Movie Summary Good Night and Good Luck Essay Example

Movie Summary Good Night and Good Luck Essay â€Å"I think the artist has the right to interpret and re-interpret history and the events of his time (Oliver Stone)†. Discuss this statement with reference to Good Night and Good Luck. George Clooney’s Good Night and Good Luck is a docudrama set in the 50’s during the rise of television. A docudrama is a film narrative based on a real time or event. This docudrama follows the true battle between a Mr Edward R. Murrow a well-respected CBS news reporter and Joseph McCarthy a junior senator from Wisconsin, who is blinded by patriotism and obvious hatred for communism. Murrow goes â€Å"straight at† McCarthy and targets his terrorism towards suspected communists and publicly denotes him for convicting civilians without trial in an era when the fourth estate was only used to â€Å"distract, delude, amuse, and insulate† and not show the reality of the world. Docudramas can provide a powerful way of showing past events. A docudrama gives the audience a greater insight into the time and events by getting beneath the surface as the artist has the right to remake scenes that were not documented. Critics of docudrama say the medium is merely a form of entertainment and has no credit in being used as a form of education as the director can pick and choose what goes in and scenes has to be fabricated. In the case of Good Night and Good Luck, Clooney gives a balanced view of Murrow, leaving McCarthy and Murrow both losers in the end. We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Summary Good Night and Good Luck specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Summary Good Night and Good Luck specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Summary Good Night and Good Luck specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In the opening scenes Clooney provides us with an interpretation of the 50’s which later reveals what lies beneath the surface. The characters appear at Murrow’s press club to be laughing and joking giving the impression of a facade of happiness between the co-workers. In reality, we later learn these reporters are willing to tear each other to shreds and steal each other’s jobs in order to get to where they want to be. This was a way of life in the fifties where everything had to seem normal and happy on the Movie Summary Good Night and Good Luck Essay Example Movie Summary Good Night and Good Luck Essay The film is relevant and successfully portrays the historical aspects of broadcast journalism in 1950’s America accurately. Initially shot in color, the film was edited to a black-and-white or grayscale theme in order to match the time period. Clooney also decided to incorporate actual footage of McCarthy presenting his speeches. These clips chronicle McCarthy’s reels and lend historical accuracy to the film. The movie also persists in establishing the â€Å"behind-the-scenes† of the early days of broadcast. In the headquarters, we see typewriters, heavy smoking, drinking, and episodes of stress that were to be expected in the business. The inner-workings of news and television such as the small space Murrow had between his chair and the camera were also believable. The film was also objective with the presentation of facts and newspapers. They utilized the exact words from the broadcasting between McCarthy and Murrow, and also showed the problems Murrow faced. T hese all contributed to recreating a realistic representation of the time period and the struggles of those who disagreed with McCarthy’s principles. One of the most important questions the film raised was the influence and change of mass media. In the 1950s, the commercial business of the television industry had just begun to expand and grow. By this late 1950s, there were over three million television sets in distributed across American homes, and CBS News had established itself as a credible source of television reporting. However, many television networks were not immune to scrutiny by McCarthy, and it was also true that in order to appease sponsors, many networks censored and avoided any controversial contents. Television is also not completed protected by the first amendment. Newspapers can censure government, but the federal Communications Commission can revoke a television licenses. So, one important theme posed by the movie was the government’s relationships wit We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Summary Good Night and Good Luck specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Summary Good Night and Good Luck specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Summary Good Night and Good Luck specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer