In
the first instalment of this series, we examined a movie related to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. This
month, we turn the clock back another decade or so, to the heyday of the Second Red Scare in the United States, which enabled the cultural rise of the
junior Senator from Wisconsin, Senator Joseph McCarthy, into a potent national
figure. Riding high on pervasive
political and cultural paranoia that organized Communists stood ready to overthrow
the United States government at a moment’s notice, McCarthy launched one
barrage of accusations after another, alleging that the government was
literally crawling with Soviet agents planning to destroy American democracy. The unspoken message herein was that he alone
was the one capable of revealing the truth and fighting back the global Red
Tide that, according to him, was just around the corner.
Until,
that is, a group of journalists finally resolved to puncture the veneer of
invulnerability McCarthy was projecting, digging into the meat of his
accusations to determine how much truth, if any, there was to them. The team that did this was led by Edward R.
Murrow, already famous for his invaluable wartime broadcasts from London during
the Nazi Blitz. In his televised
broadcasts, he laid into the more disturbing aspects of McCarthy’s
campaign. This, of course, prompted a ferocious
response from McCarthy himself, but sure enough, this opened the floodgates; more
criticism from all sides started to pour in, until the Senate itself
reprimanded and silenced McCarthy, shunting him out
of the limelight, to which he never returned.
This
is the story told by the 2005 George Clooney film Good Night, and Good Luck; the title is derived from Murrow’s
standard closing phrase for the program on which he aired his McCarthy
broadcasts, See It Now. David Strathairn, in one of the finest
performances of his career, leads as Edward Murrow, and he is supplemented by
spot-on performances by George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Frank Langella,
Patricia Clarkson, and Jeff Daniels, each playing various members of the CBS
staff connected to the broadcasts.
In
a number of disturbing ways, these events provide even more direct, almost
word-for-word comparisons to current events than Selma, not least because of how much McCarthy and Donald Trump mirror
each other. They both rely almost solely
on incessant bullying for their power, as well as aggressive disregard for
facts, due process, civil discourse and democratic norms, and a cult of
personality that for McCarthy seemed, and for Trump currently seems,
unstoppable.
But
this also goes beyond mere comparisons of narcissistic demagogues. Much as we are now forced to confront and
adapt our societies to the possibilities and dangers of the internet and the
communications revolution it has wrought, McCarthy and his feud with Murrow
also took place amidst a similar cultural shift, when television was just
beginning to replace radio and newspapers as a cultural force of its own and a
potent source of news and worldview for a large number of people. The scale of magnitude between then and today
may be different, but the fundamental challenges of such a shift remain the
same.
This
is highlighted most effectively by a famous speech Murrow gave several years
after McCarthy faded, known as the “Wires and Lights in a Box” speech. The beginning and end of this speech bookends the film, and contains the core of Murrow’s philosophy about the importance of
us utilizing new media technologies for good, and actively fighting against the
instinct to use them for either malevolence, or laziness. Really, simply substitute the word “television” for “internet,”
and someone could make the exact same speech almost word-for-word today.
This
touches on something that is crucial to giving this film its power; both the speech
at beginning/end and the broadcasts regarding McCarthy are no poetic licenses
taken by the screenwriters- they are word-for-word recreations of Murrow’s actual
speeches and broadcasts. Strathairn nails
every one of Murrow’s mannerisms (seriously, just watch these clips
back-to-back and try to spot the differences). Clooney also made the brilliant decision of
not having anyone act as McCarthy- whenever he pops up, that’s actual footage
of THE McCarthy, not an actor. This subtle
detail was reportedly lost on some of the test audiences, who criticized the
person playing McCarthy for being too over the top.
I will close this post with a
recommendation to not just see the movie, but to also read Roger Ebert’s original review of the film. At the
risk of being unoriginal, I feel compelled to end with a direct quote from his
review, because it is such a powerfully concise summary of both the movie and
the lessons (and glimmers of hope) it offers us today:
"McCarthy
is a liar and a bully, surrounded by yes-men, recklessly calling his opponents
traitors, (and) he commands great power for a time. He destroys others with
lies, and then is himself destroyed by the truth.”
“Character
assassination is wrong…and we must be vigilant when the emperor has no clothes
and wraps himself in the flag.”
-Noah Franc
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