The movie Network has become a trope of our troubled times, and the Tea Partiers -- including New York Senate hopeful/madman Carl Paladino -- have seized on Howard Beale's righteous anger as a symbol of their movement. The problem is that the movie isn't trying to laud Beale's passion. Instead, it's delivering a lesson in how easily populism can be co-opted by the status quo. Observes Ben McGrath:
Network is not a story of redemption through anger. Beale is portrayed as a delusional tool of corporate interests who ends up getting shot on live television when he has outlived his usefulness to them. For a hotheaded political aspirant like Paladino, inviting comparison with Howard Beale, as a radio host said last month, is a little like citing “Lennie from ‘Of Mice and Men’ on the issue of rabbit husbandry.”
So Paladino and his pals are embracing the story of corporations using populist anger to advance their agenda. Hey, maybe these Tea Partiers are using the quote correctly -- since that's pretty much what's happening today: Tea Partiers are lining up to elect politicians who work to advantage business interests.
-- Tim Fernholz
