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Network (1976)
This is AFI100 in the 2007 list, no The last film I've written, I'm finally done. I've still seen this movie, and it felt normal the first time I watched it, and this time it's the same.
The movie tells the story of a TV station that revolves around a TV show. A longtime news presenter has been fired and persuaded by a friend of the news director to use his show to grab the attention of viewers - he announced on TV that he was going to kill himself on the show. After the show was broadcast, it caused an uproar, and the TV station leaders were very unhappy and wanted to fire the host. Later, when the news director learned that his department had been cut, in order to vent his anger, he let the host speak recklessly on TV, attracting more audiences. The high ratings attracted a female workaholic to the show, and she persuaded the TV leaders to keep the host's show on. At the same time, female workaholics also attracted the head of the news department. After a week, the show subsided and the ratings began to decline, and everyone was disappointed. But the host suddenly gave an incendiary speech on the show like a fairy, which once again attracted the audience. The head of the news department, disdainful of such a program, clashed with the station's leadership and was fired. Later, at the funeral of the old TV station leader, the workaholic met with the head of the news department and sparked a new passion, and the two got together. The female workaholic started to use the terrorist's robbery video to do the program, which made the TV station more and more attention, and the TV station's profit gradually increased. When the news director's wife finds out about her husband's affair, the news director has to move in with a workaholic. On the day of the annual celebration, after the host's program was hotly broadcast, the TV station boss was very angry because the program mentioned the company's behind-the-scenes transactions. After the big boss personally met the host himself, he instilled new theories in him. After that, the host performed the program according to the new theory of the big boss, but the new theory did not attract the audience, and the ratings began to decline again. A workaholic quarrels with the head of the news department due to declining ratings, and the two finally break up. The leaders of the TV station all wanted to fire the host, but the big boss supported the program, making the firing impossible. Everyone unanimously agreed to hire terrorists to kill him on the host's own show. At the end of the film, the host died in the show, and he became news.
The story of the movie is not complicated. It shows the inside story of the American television industry in the 1970s through the rise and fall of a show, and shows the audience how they operate based on the principle of "ratings first", and reflects the United States through the content of the film. The society, living conditions, and people's moral standards in the 1970s revealed the absurdity and reality of the entire American television industry. To put it simply, through this farce film, the director has shaken off all the ugly things in the American television industry, so that we can see the ugliness of TV people.
The film expresses the theme of the film in three aspects. One is through the program produced by the female workaholic, the other is through the love between the female workaholic and the male protagonist, and the other is through the attitude of the TV station leaders towards the program. In the first aspect, the absurdity of the entire TV program can be seen in the host's program and the terrorist's video. The host's image in the show is like a psychopath, saying some extreme and cynical nonsense to satisfy the audience's bad taste. Similarly, showing videos of terrorists is to satisfy the curiosity of the audience. Both levels represent the theme of the movie - the absurdity of the TV station, doing whatever it takes to get ratings, and having no moral code at all. In the second aspect, the love between the female workaholic and the head of the news department is equally immoral and absurd. The female workaholic is just a workaholic. Not only does she not know how to love, but she also has an affair with a married man. What a moral concept. The choice of the director of the news department is also a manifestation of the loss of moral standards. Although he keeps saying that he loves his daughter as a workaholic, he eventually returned to his wife and was not loyal to love. The relationship between the two of them, if the TV program is the same, is just a short-lived love affair, and it is also a farce that hurts each other. In the last aspect, it continues to show the madness and extremes of the TV station. At one point, he was afraid that the host would be fired due to media reports. At one point, he had to keep the program for the sake of increasing the ratings. The leader of the TV station is like a prostitute who is always at the mercy of the ratings, which further reflects the status quo of American TV stations with no bottom line. In the end, TV actually killed the host for the ratings. Their behavior can no longer be described as absurd, but crazy. They are crazy for the ratings! In short, after watching this film, I know that American TV is a bitch, a bitch who is ravaged by ratings.
In addition, in addition to the inside story of the TV station shown in the film, the film also reflects the current situation of American society in the 1970s. Regarding the United States at that time, one point is mentioned in the film: the repressed society needs to vent, which is also the selling point of the host show. It can be seen that the current situation of people's life in American society in the 1970s: depression, dullness, and high pressure in life. Thinking of the economic status quo of the United States in the 1970s, the Vietnam War, and the strength of the Soviet Union, we can realize that the Americans lived very "suffering" in that era. In addition, the robbery of terrorists in the film also reflects the chaos of American politics. Looking at the various organizations in the film under the banner of the "People's Liberation Army", it seems very ridiculous now. In short, this film is a true reflection of the current state of American society in the late 1970s, and it is very profound.
As for the rest of the movie, nothing special. The only thing that amazes me is that urban life in the United States in the 1970s was already very modern, and the interior decoration, furnishings, urban planning, entertainment venues, etc. were not very different from modern times. After watching this film, I realized that a developed country is a developed country, more than a hundred times more advanced than China.
The actors are all familiar faces. The male protagonist William Holden has seen him in "Spirit of Battlefield". He is handsome and handsome. In this film, he is old and still has the charm of his youth. His performance was quite satisfactory, and he played the leading actor competently. The heroine is Faye Dunaway. I just re-watched "The Male and Female Thief" starring her two days ago. I won't say much about her, but her performance in this film is still very charming. This time, Robert Duvall has been a supporting actor for a time. His acting skills are very explosive, and his interpretation of a person who will do anything to achieve his goals is very real. Peter Finch, who played host, also won an Oscar for leading actor, but only after his death. This makes me wonder, how can he be the male lead if he doesn't have many roles? Not much to say about the other actors, they are all tricks.
Overall, this is a film that reflects the current state of American television and society in the 1970s. Objectively speaking, the movie is not good, and it is not too brilliant. It can choose IMDB250 and AFI100, probably because of the subject matter it involves. After all, there are not many movies that reflect the inside story of the TV station.
Sequence: 0633
[TV].Network.1976.720p.BluRay.x264-SiNNERS
2011-11-22
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