So far this semester in English composition we have learned about the depth and breadth of the human experience. Unit one was devoted to childhood and families. The second unit-world poverty- was enriched by watching the film the Saint of Fort Washington where we learned of the behavior of poor, homeless people. These street people experience the same highs and lows as the average citizen, but they seem to be more human than their wealthier counterparts. In our third unit v/s globalization- we have been learning of the experience of the more affluent citizen in our society. Through reading the essays "Why the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor Poorer" and "Class Acts: America's Changing Middle Class" and in viewing the film Network, we have learned about the manipulation and callousness of the so-called upper classes. Some of the characters in Network step over and step on their coworkers just to get ahead. In fact, they even go as far as murdering Howard Beale, the "Mad Prophet of the Airwaves.".
The Network begins with what is left at home: the hubbub of evening news programs, and four colored screens buzzing in the dark frame. Three are of existing networks and anchorman NBC, CBS, ABS, and the fourth is UBS with its front man Howard Beale (Peter Finch), a veteran looking out in the ratings struggle. Beale goes on a drunk with a man who has to fire him, Max Schumacher (William Holden), and in their cups they conjure with the facetious horror of a serious devoted to suicide, rape, holdups, every daily outrage-The Death Hour. Next day, Beale admits on the air that he has been fired and mentions that he will kill himself in a week's time on live TV. The press gabbles, the lines are jammed; UBS goes into shock. But the dying program picks up millions of viewers. On the next night , Beale grants that his outburst was madness; he was just fed up.
With two offences in a row, Beale might have vanished from public view and the news been restored to calm and propriety.
