The lasting impact of the “mad as hell” monologue in ‘Network’
There are many great monologues that become synonymous with the works from which they appear. Immediately, we think of Hamlet’s “to be or not or not to be” and Roy Batty’s improvised “tears in rain” in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. While these speeches certainly stick with us, perhaps the most relevant monologue came in Sidney Lumet’s 1976 comedy-drama Network.
Network tells of a television network by the name of UBS and their constant battle with poor ratings. Peter Finch plays one of the network’s news anchors, Howard Beale, who learns that he has just two weeks left in his job because of his ever-worsening ratings. Beale is so distressed that he announces that he will commit suicide during his slot the following Tuesday.
The heads of the station try to fire Beale on the spot, but his boss persuades them to give him a proper send-off. When Beale returns to his slot, he begins an angry tirade against the forces that make many people’s lives a misery. Interestingly, his outburst causes a spike in ratings, so the station starts to exploit this and turn it into an “angry man” show.
This leads to one of the most rousing monologues in cinematic history. Beale attempts to get the entire US nation to rise up. He begins his speech, “I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth. Banks are going bust. Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street, and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it.”
He continues, “We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is: ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms.'” The monologue is evidently utterly relevant today. If anything, things have got even worse with our wanting to be left alone, not just with our televisions, but with our mobile phones that simply never leave our possession.
But Beale simply won’t leave people alone; he wants action. He says, “I want you to get mad! I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot – I don’t want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. […] All I know is that first, you’ve got to get mad. You’ve got to say: ‘I’m a human being, goddammit! My life has value!’ So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, stick your head out, and yell: ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!'”
Beale then proceeds to repeat the call for the nation to yell, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” It truly is a moment of filmic beauty; it riles us up almost to the point of following Beale’s instructions. Sadly though, it does not look likely that people are willing to organise themselves, get angry and take out their frustrations on the political parties across the world that are rife in corruption, nor the entertainment industries that keep people addicted to their offerings. However, even today, perhaps Network can inspire us to make the move at last.
Check out Howard Beale’s full monologue below.
