What 'Richard Jewell' and 'Bombshell' teach us about journalism
No Content for Old Men
with Matt Craig
In this week's newsletter: A dual review of Richard Jewell and Bombshell, plus a warning off of Michael Bay's new 6 Underground. Then a bunch of journalism streaming suggestions for your weekend. Lastly in this week's "Trailer Watch," Amy Adams is mounting her Oscar campaign for 2021 already.
Word Count: 797 words
Approximate Reading Time: 5 minutes
Richard Jewell + Bombshell
The revolution does not belong on the screen
One of the things you find yourself debating frequently in a graduate journalism school -- if you wish to spend many thousands of dollars for the privilege of such discussion -- is the role of media. Scarcity, of space in a newspaper or time on television, dictates that all content creation is inherently editorialized, simply by deciding what information is shared and what is left out and how that information is presented. With that editorial power comes responsibility. And the age-old, chicken-or-the-egg debate:
Does the media reflect the views of its audience, or does it create them?
It's a question that creeps just beneath the surface of both Richard Jewell and Bombshell, a pair of movies that paint the modern American media as equal parts powerful and malicious. In one, journalists wield the power of the pen to victimize an innocent man. In the other, the head of a journalistic entity victimizes innocent women by leveraging their desire to wield that very same pen. The portrait is unkind but not unfair.
It's an ironic meta narrative of the movies themselves. The lack of nuance within Fox News or the Atlanta Journal-Constitution during the 1996 Olympic bombing is reflected in each portrayal. The filmmakers do little to mask their own opinions of the media as a self-serving predator. But if it's already this hard to parse the manipulative capability of real life reporting, imagine the difficulty of doing so in dramatic storytelling.
Rainer Werner Fassbiner, a German filmmaker during the Cold War, said it best: "The revolution doesn't belong on the screen." That quote was relayed to me via podcast by Todd Haynes, being interviewed about his new film Dark Waters. Haynes added, "there’s a good reason to have suspicion about direct truth being presented in narrative film."
That is the danger within the growing genre of "social justice" films, especially those that are ripped from the headlines of recent history. At worst they're dangerously misleading. Richard Jewell has already come under fire for its creative liberties taken on the character of real life AJC reporter Kathy Scruggs. The film implies that she trades sex for tips from an FBI agent (it's a pretty insignificant part of the film that's ultimately more a result of lazy screenwriting than making a political statement). Even at best, they can be divisive, inaccessible or prickly (Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman comes to mind).
The point is this. Narrative films should not bear the same responsibility as the media. They shouldn't be bothered by creative liberties taken or historical inaccuracies for the sake of drama. BUT they also shouldn't attempt to have the same impact. Activism can't be fought in the land of make believe.
Take Megyn Kelly for example. She is the de facto hero of Bombshell, shown as a force for good and something a moral compass within the Fox News maelstrom (due in no small part to the fact that Charlize Theron, who plays Kelly, was an executive producer on the movie), even if we now know her to be a complicated figure after her on-air defense of blackface.
Real life people are just too messy. And it's unfair to have them being played by beautiful, famous people. Jon Hamm is the FBI agent who bungled Jewell's case, Olivia Wilde is Kathy Scruggs, Charlize Theron is Megyn Kelly (to a frighteningly accurate degree), Nicole Kidman is Gretchen Carlson. Audiences are drawn to empathize and forgive these movie stars no matter their sins.
The exception that proves the rule is Richard Jewell himself, played by Paul Walter Hauser. It's an award-worthy performance, for a character who seems to be worthy of the sainthood he's been given here by Clint Eastwood. The 89-year-old legend has little time for nuance, and this movie is pure Eastwood-core (if you've seen any of his recent films like The Mule or 15:17 to Paris or Sully you know exactly what I mean). Still, it's beyond impressive that he's able to construct such a compelling and heartfelt story (ok, yes, fine...I teared up twice).
Objectively, the two movies achieve a solid B to B+ effort through very different avenues. Bombshell is edgy, energetic and visceral. It feels of the moment. Richard Jewell is sentimental, sardonic and sepia-toned. It feels timeless. Both are an actors showcase. Theron will get the headlines for her shocking transformation into Kelly, from the face to the mannerisms and the spot-on voice impression, but Margot Robbie steals the show as a fictional Fox News up-and-comer. Her scene in the office of Roger Ailes (played well by John Lithgow) will shake you to the core.
For all of those things, these movies should be viewed and applauded. As for the philosophizing, caveat emptor!!
Streaming Suggestions!
Something New
6 Underground (Netflix): Netflix gave a blank check and total control to Michael Bay. So he created the loudest, bloodiest, most maximalist Michael Bay movie of all time. And that's saying something. The plot is incomprehensible, the editing is so frenetic it'll make you nauseous, and there are explosions every 3.5 seconds. I truly cannot believe this movie exists. In other words, it's a new Michael Bay movie.
Something Old
Shattered Glass (2003): Here's the thing about journalism movies that are done accurately. They just aren't as interesting! This one, starring the disgraced Hayden Christiansen, is about as good as it gets when it comes to the editorial process. Somehow it's both true and entertaining. Probably because it's about one of the craziest incidents in American journalism history, when a hotshot magazine writer fabricated dozens of his hit stories.
The Journalism Classics: I've mentioned them a bunch of times but Network (1976), All the President's Men (1976) and Broadcast News (1987) are the holy trinity of classic journalism movies. And Spotlight (2015) is better than all of them.
Something to Stream
The Loudest Voice (Showtime): I haven't watched this series so I can't speak to its relative merits, but it's interesting that 2019 spawned two different Roger Ailes/Fox News stories. This one is a seven-part limited series starring Russell Crowe as Ailes. Quite a sell. Though I think Bombshell made the right decision by making the women here the selling point of the same story in 2019.
The Morning Show (AppleTV+): It's an interesting companion piece to Bombshell because it's a show both about television "news" and #MeToo. I can report I have watched every single episode to this point, and can't stop watching no matter how objectively bad this show is. It's less like a train wreck you can't take your eyes off of and more like a really strange animal at the zoo you can't help but stop and watch for an hour (every week). Why does this exist in this form? How does it function? Do they all get along? It's fascinating and compelling and bad and maybe you'd enjoy it too.
Trailer Watch: Woman in the Window
Amy Adams is unanimously considered one of the best actresses of her generation. But there's an Oscar-sized hole in her trophy case. Could this be the one to break through? It looks like Rear Window meets Shutter Island, which if you ask me sounds like one hell of a combo. Throw in Gary Oldman, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Wyatt Russell, and the criminally underrated Brian Tyree Henry?! Yeah, I'm pumped.