In the movie Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), produced and written by actor/director George Clooney, was a movie that was written to be set in the 1950’s and was devoted to showcase the truth behind the accusations of people in workplaces or just in general of being communists. In addition, to supporting communism. In the film, it is about television host, Edward R. Murrow, who works for CBS network and gets a hold of a story brought to him by his production team about a United States Air Force amid who is dismissed due to unspecified charges made by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Throughout the film there are a variety of people being made by the same accusations by Senator McCarthy, accusation of being a communists, the allegations start to affect their lives in many ways causing them to …show more content…
The historical accuracy was brought into detail to keep the film fact based and precise by even having the characters personal lives accurate as well. Such as having the characters Joe and Shirley Wershba, being married and keeping it a secret because they were coworkers which was forbidden to marry or even date your coworkers in that time. Also it wasn’t allowed by the CBS company that they are working in. The director also showed accuracy in the characters lives by showing what really happened in the character Don Hollenbeck life, who was an associate and commentator with Edward R. Murrow in real life. By having him turn on the gas stove and leaving it on, demonstrating to the audience the accurate representation of what happened on June 22,1954, where he committed suicide due to frequented attacks from Jack O’Brien. The historical clips of people who were being accused of being communists and supporting communism were also presented in the film to show them defending themselves as well as being cross
Murrow held on October 25, 1958 followed with a speech from him on the stage. The movie flashbacks to Murrow’s life as a journalist and the efforts made in his television program, See It Now. It provided insight into the issues that occurred inside the CBS News building such as the decisions that Murrow bypassed by his Chief, William S. Paley. In addition, the screen paused to provide information that read: “Throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s America was overwhelmed with concerns about the threat of communism. Senator Joseph McCarthy made a public accusation that more than two hundred ‘card-carrying’ communists had infiltrated the United States government. Few in the press were willing to stand up against McCarthy for fear they would be targets (SITE MOVIE).” This showed background information how the fear of communism was a big issue in the 1940’s and 1950’s. In addition, the movie included many visual references to the issue of communism from previous recordings that show how McCarthy acts and what he says about
To get a clear view and understanding of the book, first must review the time period in history. The book was written in the mid 1950's during the cold war. Former General McCarthy, then U.S. Senator started a fire ball of suspicion, suppression, and incarceration. This had a very huge impact on the entrainment industry, which included everyone from playwrights to filmmakers, as well as writers and actors. If anyone in that time period was suspected of being a communist, the government could come and pull them out of their home. At the least a suspected communist would be banned, or put on a black ball list. Printed in the Times, McCarthy's First Slander, "Overnight, his speech sparked a media firestorm that played to the basest fears of Americans swept up in a frightening cold war and triggered loyalty oaths, blacklists and personal betrayals that cost an estimated 10,000 Americans their jobs and some shattered innocents their lives." (Johanna McGeary 28) This happened to a number of actors and film makers during that time period. The black ball list was a list of names of people who were believed to be communist. The people on this list came from the movie industry as well as writers. These people would no longer be able to get work ...
A Documentary History (Paperback). Oxford University Press, USA, 1996. Scott, Peter Dale, Deep Politics, University of California Press; Reprint edition (June 22, 1996). Mitgang, Herbert Lillian Hellman's FBI File, Dangerous dossiers: exposing the secret war against America's greatest authors, New York: D.I. Fine, 1988, retrieved from a href="http://www.writing.upenn.edu/afilreis/50s/hellman-per-fbi.html">http://www.writing.upenn.edu/afilreis/50s/hellman-per-fbi.html/a>. Ted Morgan, Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-Century America, New York: Random House, 1st edition, 2003.
The first thing about this film that caught my eye from a sociological perspective is that the society in the film is not depicted as a “perfect society” as most films do, instead it shows the real conflicts that society had back then with certain subjects. The film shows us the prejudices, and misconceptions that people had about things like sex, and homosexuality at the time.
during the Cold War era that led to the rise of McCarthyism. He discusses the effects of
In Good Night and Good Luck, director George Clooney follows the conflict between outspoken television journalist Edward R. Murrow and anti-communist Senator Joseph McCarthy during the hard times of the Red Scare. Murrow uses his television show to expose McCarthy’s fallacious arguments, while providing his own opinion on the matter. He begins by defending former Air Force pilot Milo Radulovich as not being the Communist agent McCarthy charges him to be. Due to his radical messages against McCarthy, advertisers begin pulling their advertisements. Thus Good Night and Good Luck was placed at an undesired time slot on Sunday afternoons, and allotted five last episodes. The conflict between Murrow and McCarthy is so deep that due to his outspoken messages against a politician, the program eventually becomes subject to cancellation. Although his arguments are controversial for that time, Murrow shows courage while exposing McCarthy’s fallacious arguments, by displaying how McCarthy is making false accusations towards Radulovich.
Edward R. Murrow’s profound impact on the field of journalism defines much of what the modern news media industry is today. Edward R. Murrow’s career offers aspiring journalist a detailed set of standards and moral codes in how a journalist should receive and report the news. The development of CBS is largely attributed to Murrow, and derives from his ambitious attitude in utilizing the television and radio to deliver the news. Murrow gained a stellar reputation in the minds of American’s during WWII by placing himself in the heart of the war, and delivering information through radio in his famous This is London broadcasts. His battles with Senator Joseph McCarthy are largely referred to as his most prominent achievement in which Murrow exposed the unfair practices of Senator McCarthy in his wild accusations on those in the American public of being affiliated with communism.
There are many accurate depictions of the political process in this movie, but there are also some areas where this movie was just being a people pleaser. The American President accurately portrayed the rolls of the media, the effects of polling, the impact of primaries, and it showed the process of introducing a bill to congress. However, it also was being a typical Hollywood movie at times. This was mostly true in the cases where the President came off being naïve, when he through caution into the wind for a girlfriend, and at other times, like when he was to dignified to join into the smear campaign.
Edgar Hoover eludes to these same themes in his 26 March 1947 testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee. “The Communists have developed one of the greatest propaganda machines the world has ever known. The… propaganda technique is designed to promote emotional response with the hope that the victim will be attracted by what he is told the Communist way of life holds in store for him.” Linking these channels of propaganda are the themes of psychological, physical, technological and social dangers of political establishments more similar to Communism than
Another accuracy in this movie was the concentration camps in this movie, they were portrayed very well. Just like history, immediately after arriving at a concentration camp, they were split up and divided by gender and age. As soon as they arrived people who the Nazis did not see fit to work were killed. Along with this people
Most of the costumes fitted the story being told. The costumes were circus like. Like Anne Wheeler she had a balae uniform on. Barnum had on a hat that was special for the circus, and such as the midget he had a uniform on that was made for horse riding. The set was believable and it looked like the time it was set because of the buildings and clothes they wore during the 1900s.
In 1956 Arthur Miller was subpoenaed by HUAC (the House Un-American Activities Committee) and refused to identify writers that were believed to hold communist sympathies. Due to his refusal he was convicted of contempt of congress. The next year, however, the United States Supreme Court overturned this conviction. Under the leadership of McCarthy the committee had so much power that just knowing someone who was suspected of having ties to the communist party was a danger. The lives and careers of hundreds of Americans were ruined because of being blacklisted. Prison, bankruptcy, passport revocation, unemployment were threats made against people for them to testify and “name names.”
The Movie “good night good luck” is incredibly historically accurate. The Movie uses authentic clips that show McCarthy and many speeches Murrow used. World War ended in 1945 leaving a broken Europe and a communist block behind. The United States quickly receded back to the red scare that had existed before WWII. The United States quickly set an anti-communist stance and prepared for a war against the communists. While the war never came some enterprising individuals placed themselves in powerful positions using the paranoia created. Among these individuals one came forward and began one of the most controversial historical programs. Joe McCarthy a nobody Wisconsin’s junior senator made his name when he gave a speech claiming his empty briefcase held the names of 205 communists. The movie “Good Night and Good Luck” tells the story how media ended Joseph McCarthy’s commy hunt and his political career.
The 2005 black and white film Good Night, and Good Luck, directed by George Clooney, discusses several topics such as the media’s rights and responsibilities, freedom of the press, the essential role of watchdog journalism and, to a lesser extent, political freedom and democracy. The film, set in the 1950s, follows the conflict between anti-communist Senator Joseph McCarthy and pioneer broadcast journalist Ed Murrow. In the midst of the Cold War, Senator McCarthy launched his political campaign against alleged communists within the government and the entertainment industry, which resulted in thousands of Americans losing their jobs and, paradoxically, being the subject of anti-democratic investigations by the government. As a response, and without the financial support of CBS, Murrow made use of his TV program See It Now to broadcast a controversial exposé of McCarthy’s unethical political persecution and machinations on a par with anything in The Prince by Machiavelli. As a consequence, McCarthy started
The timing of this film was a significant factor in the story line. In the middle of the Great Depression unemployment and poverty were a major