Good Night Ann, and Good Luck Murrow

On this blog posting I am going to focus on the character of Ann Mitchell in the movie Meet John Doe and the character of Edward R. Murrow in the movie Good Night, and Good Luck. In particular, I am going to contrast their differences. Both characters were journalists. However, both took a different approach in delivering the news that they were reporting.

Before I go any further, I just want to elaborate on the context for each movie. Meet John Doe was a movie that was released in 1941. Meanwhile, Goodnight, and Good Luck was released in 2004 and based on actual events that occurred half a century ago.

Ann Mitchell’s character was about to be given the pink slip. However, her final task was to write her last column for the newspaper. She was irked by her boss’s statement that her pieces needed more “fireworks.” So she decided to fabricate an event to create more attention to the newspaper company. Her final column was based on a man named John Doe and how he was going to commit suicide because he could no longer take the pressure of living in the United States. Basically, this is an example of “yellow journalism.”

As a result, this stunt went as planned. It went a step further when Mitchell decided to select a man to portray the role of John Doe. It went so far that he became a national idol, allowing people to identify and sympathize with this John Doe character. Consequently, her boss’s boss saw this as an opportunity to become a political candidate.

The character of Ann Mitchell was a young, good-looking woman that was smart and innovative. She did not portray the stereotypical female. Instead, she was demanding and challenged those above her. However, I believed the movie tried to portray women with Mitchell's characteristics as the root of all of man’s problems. Basically, in that period, the woman's role was perceived to be submissive. (Whatever, that is backwards thinking).

The negative characteristics that can be attributed to Mitchell was that she was manipulative, and money motivative. Since, her decisions were based on her potential financial gains. One example would be her partnering with D.B. Norton. Even after he made his real intentions known, she continued to work with him.

Throughout the movie, her character was not sympathetic or caring. Even in the scene with her children, she was more concerned with finishing her task. It was almost as if the film was trying to tell women how not to act. It was until the end, when she lost everything, that her strong characteristics regressed and she seemed more apologetic, sympathetic and submissive.

Meanwhile, Edward Murrow’s character in Good Night, and Good Luck was obviously the account or a real person. The filmed focused on his role as a journalist, and his drive, when reporting, to take down Senator McCarthy.

His method of reporting was biased and made no attempts of portraying the other side. This was a subject of disagreement between his co-worker Frank, who argued that the code of conduct among journalist is to present both sides of the story without commentary. Murrow had a different belief and stated that he could “call it editorializing." This suggested that he was firm with his method in journalism and he was determined to get the real facts out. (On a side note, George Clooney, who directed the film, drew inspiration from his father, who worked as a journalist. His father believed it was a journalist duties to question authority regardless if they are deemed as unpatriotic.)

In contrast to Mitchell’s decision in Meet John Doe, Murrow’s decision to cover McCarthy in a biased approached may be sympathized by his audience. Since, his motives were not to make money (at least it appeared so) but instead to utilize television as a tool to teach people. The stark contrast between both characters is not only seen in terms of their gender but also in their approach to journalism. Murrow's approach is questionable while Mitchell's method is considered unethical among fellow journalists.