Network<\/em>. Buster loved it, completely.<\/p>\nWhat a script! You have the last remnants of the ruminating \u201cGreatest Generation\u201d being overtaken by their restless, busy children. <\/p>\n
You have a brittle, obsessed feminist television programmer \u2014 a boomer raised on television and unable to think outside the idiot box. (\u201cyou ARE television incarnate,\u201d her middle-aged departing lover tells her in a staggeringly insightful speech \u2014 and it is not meant to be a compliment). <\/p>\n
You have a network happy to exploit the ravings of a man having a mental breakdown for the ratings, and happier, still to turn its Evening News show into a weird amalgam of Jerry Springer, Fox News and the Daily Show \u2014 a network happy to give terrorists exposure for ratings. Happy to present a \u201cMao Zedong Hour\u201d each week (and don\u2019t the Communists in control of it become piggy little Capitalists!) for sensationalism and yes, ratings. Happy to be bought out by a conglomerate so vast it is nearly impossible to discover its connections to\u2026Middle Easter Oil-Producing nations. Happy to use the services of terrorists to assassinate a stubborn problem of a man who is pulling them down.<\/p>\n
Oh, and the terrorists?<\/strong> The ones the Network likes best are called the Ecumenical Liberation Army. <\/p>\nThe powers which engage their services for the assassination? They are referred to as \u201cone vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, it\u2019s satire.<\/strong> But when you watch Ned Beatty \u2014 the affable, seemingly benign corporate head who smiles and recounts his humble days as a salesman \u2014 \u201cpeople say I can sell anything. . .\u201d it all seems way too familiar \u2014 eerily so \u2014 and you wonder if Chayefsky had a bit of \u201cSybil the Soothsayer\u2019s\u201d gift for prophecy. Then you hear him make his speech, and what seems \u201cfamiliar\u201d becomes recognizable as the sort of simplistic, happy-talk, one-world rhetoric we hear today, by attendees of things like the World Economic Forum in Davos or the Clinton Global Initiative, or folks who shill for the UN on any given day. An excerpt:<\/p>\nJENSEN:<\/p>\n
You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations!
\nThere are no peoples! There are no Russians. There are no Arabs! There are no third worlds!
\nThere is no West! There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multi-variate, multi-national dominion of dollars! petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars! Reichmarks, rubles, rin, pounds and shekels! It is the international system of currency that determines the totality of life on this planet!
\n[\u2026]
\nYou get up on your little twenty-one inch screen, and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and A T & T and Dupont, Dow, Union Carbide and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.<\/p>\n
What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state \u2014 Karl Marx?
\n[\u2026]
\nWe no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably deter-mined by the immutable by-laws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale! It has been since man crawled out of the slime, and our children, Mr. Beale, will live to see that perfect world in which there is no war and famine, oppression and brutality -one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized,all boredom amused. <\/p>\n
And I have chosen you to preach this evangel, Mr. Beale.<\/p>\n
HOWARD
\n(humble whisper)
\nWhy me?<\/p>\n
JENSEN
\nBecause you\u2019re on television, dummy. Sixty million people watch you every night of the week, Monday through Friday.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It\u2019s scathing. It\u2019s brilliant. It\u2019s hilarious. It\u2019s chilling.<\/strong> It\u2019s strikingly contemporary. If you\u2019ve never seen the film, or haven\u2019t watched it in 30 years, do yourself a favor and watch it again and marvel at the linguistics \u2014 the bite and snap of intelligent, fierce dialogue written by a man in love with words and supremely gifted at employing them \u2014 and at the story, which comments on everything from mob mentalities to the trivialization of life and love for an ignoble cause. The women are braless, the men are wearing wide ties, and no one has a cell phone or a computer at their desk, but the world Chayefsky presents is the one we\u2019re in, today.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recovered from the Wayback Machine, April 28, 2006 The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky\u2019s \u201cNetwork\u201d Buster and I rented a 30-year old movie last night, Paddy Chayefsky\u2019s astonishing satire, Network. Buster loved it, completely. What a script! You have the last remnants of the ruminating \u201cGreatest Generation\u201d being overtaken by their restless, busy children. You […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2156,2155],"class_list":["post-60483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-remaking-america","tag-network","tag-paddy-chayefsky"],"yoast_head":"\n
The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky's "Network"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Recovered from the Wayback Machine, April 28, 2006 The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky's "Network" Buster and I rented a 30-year old movie last night,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2013\/04\/28\/the-prescient-genius-of-paddy-chayefskys-network\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky's "Network"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recovered from the Wayback Machine, April 28, 2006 The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky's "Network" Buster and I rented a 30-year old movie last night,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2013\/04\/28\/the-prescient-genius-of-paddy-chayefskys-network\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Anchoress\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-28T21:35:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-13T00:29:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Scalia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Scalia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2013\/04\/28\/the-prescient-genius-of-paddy-chayefskys-network\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2013\/04\/28\/the-prescient-genius-of-paddy-chayefskys-network\/\",\"name\":\"The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky's \\\"Network\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-28T21:35:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-13T00:29:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b\"},\"description\":\"Recovered from the Wayback Machine, April 28, 2006 The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky's \\\"Network\\\" Buster and I rented a 30-year old movie last night,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2013\/04\/28\/the-prescient-genius-of-paddy-chayefskys-network\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2013\/04\/28\/the-prescient-genius-of-paddy-chayefskys-network\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2013\/04\/28\/the-prescient-genius-of-paddy-chayefskys-network\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky’s “Network”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/\",\"name\":\"The Anchoress\",\"description\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/author\/elizabethscalia\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky's \"Network\"","description":"Recovered from the Wayback Machine, April 28, 2006 The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky's \"Network\" Buster and I rented a 30-year old movie last night,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2013\/04\/28\/the-prescient-genius-of-paddy-chayefskys-network\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky's \"Network\"","og_description":"Recovered from the Wayback Machine, April 28, 2006 The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky's \"Network\" Buster and I rented a 30-year old movie last night,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2013\/04\/28\/the-prescient-genius-of-paddy-chayefskys-network\/","og_site_name":"The Anchoress","article_published_time":"2013-04-28T21:35:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-13T00:29:18+00:00","author":"Elizabeth Scalia","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Scalia","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2013\/04\/28\/the-prescient-genius-of-paddy-chayefskys-network\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2013\/04\/28\/the-prescient-genius-of-paddy-chayefskys-network\/","name":"The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky's \"Network\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-04-28T21:35:12+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-13T00:29:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b"},"description":"Recovered from the Wayback Machine, April 28, 2006 The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky's \"Network\" Buster and I rented a 30-year old movie last night,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2013\/04\/28\/the-prescient-genius-of-paddy-chayefskys-network\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2013\/04\/28\/the-prescient-genius-of-paddy-chayefskys-network\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2013\/04\/28\/the-prescient-genius-of-paddy-chayefskys-network\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The prescient genius of Paddy Chayefsky’s “Network”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/","name":"The Anchoress","description":"Elizabeth Scalia","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b","name":"Elizabeth Scalia","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Scalia"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/author\/elizabethscalia\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}