Why Good Night and Good Luck?

I was surprised to read the comments from people on a variety movie message boards on their thoughts about Good Night, and Good Luck. A portion of the people thought the movie was undeserving of the praise and rewards it received. Some even thought it was pointless and boring.

Well, I beg to differ. The movie was subtle and had a lot to offer if the person approached it with an open mind. Even though the subject matter of the movie revolved around events that occurred over 50 years ago, it is still relevant in our current time.

The instructor for my course on Electronic Media and Culture, presented this movie to the class on Monday. Afterwards she posed the question on why this movie was made until now?

The movie, which was based on the accounts of the journalist Edward R. Murrow and his fellow colleagues reporting on Senator McCarthy, who was trying to get rid of Communism within the United States at the expense of innocent people. Murrow and his colleagues on the other hand were on their own crusade of taking down McCarthy.

The US government has opposed Communism for a significant amount of time in its history. During the 1950’s, the United States was opposed with a few Communist Nations such as the following: the then Soviet Union, North Korea, and North Vietnam. Consequently, anyone in the United States that was affiliated with Communism was deemed a threat to National Security. McCarthy along with others opposed to Communism, would go at lengths to exploit people that they consider threats and had affiliations with the party. Yet, most of these people were charged without any significant evidence.

In the present, the US government and media actively used the word “terrorism” for a substantial amount of time after 9/11. The result led to the Arabic, Islamic, or Middle Eastern nations being associated with the words "terrorist" or "terrorism." Consequently, anyone that is considered to condone “terrorism” or a “terrorists” is considered a threat to National Security. If someone doesn’t support the War in Iraq, they are considered “un-Patriotic”. This is analogous to those who were referred to as “pink” because they were sympathetic to Communist ideals or were considered Communists. It is until recently that the US Government and the Bush administration decided to start a linguistic reform in regards to terrorism.

There is saying that history repeats itself if people don’t learn from it. The reason why this movie was made is to highlight that a lot of people didn’t take this flyer after the attacks of 9/11. This approach of singling out individuals without warrant resembles the McCarthism that occurred in the 1950's. I was thinking throughout the movie of the word “terrorism” and how many people of Middle Eastern, Arab, or Islamic background are singled out by the Government and narrow minded U.S. citizens.

You could substitute the word “Communism” with “Terrorism” and the movie would correlate to today’s events. Furthermore, in Murrow’s speech, he referenced the media and television at the time as an instrument “being used to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us” from other more important matters that can educate and inform people. Looking at television programs today, he was right. I see nothing but crap.