Satire is dead when nothing succeeds like excess — video proof
February 5, 2009 - 6:52 am
I’ve always thought “1984” was the most prophetic novel ever written.
Now, I’ve discovered 1976’s movie “Network” is the most prophetic movie ever made. It was supposed to be satire when Peter Finch’s character, news anchor Howard Beale, went stark, raving mad on camera.
But satire is dead when prime time reality is far more outrageous than anything Paddy Chayefsky could have imagined.
Social criticism of excessive volubility and feigned emotionality can no longer succeed with excess, because no one can exceed the excessiveness we witness on so-called television news programs every day.
Here’s the benchmark, a scene from “Network”:
Here are my closing arguments, Exhibits A, B, C and D.
But Finch seems downright rational compared to the glib and perpetually angry Keith Olbermann of MSNBC:
And who out fulminate Bill O’Reilly on Fox News? Perhaps O’Reilly and Geraldo Rivera?:
Now we have a new entrant, Glenn Beck, also of Fox, joining the ranting class:
The thrill is still there for Chris Matthews:
I rest my case. Satire is dead, at least when the target is television “news.”