I saw this film for the first time about 7 years ago and was blown away by the amazing performance by Andy Griffith. Thank goodness he did this before he became a household name. I can now see how typecasting can limit an actor, as I just never gave him any credit after "Andy Of Mayberry" and "Matlock". I had no idea of the immense range this man possessed.
It has been written elsewhere that the show was based on the phenomenon of Arthur Godfrey and that is possible. I think what happened in this Elia Kazan masterpiece was a demonstration of the power of mass media to lead people to believe what you want them to believe and blind them to what you deem convenient for them to be ignorant of. As Hitler put it, "the bigger the lie, the more likely the people will believe".
This show raises a number of issues we need to be aware of today. As a medium, television has great potential. However, it has never been close to what it should have become since 1957. The medium made Lonesome Rhodes an icon in the eyes of the people, but in reality, he was a megalomaniacal monster. One hearkens back to when Hitler used the television in Nazi Germany for mass-hypnotism and public desensitization so he could take the world into his fiendish grip. Are the powers controlling TV manipulating us like puppets, until the day they hold our very lives in their hands?
It has been written elsewhere that the show was based on the phenomenon of Arthur Godfrey and that is possible. I think what happened in this Elia Kazan masterpiece was a demonstration of the power of mass media to lead people to believe what you want them to believe and blind them to what you deem convenient for them to be ignorant of. As Hitler put it, "the bigger the lie, the more likely the people will believe".
This show raises a number of issues we need to be aware of today. As a medium, television has great potential. However, it has never been close to what it should have become since 1957. The medium made Lonesome Rhodes an icon in the eyes of the people, but in reality, he was a megalomaniacal monster. One hearkens back to when Hitler used the television in Nazi Germany for mass-hypnotism and public desensitization so he could take the world into his fiendish grip. Are the powers controlling TV manipulating us like puppets, until the day they hold our very lives in their hands?