These days there are a lot of films that throw out social commentary. Perhaps more than there ever have been in the past two decades as Hollywood throws out whatever's hot on the agenda pushing. It's almost a challenge to find something that isn't political or commentary on something at this point. Sometimes this is done well, but this often feels like something that has been done to death already with little room for creativity due to how simple it is to just say something is wrong or bad. The more creations come out, the harder it is to say the same thing in a different tone. Which is why this film from 1976 is so interesting to me. I haven't seen a lot of films from the 70s that have actually really made an impact on me, and definitely not a lot that manage to not only summarise the present for them, but also predict and summarise the future in such a good manner. I think of My Dinner with Andre and how that also predicted the future, the decline of people. A society that is lost and often just lets life roam by without a care in the world or even awareness that it's happening. That fragility of life and what it means to be a flawed, conscious being. I found that Network did a similar thing, taking a look at the society of the 70s in New York, fully aware of where things were heading, while throwing out a warning that it was already too late to change anything.

It's an incredibly bleak film that doesn't feel like it's a warning to people to make changes, but that there's a set destination already chosen by the elites and there's nothing that can be done to stop it, if anything the final solution to attempting to fix things is that those elites will just kill you and remove you from the competition and threat of their capital and power. This film came about around the time that the television set became a bit more normalised within the average household, now no longer such an item of luxury, and generally the usual item that is found within the home of any family. The era of news television and series. Families hurdled together to spend the evening consuming something to be considered as entertainment, curious of the various happenings around the world as information began to flow much faster than usual, away from the standardised newspaper and radio, this time with real footage and a more theatrical performance. How thrilling! The chaos of the world within the small screen that is before your eyeballs. The drama! The death and destruction! Oh, the greatness of the television! Promoting the truth to us all through our trustworthy news media!

Network looks at the growth of news media and the ways in which television is utilised as a weapon for profit and power. The strength it has to reveal the truth to the masses, but the problematic case of the masses being willing to believe whatever the television says. Now a preacher of doom and consumption rather than a tool to help and inform the people. It's easy to look at the present and notice the problems, the manipulation and the brainwashing that comes from the media. Network is a film that surprisingly came out when it did. Yet it remains an unforgettable lesson.

Network begins with an aged newscaster that seems miserable within the gritty 70s New York. He tells a friend that he plans to kill himself; both are miserable and seem drunk, done with life and having spent their greatest years already. What follows is our protagonist going on live television and telling the world that next week he will kill himself live on television. Naturally ratings shoot up as everyone's curious as to what will happen, and instantly the network sees profit in this event. Our protagonist proceeds to throw out rage induced rants on society, the problems with life and why he's done with it. Telling the people precisely what they have failed to notice for the longest time. He exposes the greed of corporations, the decline of the United States of America as money becomes the one true language everyone speaks, as the nation continues to sell itself off to the very people it claims are its greatest enemies. Sounds similar to the present, right? The introduction to globalism that threatens the lives of citizens as jobs are removed from the market, and companies are now owned and operated by outside parties that seek to damage and control the US more and more. Speaking to truth on live television, the ratings continue to increase massively. The nation loves it.

The network sees profit. They encourage our protagonist to keep going out, to keep ranting. He does. He speaks of a new problem each time. Constantly telling the people to stand up and take what belongs to them, to reclaim their broken nation. Imagine that for a moment. Now imagine the implication of people instantly being controlled by the people on television. Hang on, that sounds like the present, no? The people of the media speak, the public listens and acts. No longer a free people. Incapable of their own thoughts and decisions, now told how to think and act and what to do, and they abide to every call like a herd of sheep being bundled together by a small barking dog. There's power in the people, but more power in turning rage into a weapon within the people, directing that attention to whoever is being told is their enemy. Perhaps to some degree there's truth to it, but it shows how simple the brainwashing takes place within media, how people will be told to stand up and shout, and will do so before even really questioning as to why. In one scene people are told to do just that, to get up and go outside and shout a specific phrase. They do, shouting out into the city in unison.

During the pandemic, the media threw out these weird agendas in which we must all go outside in England and clap for some reason, as to supposedly praise the essential workers that operated while many remained inside at home. People willingly did so. People that didn't were attacked. Few rarely ever considered what it meant to get up because the man on tv said to and clap at your door to nobody. A strange feeling of success and patriotism, a moral victory over nothing. The reality is that many were controlled. Told specifically what to think and that they'd be good for doing so. Nobody gave question as to who was responsible for the initial problems to begin with though, or who was profiting from this venture in the first place. This example shows how the media can direct attention, cause misdirection and pursue hysteria for profit. And Network shows this incredibly well as the whole segment becomes nothing but about money and increasing the quarterly income. Everyone behind the scenes in the network is talking about the next big hit, the money and the success. All of them seem old and void of life.

Though things took a turn for the worst when our protagonist speaks against the network and its maintainers. Threatening everything they had planned and killing the ratings in the process. It shows how quickly things get shut down once the tide turns. And the chaos is really met in the performances of the film, over two hours but a long, stressful feeling of constant motion as everyone scrambles to create and pursue greed. Each of these performances is great, even as the film attempts to show some humanity even in them. Their own problems within life. Shot on 35mm film, it's all very beautiful. A film that shows the decayed New York City in the 70s, as well as the business side of the city that still flourished within offices, and the many faces that worked behind the screens. Network is an incredibly strong film, one I won't forget. And there's no other real way to describe it without simply stating that it reveals the cancer that thrives on the population of every nation. The manipulators that seek money no matter who gets hurt in the process. Their interest to tell the people whatever it is they want to hear providing they get richer in the process. And their tides turn the moment it stops being profitable.