Network
On our week in the woods, Erik and i finally got around to watching Network on dvd, from a quite unsettling selection of movies namely Lost In Translation, Clockwork Orange and Repulsion. I don't remember exactly my purpose of all this, but perhaps it's best if i seek professional help to find out.
Anyway, Network proved to be as current now as it was in the time it was released (3 months after i was born) as it is now, especially in relation to Endemol's new venture into reality-tv-showbusiness (thanks to Tom).
Endemol, the company behind 'Big Brother', is pulling out all the stops for its new Channel 4 production. In it, contestants vie to fly to space. The snag? They will be grounded at a military base, victims of probably the biggest hoax ever attempted on TV.
No cost has been spared to make the illusion complete. The contestants take off by plane from British soil, fly a couple of circles over the North Sea and land at a former British military base, believing they are now at Star City, the Russian centre for space tourism. Plug sockets, manhole covers, light bulbs, food, toilet paper, matches and cigarettes are being exchanged for their Russian counterparts. Actors will play the Russian militaries on the base. The space shuttle in which the participants "take off" into space is modeled on movie sets from Space Cowboys. The story goes on and on. Questions about the budget of the tv-show are not clarified, but it's clear it runs into millions.
I don't know what appalls me more: the fact that these people, who are thinking they are partaking in a possibly dangerous expedition, are made fun of, or that someone came up with such an idea, and millions are spent on it to make it happen. Millions... that means there are demographics saying that such a show will be profitable, there is an audience for it. A sickening thought...
If you've seen Network, you'll remember the line 'I'm mad as hell, and i'm not taking it anymore!'. There's a different context in the movie, but in these times, it's more applicable to tv itself. So i want you all to walk to your window...