History Film / MediumCool

I will [[DoesNotLikeShoes wander around barefoot]].\\

* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** The popularity of Roller Derby.
** The journey of the {{cowboy}}-like motorcyclist in the opening scene to deliver reels of film to the studio (this was before TV cameramen had satellite hookup) chronicling some random car crash. Film at 11.
** The fact that most poverty in America at the time, including inner-city poverty, was (and still is, in many places) white.
** The depiction of the DNC protestors, being footage of the actual protest, features few {{New Age Retro Hippie}}s; the crowd is mostly [[BombThrowingAnarchists clean-shaven radicals]] and college students.

The title is from a famous {{Postmodern}} thesis by media critic [=Marshall McLuhan=], ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Medium is the Message]]'': namely the idea that there are [[MediumAwareness "hot" mediums]] such as theater that are highly interactive, and then there are more "cold" mediums, [[Wiki/TVTropes like television]], which [[strike:lull the audience into a stupor]] require little interaction from the audience.

Interestingly, when the film was first scripted, it wasn't intended to be about the [[NewAgeRetroHippie Movement]] versus TheMan at all. The director wanted to shoot a piece [[ShakyCam in docu-cam]] about the indifference of the media towards the problems of the poor in inner-city Chicago, focusing on [[DecoyProtagonist an Appalachian family]].[[labelnote:*]]Chicago and Baltimore once had large Appalachian slums.[[/labelnote]] After all, UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr was promising a major march on poverty in lieu of racism that summer, similar to his March on Washington in '63, to urge the next administration (which [[WhatCouldHaveBeen he hoped would be RFK]]) to take the money from UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and use it to re-fund Great Society programs.

* TheMan: The cops and TV reporters. A Black Panther challenges John, asking why he comes to the ghetto to film a 15-minute news story but has no interest in 300 years of black history.

* {{Fanservice}}: The scene where a naked Robert Forster chases a naked Marianna Hill around John's apartment, before sex ensues. Very daring for 1969.

It takes place in Chicago in [[TheSixties the summer of 1968]]. The film stars a young cameraman who is basically TheLastDJ within his news organization, struggling to get the word out about what's actually going on in the streets. Fans of media criticism will note that the subsequent [[GovernmentConspiracy whitewashing]] of his reports is largely accurate. When we meet him, he's apolitical and driven, [[{{Cowboy}} with his own code,]] seeing the role of the journalist as a quest to "capture" the moment on film as it really happened. As he accidentally gets to know some of his subjects, CharacterDevelopment ensues.

TheInternet, which has room for huge amounts of interactivity but mostly confined to correspondence with [[InternetJerk ill-informed people]], would thus be an example of a populace that prefers its Medium Cool. With lukewarm spots [[WikiTropes such as wikis]], like the one you may be editing now. The Situationists like Guy Debord would probably ask why [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife you are in here on the computer]] when you could be out forming a [[FlashMob flash-mob]] or impromptu theater, of course.

TheInternet, which has room for huge amounts of interactivity but mostly confined to correspondence with [[{{GIFT}} ill-informed people]], would thus be an example of a populace that prefers its Medium Cool. With lukewarm spots [[WikiTropes such as wikis]], like the one you may be editing now. The Situationists like Guy Debord would probably ask why [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife you are in here on the computer]] when you could be out forming a [[FlashMob flash-mob]] or impromptu theater, of course.

::''Look out, Haskell. It's real!''

''Medium Cool'' is a critically acclaimed film from TheSixties about the unhealthy interaction between a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corporate media]] in search of {{spectacle}} and violence and a [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized restless and angry populace]]. Released in 1969, It predated the film ''Film/{{Network}}'' by about [[SpiritualSuccessor seven years]]. It's notable as one of the few films directed by prolific cinematographer Haskell Wexler (who's also credited with the cinematography and the screenplay).

It's also famous for a simple reason: it's just about the only {{Mockumentary}} fictional film ever to be deliberately shot and filmed '''''during''''' the course of a historical event: [[TheSixties The 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention]] and police riot, during and after the assassination of FolkHero Robert F. Kennedy which [[FromBadToWorse preceded it]].

The film stars a young cameraman who is basically TheLastDJ within his news organization, struggling to get the word out about what's actually going on in the streets. Fans of media criticism will note that the subsequent [[GovernmentConspiracy whitewashing]] of his reports is largely accurate. When we meet him, he's apolitical and driven, [[{{Cowboy}} with his own code,]] seeing the role of the journalist as a quest to "capture" the moment on film as it really happened. As he accidentally gets to know some of his subjects, CharacterDevelopment ensues.

Interestingly, when the film was first scripted, it wasn't intended to be about the [[NewAgeRetroHippie Movement]] versus TheMan at all. The director wanted to shoot a piece [[ShakyCam in docu-cam]] about the indifference of the media towards the problems of the poor in inner-city Chicago, focusing on [[DecoyProtagonist an Appalachian family]].[[labelnote:*]]Chicago and Baltimore once had large Appalachian slums.[[/labelnote]] After all, [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement Martin Luther King]] was promising a major march on poverty in lieu of racism that summer, similar to his March on Washington in '63, to urge the next administration (which [[WhatMightHaveBeen he hoped would be RFK]]) to take the money from UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and use it to re-fund Great Society programs.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Medium_Cool_2870.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:"Look out Haskell, it's real!"]]

''Medium Cool'' is a critically acclaimed film from [[TheSixties the 60's]] about the unhealthy interaction between a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corporate media]] in search of {{spectacle}} and violence and a [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized restless and angry populace]]. Released in 1969, It predated the film ''Film/{{Network}}'' by about [[SpiritualSuccessor seven years]]. It's notable as one of the few films directed by prolific cinematographer Haskell Wexler (who's also credited with the cinematography and the screenplay).

[[quoteright:300:"Look out Haskell, it's real!"]]

* {{Hipster}}s: The protagonists visit a (real, of course) psychedelic rave,\\
[[SnarkBait very dry-ly]] scored to Frank Zappa's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywPan19kvyI Who Needs The Peace Corps]]:

Robert Forster stars as John. Verna Bloom, who stars as Eileen, appeared as Mrs. Wormer ten years later in ''Film/AnimalHouse''. A young Creator/PeterBoyle, already bald, appears briefly as the manager of a gun range that caters to women.

* {{Cameo}}[=/=]ActorAllusion: The guitarist who is the "Indian of the group" in the rave scene is [[Music/MichaelNesmith Mike Nesmith]] of Music/TheMonkees.

* NotNamedInTheOpeningCredits: None of the actors are listed in the opening credits, to make it feel more like a documentary than a narrative film.

* BookEnds: The film ends with John and his sound man taking pictures of a fatal car crash on the highway, and not calling for an ambulance until after they've gotten all the pictures they want. It ends with John crashing his car into a tree, injuring himself and killing Eileen, while tourists in another car drive by and take pictures.

''Medium Cool'' is a critically acclaimed film from [[TheSixties the 60's]] about the unhealthy interaction between a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corporate media]] in search of {{spectacle}} and violence and a [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized restless and angry populace]]. It predated the film ''Film/{{Network}}'' by about [[SpiritualSuccessor ten years]].

However, after both MLK and RFK [[ChandlersLaw got shot]] during the course of initial filming, director Haskell Wesker had made friends in [[OnlySaneMan Fred Hampton]]'s Chicago Black Panther Party during the course of making the film (one of the scenes is an interview with the Panthers basically playing themselves). They informed him that a massive demonstration was underway for the summer of '68 and Wesker decided to center the climax of his film ''[[RealitySubtext around that]]''.

The film was written and directed by Haskell Wexler. Robert Forster stars as John. Verna Bloom, who stars as Eileen, appeared as Mrs. Wormer ten years later in ''Film/AnimalHouse''. A young Creator/PeterBoyle, already bald, appears briefly as the manager of a gun range that caters to women.

A young Creator/PeterBoyle, already bald, appears briefly as the manager of a gun range that caters to women.

%%* AnarchyIsChaos: The protestors.

%%* DeadpanSnarker: The TV reporter.

* TheLastDJ: Our journalist hero, who is an up-and-coming correspondent in his [[CorruptCorporateExecutive monolithic media]] organization.
%%* TheMan: The cops and TV reporters.

%%* MoodDissonance: Goes with the territory of being shot live on-location.

%%* PinballProtagonist: Taken to a literal extreme.
%%* RealLifeWritesThePlot
%%* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized
%%* RomanceEnsues: Between the protagonists.
%%* ShootTheShaggyDog
%%* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Film/{{Network}}''. For a similar film in the same year, but [[HilarityEnsues more farcical]], see ''Film/PutneySwope''.
%%* YouBastard: The film's message.

* {{Cameo}}[=/=]ActorAllusion: The guitarist who is the "Indian of the group" in the rave scene is Mike Nesmith of Music/TheMonkees.

''Medium Cool'' is a critically acclaimed and [[CultClassic highly obscure]] film from [[TheSixties the 60's]] about the unhealthy interaction between a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corporate media]] in search of {{spectacle}} and violence and a [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized restless and angry populace]]. It predated the film ''Film/{{Network}}'' by about [[SpiritualSuccessor ten years]].

The title is from a famous {{Postmodern}} thesis by media critic [=Marshall McLuhan=], ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Medium is the Message]]:'' namely the idea that there are [[MediumAwareness "hot" mediums]] such as theater that are highly interactive, and then there are more "cold" mediums, [[Wiki/TVTropes like television]], which [[strike:lull the audience into a stupor]] require little interaction from the audience.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

Interestingly, when the film was first scripted, it wasn't intended to be about the [[NewAgeRetroHippie Movement]] versus TheMan at all. The director wanted to shoot a piece [[ShakyCam in docu-cam]] about the indifference of the media towards the problems of the poor in inner-city Chicago, focusing on [[DecoyProtagonist an Appalachian family]].[[labelnote:*]]Chicago and Baltimore once had large Appalachian slums.[[/labelnote]] After all, [[CivilRightsMovement Martin Luther King]] was promising a major march on poverty in lieu of racism that summer, similar to his March on Washington in '63, to urge the next administration (which [[WhatMightHaveBeen he hoped would be RFK]]) to take the money from UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and use it to re-fund Great Society programs.