SPOILER ALERT!
There is something kind of odd about watching a movie on the subject of journalism in a cinema full of journalists. Last night’s Melbourne media preview of State of Play was hilarious, not because the film is particularly amazing but because the reactions of the audience to the material were just so perfect.
When Russsell Crowe, playing the veteran print journo, quips about the young blogger’s shiny new computer compared to his own dinosaur, the audience of film reviewers and media hacks laughed and then made sympathetic soothing noises. That State of Play’s dying newspaper has been bought out by a big company only interested in sales sees some familiar references to new media and the rolling collapse of American news publications. When Crowe’s editor, played by Helen Mirren, points out that said blogger churns out copy and is “young and cheap” the reaction seemed mixed, there was laughter, but it was uncomfortable.
The parable for the future of the media was being played out on the screen — until the rose coloured Hollywood finish.
While at the conclusion of the film Crowe and the young blogger, to whom he teaches a number of things about real journalism – ie stuff about talking to cops, carrying pens and so on — walk away with the best story ever at the fictitious Washington Globe, the end plot appears askew.
State of Play ignores the realities journalists are actually facing and romantically generates nostalgic interpretations about the newspaper business: the editor holds the press for hours; the blogger thinks the story should be read in print before it goes online; the veteran goes for days without filing any copy; the blogger learns the ways of the veteran journo and comes to embody his news values, abandoning her gossipy bloggy ways; the democratic purpose of the media as the fourth estate is upheld and good triumphs over evil.
The funny thing is, everyone in the room seemed to love it.
