State of Play
Saw State of Play this week. It wasn’t on the official fest schedule, but my family was looking for a movie to see and it was that or 17 Again, so… . My parents are both into political thrillers, and my sister’s into Jason Bateman, so it all worked out.
And as far as political thrillers go, this movie delivers. It’s set in Washington, DC, and follows Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) as he searches for the connections between a series of seemingly unrelated murders and uncovers a huge corporate/congressional conspiracy. Pretty standard fare, executed well. It gets into old versus new journalism, newspapers versus blogs, and the role they play in the modern media environment. Also tackles today’s priorities in responsible news reporting, and makes good points. It makes the point, and I agree, that today’s media is more concerned with reaching new viewers and readers, and retaining old ones, than it is with reporting actual news. News is treated less like news today and more like a product to be sold. I’ve always said that 24-hour news networks are the worst thigns to happen to journalism, because they constantly need to put something on to keep people looking at them, whether it’s a tax scandal or Lindsay Lohan’s latest car accident.
Where I disagree with the movie, and I think it stopped short at, is it doesn’t put the blame for the current state of the media on anyone. Are 24-hour news networks awful? Yes. Are gossip mags more popular than newspapers? Yes. But this isn’t the fault of the media itself, the blame lies with us, the consumers, because that’s what are these days, consumers. We want the best news for our dollar and time. That used to mean the most honest and thorough reporting, but today translates into the most entertaining and easiest to digest. We don’t want to hear about crucial issues, things that very really affect us, and maybe be forced to think and even challenge some of our own beliefs. It’s far easier to hear about the latest pop starlet’s fall from grace, or another washed up 80s movie star’s crumbling marriage, and think about how much better we are than them. I say this, because I’m also guilty of this. We, as consumers, need to hold our media to a higher standard. If we do, they will rise to it, as they have in the past. And we need to stop being consumers, and start being active participants.
Self-righteous tirade aside, this was a fun movie that had all of us at the edge of our seats, wondering what would happen next. Plots were neatly wrapped up, and there was a nice twist at the end to keep everyone guessing till the credits rolled. And we all left the theater talking about it- “But then how did she know that?” “What happened to him?” “Who was that guy?”- normally the sign of a bad movie, but we were all able to answer our questions quickly enough that we didn’t lose faith in it. All in all, a good thriller that will keep you guessing and have you leaving the theater talking about it. Also great to watch with your parents.
