Hello again, all you textual deviants!
Tomek and I are back with all-new episodes of Texting. We kick off season 3 today with an examination of the oratorical harangue delivered by Ned Beatty’s character Arthur Jensen in the 1976 film Network. After a dramatic reading of the text in question, we consider the larger context of the film as a whole, with particular emphasis on the “righteous indignation” of Peter Finch’s character Howard Beale, “the mad prophet of the airwaves.” In an addendum to part one of the pod, we establish intertextual connections between Network and Warren Beatty’s 1998 film Bulworth. Press play above to listen to the entire conversation and let us know what you think.
Notes:
Director Sidney Lumet’s surname is mispronounced herein. Stress should be on the second rather than the first syllable (Lu-MET, not LU-met).
Faye Dunaway did indeed win the 1976 Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network.
The group that kidnapped Patty Hearst was the Symbionese Liberation Army, whose flag appears below:
The full title of the book Tomek references is The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.
The Next Text
Episode 2 of Season 3 will feature our discussion of Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis. Check out the Warholian cover of the Spanish translation:
The World Is a Business