"Good night and good luck" movie analysis

George Clooney's docudrama 'Good night and Good luck' (2005) effectively uses the film noir asthetic to parody the 1950s McCarthy period, in which his personal context of the War on Terror under the Bush adminstration, enables him to engage in a universal examination of corruption within political and corporate institutions. In doing so, his avant-garde experimentation with form offers an insightful exploration into the cyclical nature of history and the inevitable injustice prevalent in these hierarchical constructs that perpetuate a polarising status quo.

Clooney emphasises the capacity of the individual to reject indoctrinated dogma in political institutions to expose corruption within society. This inherent motivation was prevalent during the Red Scare, in which individuals were falsely accused without evidence of having communist sympathies. Clooney positions Murrow as a representative of journalistic integrity in the face of oppressive political power by alluding to the David and Goliath narrative as "he threw stones at giants". Yet, Clooney's purposeful construction of the mise-en-scene in the opening of the film ironically shrouds Murrow in his own darkness. The use of chiaroscuro lighting dominates the foreground with the larger projection of his grandiose image acting as a physical divider between the bourgeois aesthetic of the public sphere and the introspective contemplation of the private sphere. As Murrow boldly steps into the light, he is overcoming the spatial restrictions that have coerced him to confront the deviant heterotopia, in which his presence liberates the audience with urgency in a society poignantly married by the 'fat surpluses' of cultural insulation. Clooney further exposes the cowardice of most journalists exhibited in response to political pressures during the Milo Radulovich segment in "I always knew you were yellow... better than red". Here the contrast between "yellow" which has connotations of cowardice and "red" which alludes to communism, highlights Murrow's rejection of the uniform patriotism enforced by McCarthy's draconian leadership. However, as critic Stephen Whitefield (1991) argues what "seemed to threaten the American mainstream value system was seen as a menace to national security". The seamless integration of the McCarthy archival footage within the film noir aesthetic further enhances the weight of Murrow's transgression. This is clearly evident in the medium shot of McCarthy as he remarks, "the cleverest jackal of the pack is always found at the throat of those who dare to expose communists". The use of animalistic imagery presents his blatant attack on Murrow, emphasising the rattling of his psyche. Thus, Murrow's exposé of McCarthy explores the power of media, positing the necessity of a journalist's individualistic moral doctrine to challenge wider societal dogma.

Clooney warns of the dichotomous role of media in perpetuating a polarising status quo, but also as a tool to disseminate the truth. This reflects the increasing importance of television in the 1940s given the geopolitical tensions created after World War II, which led to greater public interest and scrutiny of historical events. Clooney adopts a non-linear narrative structure as the focal point of Murrow's discourse, given that "we have a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information". Here, the scathing oratory address exposes the dangers of mass media steering constituents towards alignment with political ideologies rather than reassuring individual agency. This is reinforced by Murrow's criticism of society's fervent adherence to capitalistic values, given the motif of television being used to "distract, delude, amuse and insulate us". As a result, Clooney effectively characterises Murrow as a mediator given the pollution of democracy during a time of political divide. Indeed, critic AO Scott (2005) highlights how "the free press may be the oxygen of a democratic society, but it is always clouded by particles and pollutants". As such, the ever-growing validation for public reception is exhibited in the mise-en-abyme of Murrow looking towards his depiction on a television screen, adjacent to another screen with McCarthy. The contrast of the rack focus in the background with the blurred foreground highlights the importance of the constructed public persona on television rather than the private authentic self. The intertextual reference to Caesar, in "The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves" is accompanied by Murrow's extra-diegetic gaze as the audience is looking into the abyss of his external facade. By doing so, Clooney demonstrates how the ultimate catalyst of mass hysteria is not only triggered by the exploitation of preexisting fears projected by the media, but the desire of the individual to seek societal ignorance in corrupt institutions. Ultimately, the build up of tension is disclosed by the catharsis that "this instrument can only [teach and inspire] to the extent that humans are determined to use it... Otherwise, it is merely wires and lights in a box". Thus, Clooney emphasises the power of television as a rhetoric used for didactic enlightenment, but also as an artifice to enforce mass hysteria.

Clooney explores the dangers of surveillance culture given how easily a society's views can be manipulated by fear both in the realms of corporate and political interests. This was heavily influenced by Clooney's personal context given the parallels between McCarthyism and the War on Terror under the Bush Administration, in which the Patriot Act enforced authoritarian regulations that infringed the rights of civilians. This permeation of paranoia is exhibited by the claustrophobic sealed space of the CBS studio. Through the use of cinema verite style with frequent handheld shots of the news production creating a motion blur effect, the public space of the CBS studio is juxtaposed with the private spacious office of Paley, indicative as a form of a panopticon ceasing to be external to the watched. As such, the interjection of non-diegetic jazz music in "I've got my eyes on you. I'll set my spies on you", highlights the blurring of domestic space within the shared public domain as employees are forced to conceal their true identity, evident in the Wersba marriage, in which their frantic anxiety is conveyed in "If you don't sign this, are you and I a target?". Indeed, this is supported by the critic Stephen Whitefield (1991) who attributes the emerging climate of fear to the "frustration of the loss of the American atomic monopoly". Thus, whilst Clooney demonstrates the exploitation of characters in the film by those in power, he radicalises us to become more critically aware of our privileges to incite change.

Overall, "Good night and Good luck" is an critically acclaimed masterpiece directed by George Clooney with its core themes being Panopticism, survelliance culture and the need for individual transgression in a society that oppresses freedom of speech.