“I’m mad as hell and I cannot take it anymore!”
The Plot:
This movie is the story of Howard Beale Show - the longtime anchor of the UBS Evening News, who learns he has just two more weeks on the air because of declining ratings. The following night, he announces on live television that he will commit suicide by shooting himself in the head during next Tuesday's broadcast. UBS fires him after this incident, but — after some persuasion from UBS News' old guard president and Beale's best friend, Max Schumacher (William Holden) — lets him back on the air, ostensibly for a dignified farewell. Beale promises he will apologize for his outburst. However, once on the air, he launches into a rant claiming that life is "bullshit". Beale's outburst causes the newscast's ratings to increase.
Beale galvanizes the nation with his rant, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" and persuades Americans to shout out their windows during a lightning storm. Soon Beale is hosting a new program called "The Howard Beale Show", top-billed as a "mad prophet." Ultimately, the show becomes the highest rated program on television
When Beale discovers that CCA, the conglomerate that owns UBS, will be bought out by an even larger Saudi Arabian conglomerate, he launches an on-screen tirade against it, encouraging viewers to send telegrams to the White House telling them, "I want the CCA deal stopped now!"
Beale is then taken to meet with CCA chairman Arthur Jensen who explicates his own "corporate cosmology" to the attentive Beale. Jensen's world view ultimately persuades Beale to abandon his populist messages. However, television audiences find his new views on the dehumanization of society to be depressing, and ratings begin to slide. Despite this, Jensen will not allow executives to fire Beale. Solving the Beale problem plus sparking a boost in season-opener ratings — Christensen arranges for Beale's on-air assassination by the same group of urban terrorists whom she discovered earlier.
Lessons Learnt
This movie dramatically screens the impact of sensationalism and activism in media and its impact on a society. It also uncovers the players involved in making money and playing their politics to get their things done even through murder. This is something we can relate to our society as well.
Regards,
Owais Moeen
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