Network (1976)

I know that what the modern era is supposed to take from Network is how eerily prescient it was regarding our current media landscape, but on this most recent re-watch all I could think about was the 2008 financial crisis. At it's most basic Network is a film about shortsighted decisions. Every single character in this film is only concerned with the here and now, future be damned. What will bring our ratings up? What will make me happy right now? When you think about it in that way, this becomes a much more important film. It's no longer just about how awful and depraved television is becoming, it's about how awful and depraved we are becoming. What will win me this election? What will yield the largest profit? This kind of thinking is how we end up with things like the Tea Party and Global Climate Change. The media is not the sickness, the people who make it and consume it are. We are the sickness.