Maureen Dowd
The title phrase, which is ours, was the signature catchphrase of Howard Beale, the fictional evening news anchorman of "Network," Sidney Lumet's satirical film of 1976 with Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, and Robert Duvall. Written by Paddy Chayefsky, who won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay, it was about a fictional television network that struggled with ratings. Dunaway and Holden also won Academy Awards for best actress and actor, as well as Beatrice Straight (best support actress for a 5 min. 40 seconds performance). In 2007 it was voted 64th among the hundred best American films of all times by the American Film Institute. The first question that Maureen Dowd would pose to the late screenwriter of the film would be about . . . Kim Kardashian.
I OFTEN wonder what Paddy would think.
I
wish I could have a pastrami on wry with the late writer and satirist
at the Carnegie Deli and get an exhilarating blast of truth about “the
atomic, subatomic and galactic structure of things today.”
What would Paddy Chayefsky make of Kim Kardashian?
What would he think of Diane Sawyer showing cat videos on the ABC evening news?
What
would he say about Brian Williams broadcasting on the Huntley-Brinkley
network a video of a pig saving a baby goat while admitting he had no
idea if it was phony? (It was.)
What
would Paddy rant about the viral, often venomous world of the Internet,
Twitter and cable news, where fake rage is all the rage all the time,
bleeding over into a Congress that chooses antagonism over
accomplishment, no over yes?
What
would he think of ominous corporate “synergy” run amok, where “news”
seamlessly blends into promotion, where it’s frighteningly easy for
corporate commercial interests to dictate editorial content?
What
would Paddy say about the Murdochization of the news, where a network
slants its perspective because it sells and sells big?
What
would he make of former Time Inc. Editor-in-Chief Norman Pearlstine
returning in a new position as Time Inc.’s chief content officer,
breaking the firewall between editorial and business as he works “with
business and edit teams to drive the development of new content
experiences and products throughout our portfolio that will fuel future
revenue growth,” as C.E.O. Joe Ripp put it?
What
would Paddy think of American corporations skipping out on taxes by
earning nearly half of their profits in tax-haven countries?
What
would he think of the unholy alliance between Internet giants like
Google and Facebook and the U.S. national security apparatus?
Chayefsky’s
dazzling satire “Network,” with its unforgettable mad prophet of the
airwaves, Howard Beale, blossomed from the writer’s curdled feelings
about TV. What wouldn’t the network suits do for ratings, he would ask
lunch companions like Mel Brooks and Bob Fosse at the Carnegie Deli.
But
now America runs on clicks. Chayefsky’s nightmare has been multiplied
many times over, with the total media-ization and monetization of
everything, the supremacy of ratings and market share, the
commercialization of all editorial decisions.
(. . .)
In
his fun upcoming book, “Mad as Hell: The Making of Network and the
Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies,” Dave Itzkoff, a culture
reporter at The Times, offers a vivid portrait of the charming and
depressed curmudgeon.
(. . . ) Chayefsky
said his 1976 masterpiece was “a rage against the dehumanization of
people” addicted to “boredom-killing” devices — a dehumanization that
has gone to warp speed as we have entered the cloud. He said it was
about “how to protect ourselves” from “the illusion we sell as truth.”
"The New York Times," February 9, 2014
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