In this work, director Sidney Lumet satirized not only the television industry, but everything.
Our protagonist, Howard, works diligently and hard, and has also achieved remarkable results. Whether it's because of the unchanging style or the changing times, gradually the shows he hosts are no longer the trump card. Coupled with the blow brought by the death of his wife, his condition went from bad to worse. At this point, the company fired him. The collapse of work and life forced him to get drunk in a bar with his good friend Max. During the chat, an inadvertent but crazy idea formed in his mind. In a news broadcast the next day, he said he would shoot himself on the show a week later. Instantly aroused the interest of the crowd. Of course, this kind of grandstanding was naturally not liked by the top management, and the leaders demanded an apology from Howard and a severance order that took effect immediately after two weeks.
After sobering up, Howard regretted a little, and promised that nothing would go wrong in the final apology. When the program was broadcast, it was probably because of the thought that the business that had been painstakingly built over the years was about to be ruined, and I felt indignant, so I made a lot of nonsense and greeted the world with swear words. Seeing that they were going to lose control again, the senior management immediately contacted the staff to stop the show. At this time, Max shot to stop it and let Howard continue to go crazy. The former is full of grievances at the top because the news department he is in charge of is going to be split and merged, and he wants to avenge his personal revenge.
It's not that the two of them didn't know the consequences of this kind of show for the company, but compared to the bad news that they were about to be fired, and that the department they were in charge of became someone else's subordinate, the overall interests were not important.
Howard was fired, and Max was also ordered to resign after he argued with the leadership. It seems that this is the end.
A female producer named Diana changed their fate. Since the audience did not see these emotional venting in the news broadcast, the ratings skyrocketed for a while. Howard also became a "darling", and the company finally decided to continue the show. And Max, as the only person who could persuade Howard, was also left behind. Of course, the curiosity is only temporary, and the ratings will drop after the novelty passes. Therefore, under the passionate flickering of the head of the head office, it is impossible to survive without madness. Blow up emotions on TV shows. In the end, the gunman hired by the show team was shot and killed by the show team.
Howard's life is too typical. Hard work, promotion and salary increase, happy family; career setback, wife passed away and fired. There seems to be little choice. He climbed up so hard, but he couldn't resist the cruelty of reality. He was disheartened and had no intention of developing his career at all. He even wanted to take advantage of this last chance to make some retaliatory struggles, but his career ushered in unexpected highlights. He lost his reverence for journalism, he gave up his responsibility to the public, and began to spoof and curse, but because of this he was sought after by people. He didn't think about the logic behind the excitement. Instead, under the encouragement of the big boss, he intensified and went crazy. The fame that he once wanted to achieve by hard work, and now he has obtained it in this way, as for the good and the bad, he has no way of distinguishing.
The main attacker who helped Howard to become an explosion was our female producer Diana. She is a total workaholic.
The first scene in the film depicting her is when she gathers her own team to discuss how to get her news ratings. Extremely fast speech, unquestionable tone, professional elite. But she doesn't seem to have any requirements for her own professional ethics, and the choice of subject matter is completely to choose what attracts attention. And to put it bluntly, American audiences just need an outlet for their emotions, and it doesn't matter what the content is. This kind of indifference to content only caters to the audience's temporary taste, much like our film and television market over the years.
She pursues KPIs to the extreme, and in bed she also thinks about what is hot at the moment. The thirst for creating the next explosive style makes her never able to gain peace. But there is no content, only gimmicks, so it is not strategic laziness.
She knew too well what the public needed to see, so when everyone in the company was full of rejection of Howard and wanted him to go, she fought against all criticism and convinced the leaders that it was beneficial to keep Howard and continue to let him do the show graph. In fact, they don't care about Howard, it's just that there has never been such an outlier in the press.
Everyone knows the story later. Howard was famous not because of Diana's stay, but because of the brainwashing of big boss capitalism. It is a bit ridiculous that a person who always regards performance as his highest pursuit in life does not understand the nature of human nature and capital.
Max got angry because his news department was split and reorganized, and confronted the leader directly at the banquet. Was told they would discuss it at the next day's board meeting. Helpless, I have to give up, but the more I think about it, the more angry I will let Howard go. Confrontation with leaders at night. The leader told him that the promise that he had given him to run the news department on his own had not changed. He also admitted that the chief director’s actions were a bit inappropriate and planned to raise it the next day, but in this situation, Max couldn’t stay in the company. down.
Believe in the boss's promise, so I haven't complained for so many years. Although the efficiency is not high, it is practical and hardworking. But when it comes to his own power, all trust and reliance are thrown away. There was just dissatisfaction with her boss, and resentment—and Diana's unhesitating choice of the latter when confronted with the conflict between her lover and the table—how realistic.
This boss looks incredible in front of Max, and looks different in front of his own leader. His leadership insisted on keeping Howard and the show, and the boss and others questioned it as a loss of professional ethics. The big leader said that we are not moral models, we are just brothels waiting for others to throw money. The point is, we're all about to go bankrupt. Max's leadership expressed his anger, but to no avail. Even, he wanted to use his departure to show his determination to never join forces, but he was still pressed on the table by the big leader. There is no room for resistance.
Oh, the first-level official crushed people to death. It's the same everywhere.
What about people's family life? Howard didn't say anything, his wife's departure gave him a heavy blow. There is also a description in the film, that is, Max and Diana.
After leaving Max, Diana naturally asked Max to help deal with it, so she chose after get off work at night. First of all, this timing is...weird. Not to mention the working hours, but chose to rest during the rest time, especially at night. As for the clothes she was wearing, the rest of the holes were fine, but she unbuttoned the button on her chest. I don't believe her if you say she has no other intentions. Moreover, in the process of asking for help, he also specifically said that he had a friend who could tell fortunes, and calculated for himself that he would have an emotional entanglement with a stern middle-aged man. Damn, it's all implied for this sake, and it's about to become an explicit statement. Naturally, all of her flirtatious gestures and gestures were all means, all of which she used in order to get Max to agree to use it for herself.
Naturally, the two of them had sex after eating. At the dinner table, we learned that Max has a family and two daughters. Older men naturally enjoy this kind of cheating. Diana's enthusiasm for her work allowed them to have a common language; her unabashed bluntness attracted him very much, as well as the love of fish and water. He fell into it. After a while, he went home and had a showdown with his wife.
The process of the showdown is still briefly described. After all, with these few minutes of performance, he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The wife was in disbelief at first, and her face was astonished. Then he suppressed his anger and asked Max if he loved her. How terrified she was of hearing that affirmative answer, how desperate she was to know it. Then he started roaring, roaring, venting his anger, tears welling up in his eyes. Then, calm down, tell how badly you've been hurt, and calmly ask Max to move out. After Max posted a sad message for the media world, his wife laughed instead—the whole scene was really shocking, with just the right amount of immersive contagion and emotional explosiveness. As for the award, let's all judge.
I was with my lover because of a momentary anger, but in the end there was no good fruit to eat. Max found out that Diana was really a workaholic, and having sex with him was really nothing. Maybe this relationship is really important to her, but compared to work, she doesn't care. These two people, one turned the means into the goal, and finally devoted himself to the work; the other thought that he had a second spring, but who knew it was just a mirror. Why bother.
The movie also made a huge mockery of the TV world. If you want to say that the director really has no selfishness at all, it is not for revenge for TV to seize the market for too many movies, I do not believe it. But this kind of revenge, according to today's world, I think there is really not much. Without a conscience, what is more than TV.
They manipulate public sentiment and dominate people's values, all just to empty our pockets of money. You can only see what you like, and you can hardly see any conflicting views. Audiences need an outlet for their emotions, and they create one; the public needs sensual entertainment, and they go for it. What sense of responsibility and what moral principles are far less lovely than real money. Even, they can slam themselves for being irresponsible and unethical, as long as you're willing to pay for the show.
The more immersed you are on the Internet and the more you are exposed to the information you believe, the more you will feel that you have mastered the universal truth. They start to show off, they start to be content, they start to preach what they believe, and they start to bash the dissenters.
Just when the communicator began to doubt the value of what he was doing, the big boss appeared. He told the people below that it didn't matter who was good or bad. What matters is business. When you have money, you have everything. This is the truth that shakes the past and shines in the present and is universal. The big boss looked impassioned and pious. At that moment, the employees seemed to see God.
Howard understood that everything—family, work, relationships, quality—is a means, and making money is the end. Then, there is nothing that cannot be ridiculed, including himself.
When his show's influence waned, the big corporations did the same thing: They brought in a terrorist group and shot him on Howard's show. This scene also had a comedic effect, and the audience laughed.
By the way, even this terrorist organization, which was caught by Diana before and wanted to make a series of shows, was also a fake. The purpose, of course, is money.
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