Good Night And Good Luck Sociology

701 Words3 Pages
Good Night and Good Luck “Good Night and Good Luck” is a 2005 film which was co-written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov. The film is set in 1953 in America, the time when television broadcasting was at its very early days. This film depicts the real-life conflict between radio/television journalist Edward R. Murrow and the U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy and Edward R. Murrow’s attempt to discredit the Senator who had the country believing in a communist invasion within the US government at the time. The esteemed broadcast journalist, Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) is seen in the film as the anchor on the popular show “See It Now” on CBS alongside Fred Friendly (George Clooney) host a show reporting the news items of the day. The main focus…show more content…
To many people, the 1950s depicts an era where conformity was a movement in society, where people were so influenced by media that they would believe everything they heard on the radio or saw on the television. “Good Night and Good Luck” depicts the concept of the media’s influence on society and the sense that media channels are capable of spreading news (whether true or not) and have society believe them these ideas. Mass society theory is clearly depicted in this film, where Senator McCarthy could be considered the post- World War II personification of this theory. In this era, media was seen as a very powerful but equally dangerous medium, with the ability to influence almost anyone. With lingering fears of communism and fascism since the end of World War II, McCarthy added to these fears by stirring up ideas of a communist movement infiltrating the White House. It seemed that McCarthy was on some…show more content…
Murrow’s and Fred Friendly’s aim to belittle the Senator’s accusations and to show America the inconsistencies and lack of proof behind these accusations. As show in Good Night and Good Luck, CBS news executive Sig Mickelson said he “threw stones at giants” and he did. Sig Mickelson forced the Senator into accountability by reminding the American people of the highest and most important value that their country was founded on: Freedom. McCarthy threw around accusations so easily that it became extremely difficult to disagree with him with the fear that they would be accused of the same
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