Blog Assignment #2

Network

1945 finds our United States in upheaval. People are fed up with recession, the government, even themselves. Underground revolutionary groups are portrayed by Big Brother as terrorist factions, and network corporations are trying to keep society's attention. In the midst of all this "UBS Evening News" anchor Howard Beale gets fired because of low rations. On air he claims the following evening that he will put a bullet through his head. Ratings explode so they allow him to apologize and say fare well, instead he arrives a mad man raving about how our mediocre picture perfect lives are comprised of pure 'bullshit'. Beale doesn't kill himself but instead is given his won show being called the 'Mad Prophet of the Airwaves', relaying the truth to millions of viewers about the 'hypocrisies of our time'. The irony is that his new show was created for ratings, and being from a network, it puts down network corporations, government, our current way of life, and all with a cynical humor. The people who created the show knew that counterculture was becoming a part o the cultural norm and exploited that, and of course it worked.