Thursday, May 6, 2010

Good Night and Good Luck

My favorite movie of the two I watched. This movie shows the courage it takes to be a good reporter and the risks you take if you want to be the best at something. This was GREAT acting, George Clooney, David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, Ray Wise (Don Hollenbeck), Robert Downey Jr. all did a great job at portraying the event that happened at CBS during that particular era.
The fearlessness in a sense by the crew to go forth with a story that could possibly end their careers is admirable. To me this story kind of hit close to home, only because there was a part were Edward Murrow is talking to the American people about Senator McCarthy’s actions and says “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep into our history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descendants from fearful men. Not from men who feared to write to associate to speak and to defend the cause that were for the moment unpopular” like immigration reform. To me this movie made me want to fight and keep fighting for what I feel is a just cause.
The way each character in the movie seems to really be afraid of what could happen to them makes you really believe they are the character. It almost seems as if I was looking into a room as the incidents were actually occurring. It also made me wonder if covering up information was possible then what makes it impossible now.
Reporters, writers, editors, journalist all try to be bipartisan try to report meaningful stories, pieces that really mean something that should be heard, unfortunately that does not sale. Now days it seems what Mr. Murrow feared has come true, television is for entertainment for the most part. Reporting has become such a joke at times that you wonder what is fact and what is fiction. I am sure he broke barriers for many people after him, but if he was around now, would he be content with what journalism/ reporting has become?

Shattered Glass

Shattered Glass was somewhat of a sad story and also eye opening; I say this because it shows to what lengths some people will go to obtain what they want. Unfortunately I believe our society has become a pool for fame seeking individuals.

A young writer wanting to be the best and have the best stories does the unthinkable and fabricates just about all of his stories. It starts off with him talking to a class back at a school/college he attended and telling them what it takes to become a writer at “The New Republic” magazine. As it continues it is also telling you the story about all the events that took place up until he was fired. I was lost for a minute but when it concludes with him daydreaming about himself being in the classroom when he was actually with an attorney trying to settle the case brought against him by the magazine you realize he is sick. This part of the story helps you to understand how this young man’s mind works and what he really is, a compulsive liar and that is pretty much it.

He makes up story after story and it’s not until he makes up one about the National Assembly of Hackers and creates a fake company which ended up paying a hacker to work for them that he gets caught. An online magazine editor is pretty upset his guy did not get the story first, so when the writer starts “fact checking” to do a follow up, he realizes he probably was handed an even better story. Hayden Christensen, who plays Stephen Glass does a great job at making you dislike him. I guess for some people the guy who is OVERLY nice and tries hard would be liked; however, for me he is just a bit annoying. The acting was great, and I believed each character was equally true to their role; the figments of his imagination (teenage kid, agent, hacker convention) were just as creepy as he was.

CBS did a story on him years later, and he steel seemed to be as lost about his actions as he seemed in the movie. I believe he had serious issues, and could possible still need help but I am no expert. In his interview with CBS he indicated how he knew what they would expect for “fact checking” and made it to where they would not question him, which is what made it easy for his stories to be printed. If he is aware now that he was avoiding getting caught and still claims that some part of his stories were true some stories were fake, it just seems he would apologize and move on. In his case he wrote a book and was still trying to have his name out there. It is sad because so many young people and people in general would rather be known for anything than just do what they love and appreciate that they are blessed alone to just have the opportunity to do it. I did go to The New Republic Website and searched for Stephen Glass to see if there were any stories about him that they kept for the “history” section of the website, there wasn’t.