Ugliness And Questions Of Morality Arise in 'Nightcrawler'

When I was in journalism school, we talked about journalistic integrity and we read books by Katherine Graham  and Walter Cronkite .  I was required to take classes like Communications Law and study Supreme Court cases related to journalism.  Things like copyright infringement and invasion of privacy.

This was when the internet was still in its infancy.  E-mail was a new concept and "going online" was more a novelty than a necessity.  Although he didn't live to see the rise and proliferation of social media, Walter Cronkite, anchorman of CBS News and the grandfather titan of broadcast journalism, foresaw where the internet might lead.  In response, he expressed concern that people would be less likely to tune into hard news to keep up with current events.  More likely, he predicted, news and entertainment would morph into one entity-- something he coined "infotainment."

It's happened.  And it's getting worse.  The intense hunger for celebrity gossip and entertainment content have given rise to reality shows and made paparazzi even more cut-throat in their pursuit of snagging a high-roller photo or capturing a spectacle on tape.  Everyone's a filmmaker.  Everyone's got a camera.  And we've all got cameras with us all the time.  Conveniently located in the palm of our hands.

This is the background that sets the stage for Nightcrawler, a film written and directed by Dan Gilroy.  Jack Gyllenhaal is excellently creepy as Lou Bloom, a sociopathic loner who's schooled himself about everything purely from what he's gleaned from the internet.  His bug-eyed appearance, stringy hair, and the speediness at which he rattles off sound bites give the immediate impression of a stereotypical "sleazy car salesman."  But he's not.  As Lou drives the dark streets of Los Angeles one night, he discovers something that changes his life (and the lives of many others) :

All you need to make some quick cash is a camera, a police scanner, and a lack of conscience.  

This is the world of crime journalism.  Lou quickly bullies his way in and starts work as a freelance, amateur videographer.   Before long, he's capturing the goriest of urban crime,  twisted car crashes, fires, and other spectacular scenes on tape.  He immediately attempts to hawk his footage to news organizations, most of whom turn him down.  BUT he finds a buyer with the News Director of KWLA, a low-rated news station desperate to turn their ratings around at seemingly any cost.  From the get-go, Lou's gritty and intrusive footage puts news organizations like KWLA into a quandary.

This is questionable territory.  Where do we draw the line?  If a news station is just "reporting the news," at what point does it crossover into "profiting from other people's tragedies"?  How does a news organization justify broadcasting graphic and horrific images just for the sake of getting viewers?

These are the kind of questions and the underlying social commentary that Nightcrawler presents to us.  Where are we going?  Where have we been?  When we see things on-screen we deem so graphic and horrific and intrusive that they're  the absolute opposite of everything we believe in, why can't we look away?  Why are we drawn to the darkness?

Nightcrawler forces us to ask some hard questions about human nature while examining answers that don't come easy. And these are only a few of the moral questions the film presents.

At the heart of it all is Lou, who, in his reminiscence of Norman Bates, also happens to have all the characteristics of a sociopath.  He's superficially charming, intelligent, pathologically egocentric and antisocial.  On top of it all, he lacks remorse and is incapable of love.  And Lou is desperate for glory and recognition.  It's all a dangerous combination.  The extremes to which Lou takes his work, make my skin crawl.  Much like the people he captures on film, I felt violated.  It's a horribly uncomfortable feeling. But a very good film.

FOR MORE:

The Gory Truth Of 'Nightcrawler'
The Society Of Professional Journalists = Code Of Ethics
The Paparazzi Reform Initiative
Media Ethics And Society

Copyright © 2014 by KLiedle/@cococaffeine

What's Trending, What's most Popular and When's The Latest Upgrade?

There is so much information out there these days that it seems like all anyone pays attention to are:

*What's trending according to Yahoo News
*Most Popular on Youtube
*Most Popular on Facebook
*When is the newest iPhone upgrade is going to be released?

It's as though the news creators, of which there are countless, realize you have too many choices.  To combat this, they narrow things down into bullet point headlines, scrolling news timelines and screenshots to make it easier.  [Or more than likely, to steer you toward the things they want you to read about.]

I believe it may have been Walter Cronkite who first coined the term, infotainment, to describe how the reporting of hard news was morphing into something else entirely.  He spoke of the concept way back when the internet was still in its infancy and most people I knew (including myself) didn't have a cell phone yet and e-mail was a mind-boggling concept.

The informative news broadcasts of current events from our parents' day and age, is becoming more and more diluted by popular culture.  Now, there are no boundaries to what constitutes "news."  In fact, what's trending is more driven by the public than ever before.  Just look at the shows that hit the top ten on the Nielsen Ratings any given week.

Things that made headlines this week:

Nurse Jackie actress, Merritt Wever wins best supporting actress in a comedy and proceeds to give the quickest Emmy speech ever-- out of what can best be described as good old-fashioned stage fright.  I watched the video, as did many people.  In my opinion, it's far from newsworthy, more like a fluff of a news item.  I will admit that the frightened Wever is adorable as she flees the spotlight, Emmy in hand.  Her reaction is much like many of us would have-- if we were convinced we were a dark horse in an Emmy race and then we end up winning.




Sarah Silverman is still Jewish.  After an appearance on FXX's Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell, the Jewish comedian is spotted wearing a cross necklace.  Oh, the horror!  Who the f*** cares?  Sarah must be laughing about this.  I mean, really.  I'm not Jewish, but I do have a Star of David necklace that I've worn out in public.  No one gives me shit about it.  Ever.  But then again, maybe they think I really am Jewish.  I sorta look the part, I suppose, but I'm not a public figure so no one cares anyway.  Everyone feels the need to be nitpicky about crap when you're a public figure like Sarah.  Wear whatever you want, Sarah.  Oh, and also, when you're done with those rock-star black boots you were also wearing during that interview, I'll take 'em off your hands, er feet.    

Louis C.K. hates cell phones.  The Youtube video of the comedian's appearance on Conan this week, quickly went viral.  For the record, Louis C.K. never actually said that he hated cell phones.  He was just commenting on how they've taken away a few crucial elements that make us human:  Things like face-to-face interaction, the ability to feel empathy, being unafraid to be sad, really, f***ing sad, and the ability to just be-- without anything else.  Louis C.K. was just giving his own opinion on things that the more intelligent of us have already thought.  And that, by the way, is one of the secrets behind the popularity of his FX show, Louie.  Minus the phone and the little screen, take some time to just sit there and stare at a wall and get to know yourself and your own thoughts.  You may in fact, learn something.

Post content Copyright © 2013 by KLiedle