The pictorial values, and the acting of both "Erin Brockovich" and "Good Night and Good Luck" are profoundly different than "Mother," although both show political awakenings. The more recent American films focus on extraordinary individuals, persons of physical beauty and glamour, or persons of great fame and influence, and the acting is differential, unique, and what the characters say is equally as important as what they do, unlike "Mother." It is true that Erin Brockovich is an every woman type of character to some extent because of her lower class, her status as a single mother, and her lack of education and political voice. Even Murrow is an everyman to some degree because of his status as every American in the eyes of the nation during his London broadcasts, his reputation, and his willingness to voice what many Americans thought during the McCarthy hearings but feared to say aloud.
Both film's focuses are psychological in terms of how the acting renders the main character, unlike "Mother." Although it was also based upon a past historical event, "Mother" does not try to tell the mother's internal and unique story in relation to these events, it uses one mother's image to uphold its own political values. The mother comes to realize that she must bend to the forces of history, and support revolution, rather than change history. Her actions, like holding a flag in protest, are symbolic rather than personally gratifying. The acting, rather than personalized in both American films, is general, and depicted in broad, sweeping gestures rather than subtle shifts of dialogue, or changes in hairstyle or expression to indicate the character's growing political awareness.
The overall texture of both films deploys a different kind of realism than "Mother." The silent film is in black and white, and focuses on motion, and shadows, like the motion of charging horses or the painful shadows beneath...
Many shots seem more symbolic than important to the story, like shots of the Russian soil and homeland. In "Erin Brockovich" rather than mythical shots, the film either shows what seems ordinary, like the drab interior of a law office in a county that is actually filled with invisible poisons, or the beauty of Erin's clothing and manner, which is sassy, aggressive, and uniquely 'hers.' Erin's reality looks like viewer's reality, only slightly worse, and her appearance makes her look better than the viewer's reality, and for that she seems more significant, unlike "Mother" who seems poorer, sadder, yet also more significant.
Good Night and Good Luck" tries to give a historical impression of the era in which it is set. Its black and white tones and shadows, unlike "Mother's" were deliberately chosen by the director of George Clooney to take the viewer far back in time and to gain a sense of what
television looked like back then. The visual distances the viewer, but in a familiar way, to a presumably more innocent time (on the surface) where anchorman were trusted, and spoke with deep, resonating voices, and believed in the values of truth,
justice, and the American way. But Murrow, because he is a real historical personage, like Erin Brockovich, cannot stand for 'all of us' and the act of locating him in a specific era of
history and method of television production adds a further layer of distance.
It is possible that archetypal and purely visual images of acting like that of "Mother" can no longer be taken seriously in modern film acting. Still, the
power of the film's images raises a profound question about the
nature of modern filmmaking, because the film should not move the viewer, and yet it does. The film seems to take risks, artistically, even though it was anything but risky ideologically when it was made.
Works Cited
Erin Brockovich." Starring Julia Roberts. 2000.
Good Night and Good Luck." Directed by George Clooney. 2005.
Mother." Directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin. 1926.
