50 years later, Sidney Lumet’s Community nonetheless feels surprisingly (and hauntingly) related. The media panorama has moved on, however the bones of the movie’s satirical commentary are timeless. The dominance of broadcast information is over — the normal TV networks are preventing a shedding battle — however media corporations are nonetheless exploiting mad-as-hell expertise like Howard Beale for cash.
Launched on the peak of the American New Wave, Community captured the zeitgeist with each a finger-on-the-pulse satire and a gritty, charming cleaning soap opera about deeply dysfunctional, deeply human characters. As a TV community struggles with poor rankings, their not too long ago ousted information anchor turns into a shock star when his on-air nervous breakdown captures the hearts and minds of the nation.
On the forty ninth Academy Awards, Community acquired a formidable 10 nominations, together with a coveted Greatest Image nod, and received 4, together with Greatest Authentic Screenplay for the legendary Paddy Chayefsky. Chayefsky’s script is so good that, in highlighting the cracks within the basis of stories media, he predicted what its downfall would seem like over the subsequent half a century.
Community was a long time forward of its time in depicting the corruptibility of mass media. Though the media was created to tell and entertain, it’s since turn out to be a cesspool of unbridled capitalistic greed. That change occurred fairly shortly, and it’s solely gotten worse over time.
Media companies have more and more monetized folks’s eyeballs. If you may get eyeballs on a TV community or a web site or every other form of platform, then you may make cash — and the extra eyeballs you may have, the more cash you may make. However these eyeballs can solely take a look at one factor at a time, so it shortly devolved right into a Highlander-esque there-can-only-be-one battle royale.
Again in Community’s day, 50 years in the past, the competitors was between a small handful of channels on a single system, and it was already a ruthless arms race. In 1976, Lumet and Chayefsky exaggerated the cutthroat nature of the media for satirical functions, however by immediately’s requirements, it simply feels real looking.
Howard Beale Was A Precursor To Controversial Influencers & Exploited Popstars
At the start of Community, veteran anchorman Howard Beale is fired as a result of declining rankings. With two weeks left on the air, Howard tells his viewers he’s going to take his personal life on subsequent Tuesday’s newscast. The next evening, when he’s despatched out to apologize to the nation, he as an alternative begins ranting and raving in regards to the depressing state of the world.
The community’s preliminary intuition is to dismiss him on the spot, however his outburst causes an enormous spike in viewing figures. Reasonably than firing him, the community makes Howard their subsequent large factor. All through the movie, the more severe Howard’s psychosis will get, the upper his rankings are. America is tuning in to look at a person lose his thoughts dwell on tv.
At this time, Howard appears like a precursor to 2 very particular forms of fashionable movie star: controversial influencers and exploited popstars. Howard’s “indignant man” schtick intentionally pokes the bear with profanity and radical concepts and anti-establishment chants. These unsubtle provocateurs could be seen all around the present social media panorama, spreading toxicity and disinformation to an impressionable fan base.
However the best way the community treats Howard is nearer to the ways in which money-grubbing managers and soulless file labels deal with pop idols. It’s plain to see that Howard is struggling, and he wants psychiatric assist, not a nationwide stage, however the community executives place their quarterly earnings above Howard’s wellbeing. They’re joyful to maintain exploiting his psychological sickness for cash.
Community Has One Of The Biggest Casts In Movie Historical past
Three of Community’s 4 Oscar victories had been appearing wins: Greatest Actress for Faye Dunaway, Greatest Supporting Actress for Beatrice Straight (with simply 5 minutes of display time), and a posthumous Greatest Actor win for Peter Finch. And people are simply three of the all-time nice performances on this film. William Holden, Robert Duvall, and a show-stopping Ned Beatty all give standout turns, too.
Finch brings an unforgettable gravitas to his unhinged supply of Beale’s iconic mantra, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!” Straight earns her Oscar with a single monologue, confronting her husband together with his infidelity and capturing the true tragedy of the scenario from her standpoint. Dunaway and Holden share plausible chemistry as lovers who each need various things from the connection.
Community Is As Heartbreaking As It Is Hilarious
Community is without doubt one of the funniest films of the ‘70s, nevertheless it’s primarily a drama, and it’s as heartbreaking as it’s hilarious. Chayefsky’s script is stuffed with nice gags, like a contract dispute over the absurdly provocative Mao-Tse Tung Hour TV present, involving fictionalized stand-ins for Patti Hearst, Angela Davis, and a Black Panther chief. It’s like a political cartoon come to life.
However for each racy, razor-sharp satirical gem, Community takes a break from the laughs to discover its characters on a human stage. Everybody within the ensemble serves a comedic operate within the general satire of the media, however they’re additionally richly drawn, three-dimensional, actual folks.