, 0:13:07.725 --> 0:13:11.605 So he's this false prophet who's being manipulated. And then 0:13:11.725 --> 0:13:15.885 you know, we've lived through politicians recently doing this, garnering 0:13:15.965 --> 0:13:22.405 populist rage, not directing it anywhere truthful, just telling it 0:13:22.445 --> 0:13:25.725 to be vented. And that's where that's where the profit 0:13:25.765 --> 0:13:28.125 thing is tricky, because he doesn't really become a true 0:13:28.125 --> 0:13:31.525 prophet to me until those sequences you were talking about 0:13:31.525 --> 0:13:34.365 Adam where he he starts to bite the hand that 0:13:34.405 --> 0:13:35.204 has created him. 0:13:35.245 --> 0:13:36.845 Well, that's how you really see it. 0:13:36.925 --> 0:13:40.045 Yes, absolutely, And I guess I will just say this, 0:13:40.125 --> 0:13:41.885 and I don't know if we're really splitting hairs or not. 0:13:42.005 --> 0:13:45.565 I think that sense of truth not being transient and 0:13:45.605 --> 0:13:48.165 being limited and just at least trying to get people 0:13:48.365 --> 0:13:52.005 to not be apathetic but to actually be angry, that's enough. 0:13:52.125 --> 0:13:54.925 Isn't that actually more honest than suggesting that he does 0:13:55.005 --> 0:13:57.684 know what should take right now? And so that's my 0:13:57.765 --> 0:13:59.804 thing with Beale is that I do at least think 0:14:00.445 --> 0:14:03.685 that he is never really a false prophet, or at 0:14:03.725 --> 0:14:06.285 least this is what I'm kicking around, Josh, the idea 0:14:06.365 --> 0:14:10.205 that he's not false, because even if what he is 0:14:10.245 --> 0:14:13.485 saying or the underlying message, we could quibble with or 0:14:13.525 --> 0:14:19.085 say isn't clear sighted enough or actually productive in any way. 0:14:19.725 --> 0:14:25.445 He believes it, unlike a prophet who knowingly is spreading falsity. 0:14:26.445 --> 0:14:29.525 I believe what he's tapping into. I believe that he 0:14:29.605 --> 0:14:32.125 believes it. And even this is where the contradiction comes in. 0:14:32.165 --> 0:14:33.885 And I think the complexity of the script and what 0:14:33.925 --> 0:14:36.525 I love about it so much is that even when 0:14:36.565 --> 0:14:41.165 he's then completely contradicting himself a few nights later, after 0:14:41.445 --> 0:14:45.125 meeting with Ned Badies Arthur Jensen, he's still saying the truth. 0:14:45.125 --> 0:14:47.125 In fact, he might actually be saying what's more of 0:14:47.165 --> 0:14:50.205 an actual truth. It's just not what the people want 0:14:50.245 --> 0:14:51.925 to hear. It's not what any of us would want 0:14:51.965 --> 0:14:52.205 to hear. 0:14:52.445 --> 0:14:55.085 The time has come to say, is the humanization is 0:14:55.125 --> 0:14:56.045 such a bad word. 0:14:57.365 --> 0:14:58.965 Look it's good or bad, that's what is. 0:14:58.965 --> 0:15:04.365 So the whole world is becoming humanoid creatures that look human, 0:15:04.445 --> 0:15:07.725 but art the whole world, not just us. 0:15:07.765 --> 0:15:11.045 We're just the most advanced country, so we're getting there first. 0:15:12.725 --> 0:15:13.845 The whole worlds. 0:15:13.725 --> 0:15:19.285 People are becoming mass produced, program numbered in sense things. 0:15:19.405 --> 0:15:21.485 Yeah. I think that's the tricky thing with Feel as 0:15:21.525 --> 0:15:24.245 a character is he was he was more of a 0:15:24.245 --> 0:15:26.405 tool for me. This time around, I didn't ever really 0:15:26.405 --> 0:15:29.245 get a sense of, you know fully, what he did believe, 0:15:29.445 --> 0:15:33.525 where he was losing control of his senses legitimately becoming 0:15:33.565 --> 0:15:38.365 mentally ill, and where it was this existential force actually 0:15:38.405 --> 0:15:41.365 speaking to him. Those things got mixed because I felt 0:15:41.365 --> 0:15:43.885 like he kept being used depending on how the screenplay 0:15:43.925 --> 0:15:47.245 wanted him to be used. And I guess, you know, yes, 0:15:47.285 --> 0:15:49.045 he's not a false prophet in the sense of like 0:15:49.885 --> 0:15:51.565 you know, Robert Mitcham in The Night of the Hunter, 0:15:51.605 --> 0:15:54.805 where he's you know, he's preaching this false gospel, but 0:15:54.845 --> 0:15:57.645 he's not a true prophet, because true prophets speak truth 0:15:57.725 --> 0:16:00.445 to power, and and he becomes one, as I was saying, 0:16:00.965 --> 0:16:05.005 when he does start telling the audience that you are slaves, 0:16:05.245 --> 0:16:08.165 and he starts hinting about the corporate machinations going on 0:16:08.245 --> 0:16:10.125 in the background that get him into trouble. That's the 0:16:10.205 --> 0:16:13.205 power he's he's rousing at that point, and that's why 0:16:13.245 --> 0:16:16.245 ned Batty brings him into the into the boardroom for 0:16:16.325 --> 0:16:20.605 that amazing scene and you know, gives him that booming speech. 0:16:20.645 --> 0:16:23.645 So it's but he starts talking truth to power, he 0:16:23.685 --> 0:16:26.045 does become a true prophet. But I still think at 0:16:26.085 --> 0:16:28.085 the end of the day, he registered mostly for me 0:16:28.165 --> 0:16:30.685 this time around, as this convenient prophet because he's a 0:16:30.725 --> 0:16:36.405 tool of Chaievsky's screenplay, which is, you know, this is 0:16:36.525 --> 0:16:40.165 didactic cinema, and I'm trying to come around on that. 0:16:40.285 --> 0:16:42.325 You know, I've always been a little bit hesitant to it, 0:16:42.365 --> 0:16:44.605 even though one of my favorite struggle even though one 0:16:44.645 --> 0:16:47.005 of my favorite filmmakers, Spike Lee, is you know, maybe 0:16:47.005 --> 0:16:50.125 the king of didactic cinema. Okay, and so like the 0:16:50.245 --> 0:16:53.005 message here, I totally as we've talked about, is pressient 0:16:53.125 --> 0:16:58.405 on point needed necessary. But in watching Beale this time around, 0:16:58.525 --> 0:17:02.205 I did feel like this was just this figure. We 0:17:02.245 --> 0:17:04.205 didn't get to really know him as a character or what, 0:17:04.325 --> 0:17:06.405 especially how the movie begins with just these two guys 0:17:06.405 --> 0:17:08.805 going out for a drink and really rooted in their 0:17:08.885 --> 0:17:13.405 shared past together. Eventually we no longer really the movie 0:17:13.445 --> 0:17:15.925 doesn't seem that interested in Beale as a person. He 0:17:16.045 --> 0:17:19.244 becomes this this figure that can be used depending on 0:17:19.285 --> 0:17:22.165 what points the screenplay wants to make. They're great points, 0:17:22.525 --> 0:17:26.285 they're fascinating points. This Finch is amazing and delivering them. 0:17:26.365 --> 0:17:28.605 I love the transition he makes from this morose older 0:17:28.645 --> 0:17:32.485 guy to the televangelist to the guy who's really likely 0:17:32.525 --> 0:17:35.685 lost his mind. I mean the performance is good, yes, 0:17:35.725 --> 0:17:39.045 but it's a convenient figure for the screenplay. Is how 0:17:39.045 --> 0:17:39.645 it struck me. 0:17:39.805 --> 0:17:41.165 I don't see it that way. 0:17:41.205 --> 0:17:44.605 I definitely see it as more ambiguous by design. And 0:17:44.645 --> 0:17:47.845 actually one of the strengths, as I was mentioning earlier, 0:17:47.925 --> 0:17:50.405 in that there's a moment. For example, it's when he's 0:17:50.445 --> 0:17:54.165 giving the I'm attis Hell's speech and we cut to 0:17:54.805 --> 0:18:01.165 Diana fade unaway reacting like this over zealous, proud mother 0:18:01.445 --> 0:18:03.925 who knows that she can milk this for whatever she wants, 0:18:03.965 --> 0:18:06.245 and we as viewers, I think most of us look 0:18:06.245 --> 0:18:08.765 at that character and say, Okay, she's on the wrong 0:18:08.805 --> 0:18:12.725 side of this. So if she's reacting positively, well that's 0:18:12.725 --> 0:18:14.405 not necessarily a good thing. Well then you've got on 0:18:14.445 --> 0:18:17.405 the other side William Holden's character, who's scoffing at it 0:18:17.725 --> 0:18:20.525 and who thinks it's an embarrassment and can't believe anyone 0:18:20.565 --> 0:18:23.765 would be weighed by it. And the reality is is 0:18:23.765 --> 0:18:26.605 that as a viewer, I'm right in the middle where 0:18:26.645 --> 0:18:29.565 I'm going, Well, he's kind of making a lot of sense. 0:18:29.725 --> 0:18:32.045 But he also is off his rocker and probably should 0:18:32.085 --> 0:18:34.405 be in a home or at least getting some kind 0:18:34.445 --> 0:18:37.485 of treatment, and he definitely shouldn't be getting more airtime. 0:18:37.765 --> 0:18:40.005 And yet I like what he has to say. I 0:18:40.045 --> 0:18:43.725 find myself reacting viscerally to what he's saying. So I 0:18:43.765 --> 0:18:47.445 think that that is complexity that really draws me into Network. 0:18:47.485 --> 0:18:51.485 And in terms of the didacticism, definitely this time first 0:18:51.485 --> 0:18:53.925 time I'd seen it. As I mentioned, since probably ninety 0:18:53.925 --> 0:18:57.485 three or ninety four. There are definitely parts that seem overwritten. 0:18:57.965 --> 0:19:02.285 There are moments that seem overacted. There are parts where 0:19:02.405 --> 0:19:07.885 Chaiefski through Beal is perhaps not just attacking corporatism and 0:19:08.045 --> 0:19:11.685 capitalism runnam Uk, but relying on a little xenophobia to. 0:19:11.765 --> 0:19:13.725 Unify his American audience. 0:19:13.765 --> 0:19:18.285 There are problematic aspects of Network I see it, and 0:19:18.365 --> 0:19:21.765 none of it overrides I'll use that word again. It's prescience, 0:19:22.525 --> 0:19:28.405 its perceptiveness, its sense of humor, and the entire brilliant 0:19:28.485 --> 0:19:33.565 satirical DNA that is its foundation. And satire is a 0:19:33.565 --> 0:19:36.725 word that I think often gets used or misused to 0:19:36.805 --> 0:19:40.445 describe a lot of different types of art or content, 0:19:40.685 --> 0:19:43.845 if you will. But with Network, I'm talking about the 0:19:43.885 --> 0:19:49.125 pure stuff, the acute but outrageous, swiftly in let's solve 0:19:49.165 --> 0:19:52.325 poverty by selling poor kids to the rich for food stuff. There, 0:19:52.405 --> 0:19:55.685 simply for me, isn't a better piece of cinematic satire 0:19:56.565 --> 0:19:59.405 that ending. I'm going to give people listening radio or 0:19:59.405 --> 0:20:01.165 podcast a chance here in a sackle, give you the 0:20:01.245 --> 0:20:03.925 cue to turn the radio off for fifteen seconds, or 0:20:04.005 --> 0:20:05.485 hit the jump ahead button on your phone if you 0:20:05.525 --> 0:20:07.484 haven't seen it, but here it is. 0:20:08.285 --> 0:20:10.525 So what do we do about this beel son of 0:20:10.605 --> 0:20:11.085 a bitch? 0:20:12.445 --> 0:20:15.565 I suppose we'll have to kill him. 0:20:15.845 --> 0:20:18.485 I don't suppose you have any ideas on the Diana. 0:20:19.645 --> 0:20:27.805 Well, what would your fellows say to an assassination? I 0:20:27.845 --> 0:20:30.565 think I can get the Mauzi tuned people to kill 0:20:30.605 --> 0:20:31.405 be for us. 0:20:31.485 --> 0:20:33.205 It's one of the shows. 0:20:33.965 --> 0:20:37.005 In fact, it'll make a hell of a kickoff show 0:20:37.045 --> 0:20:40.845 for the season. We're facing heavy opposition on the other network. 0:20:40.925 --> 0:20:45.725 That ending is so incredible and chilling watching a group 0:20:45.765 --> 0:20:50.125 of TV execs deciding to murder one of their personalities 0:20:50.165 --> 0:20:54.685 live on TV with the same gravity and solemnity they'd 0:20:54.725 --> 0:20:59.565 give to ordering takeout. Is it realistic? Of course not. 0:21:00.205 --> 0:21:04.565 It's absurd, But is that Yes, I get it, that 0:21:04.645 --> 0:21:07.645 is the line it's walking, but it's also not something 0:21:07.685 --> 0:21:10.485 we actually believe is probably taking place. But that's the 0:21:10.605 --> 0:21:13.645 entire point, is Diana Christensen being so consumed with her 0:21:13.725 --> 0:21:18.805 work and her ambition that she literally talks only about 0:21:18.805 --> 0:21:21.725 TV deals and ratings while on a Romean weekend get 0:21:21.725 --> 0:21:26.845 away with her lover, including during sex Realistic. No, it's absurd, 0:21:26.885 --> 0:21:29.925 but I do think that absurdity and that irony is 0:21:30.285 --> 0:21:34.125 why Network's message is so lucid and so potent. And 0:21:34.405 --> 0:21:37.245 I mentioned that it resonated differently this time. When I 0:21:37.285 --> 0:21:39.205