NETWORK is about the fall, rise, and fall of Howard Beale (peter finch) and about television's running horrendously and hilariously amok. Network highlights about the uses and abuses of television. NETWORK is, of course, nothing but a series of monologues – all either yelled, screamed, or bellowed — but the words themselves capture every dimension of the human experience, from the fear of death to the “corrupt comedy” of modern life. Simply, Network is the angry, uncompromising blast against the decline of the individual in the face of corporate domination.
Peter Finch plays a veteran network anchorman who's been fired because of low ratings. His character's response is to announce he'll kill himself on live television two weeks hence. What follows, along with skyrocketing ratings, is the anchorman's fall into mental illness, during which he passionately rages against the medium that made him a celebrity. Through it all peter finch urges the viewer to repeat the now-famous mantra "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" to reclaim our humanity from the medium that threatens to steal it away
It is telling that Beale’s(finch) “Angry Prophet of the Airwaves” is enormously admired once he invites viewers to channel their rage at something (or someone),. The conclusion, therefore, is obvious to all – truth, real, hard-nosed truth, will get you killed. Or at the very least kicked off the air.
Regards,
Danial Shaikh
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