{"id":18315,"date":"2023-05-26T08:14:31","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T08:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/?p=18315"},"modified":"2023-06-15T14:48:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T14:48:27","slug":"how-the-speech-from-network-inspires-us-to-take-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/how-the-speech-from-network-inspires-us-to-take-action\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m Mad as Hell!\u201d How the Speech from \u201cNetwork\u201d Inspires Us to Take Action"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>TLDR: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter Finch popularized protest and struggle against modern life and apathy when his character, a newsman, yelled, \u201cI\u2019m as mad as hell, and I\u2019m not going to take it anymore!\u201d His simple words talked about all that\u2019s wrong with the world and suggested people rise up and take action.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>So What? <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Almost 50 years later, audiences still resonate with the words of Finch\u2019s character and feel the need to express their own anger at modernity when they see things going wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe title=\"NETWORK, Sidney Lumet, 1976 - I&#039;m Mad As Hell and I&#039;m Not Gonna Take This Anymore!\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MRuS3dxKK9U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019m mad as hell, and I\u2019m not gonna take this anymore!\u201d Arguably the most iconic moment from the movie \u201cNetwork,\u201d the speech\u2013uttered by Howard Beale (played by Peter Finch in an Oscar-winning performance)&#8211;talks about how we should never give into the apathy of life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The irony of the speech is that it\u2019s never really clear what the newscaster is mad at, nor does he issue a plan of attack. Nevertheless, the speech still has a lot to teach regardless of its specificity, and it seems more relevant than ever, despite being nearly 50 years old.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dare to Protest\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beale\u2019s line has been used as a protest for so many different causes since Peter Finch uttered it in the movie, that it\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/groovyhistory.com\/im-mad-as-hell-and-im-not-going-to-take-it-anymore-network-1976\/7\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">almost a cliche or a parody of itself<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. At its core, however, the line is meant to say, \u201cEnough is enough! Things have to change.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the movie plays out, viewers will note that not much really does change, either for Beale or the news industry in general. For a time, Beale gets a lot of people to parrot his line. The station\u2019s ratings go up, and he gets his own show.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Spoiler alert: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Subsequently, things don\u2019t go his way, and he becomes a casualty of the quest for higher ratings as the news gets more extreme. Sound familiar?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The more things change, the more they stay the same. Beale\u2019s famous speech seems <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@IRahmanJones\/im-as-mad-as-hell-and-i-m-not-going-to-take-this-any-more-18758ebbe55f\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">even more relevant today<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> than it was in 1976. Many news anchors have been caught lying to benefit their chosen political views, and apathy about the state of news and politics may be at an all-time high.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The good news is that great communicators can always inspire people to stick their head out of a window and tell the world how they feel, at least metaphorically. Here are a few other takeaways from the speech and what it can teach communicators about effective messaging.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-18321 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/2.jpeg-2.jpg\" alt=\"female journalist in front of a camera\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/2.jpeg-2.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/2.jpeg-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/2.jpeg-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/2.jpeg-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/2.jpeg-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speak Truth to Power<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The beauty and power of Beale\u2019s speech is its simplicity and plain-spokenness. Beale captivates his network audience (and his bosses, at least for a time) by saying exactly what he and everyone else is thinking. Yet while everyone else is staying quiet, Beale steps forward.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When a speaker is able to \u201cgo there\u201d (to boldly say the quiet part out loud), to speak truth to power, it attracts attention and impacts your listeners. While Beale was sincere in his desire to speak the truth about the state of the world, he soon discovered the limitations of being constantly angry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Avoid Extremism<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the network gives him a show to express these views night after night, Beale discovers a truth that many impassioned communicators often must learn the hard way: your audience\u2019s attention may fade if you say the same thing the same way all the time, even if you say it with great energy and passion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beale decides to make his message more extreme just to keep people\u2019s attention. Eventually, that fails, and his ratings dive. Making your message more extreme isn\u2019t going to make it more effective, and your audience may tune you out as irrelevant.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ask for a Response<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One important lesson from Beale\u2019s speech is the power of a call to action.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beale is able to see some level of change, at least for a time, because he asks people to express their anger along with him. All over the TV coverage area, people are sticking their heads out their windows and yelling, \u201cI\u2019m mad as hell, and I\u2019m not going to take it anymore!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As communicators, it\u2019s important to know what we want our audiences to do, and that we can call on them clearly and succinctly (and sometimes repetitively, like Beale). Our audiences cannot read our minds, and they often need a push (or several) to take the leap. Consider your call to action carefully.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dare to protest. Speak truth to power. And ask for a response.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are the lessons that worked in the time of \u201cNetwork,\u201d and they still work today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thousands of marketers subscribe to our Better Newsletter to get tips on being a better communicator. <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/better-newsletter\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Click to subscribe<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn about the speech in which fired newsman Norman Beale, played by Peter Finch in the movie \u201cNetwork,\u201d tells the world how he really feels. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":18316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[459],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18315"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18340,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18315\/revisions\/18340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}