GIVEAWAY: Matteo Garrone's "REALITY" - Now in theaters

[Lowry_Sam]

How about The Howling, specifically the ending where the intrepid investigating journalist:

If just the use of a television is fine, then I think Poltergeist does it better & also has some social critique in the way it is used, albeit not as much as most of the other titles that have been mentioned so far.

That's supposed to be five sentences, guys!

So now you tell us. I knew "give" had to be at least one from the phrasing. Now that I know, I'll go back & edit.

Not really a film, but the episode of The Twilight Zone:What's in the Box.

If television were allowed, nothing beats SCTV.

Network is the one and only prophetic masterpiece that brilliantly satirizes TV culture.

Actually, I watched it not long ago & didn't enjoy it as much as when it first came out, which is why I didn't pick it. While there are many good targets in the film, the television landscape is a completely different beast now that we're inundated with choice ,rather than having a few centralized major networks. "I'm mad as hell & I'm not going to take anymore" has become an empty cliche. "I'm mad as hell and I'm going to continue sitting here & watch more anger-inducing content and gripe about it on an online forum that caters to people who feel the same way I do" would be much more accurate statement for the times.

[vertovfan]

Man Bites Dog. Poelvoorde said it was a parody of the Belgian TV show Striptease, which followed ordinary people and observed them in a documentary style. Man Bites Dog uses the same aesthetic, carefully avoiding the film crew and encouraging the audience to believe they are witnessing intimate moments of the subject's everyday life. Of course the strategy unravels as the film progresses and the filmmakers become increasingly complicit in the central character's murderous exploits. The critique has been made even more relevant by the current "reality TV" craze, where people are routinely caught "unawares" and the influence of the cameras is systematically ignored.

[manicsounds]

Good Night And Good Luck, a great middle finger towards the corporate and government controlled and influenced media, and based on a true story to boot.

[lingo]

Wow, well every single film that came to mind has already been mentioned already, even a few others. I'll have to go with A Face In The Crowd - not only does Andy Griffith convincingly portray an unlikeable character (calling it against type may require some time travel), but we see the forces that shape him in such a way that we still want him to fall at the end, but not suffer for it.

[stairifox]

Sidney Lumet's Network, because it is a really biting, disturbing, and extremely relevant satire, that showed
the role that television plays in our daily lives. It was one of the darkest, blackest, and wittiest movies of the 1970's, that had one of the best ensemble cast in film history. Paddy Chayefsky's screenplay was one of the most adult, tasteful, bitter, and brilliant screenplays ever written for a film, and Lumet (made he rest in peace) directed the film with a very realistic touch on our personal, public sensibilities.

[Feego]

Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
Truffaut/Bradbury's take on television presents it as the ultimate brainwashing tool, keeping drugged up citizens pacified with facile, meaningless programming that only flatters their egos. Julie Christie stares listlessly for hours as the "cousin" announcer reports such headline-worthy news as young people boycotting barber shops, which serves mainly as a lead-in for the announcer's slyly propagandistic quip, "It all goes to show law enforcement can be fun!" The dim housewife's ultimate dream is to have more TV sets installed along the remaining three walls of her living room so that she may be embraced by her television "family." When our protagonist, Oskar Werner, manages to escape the pursuing firemen, the chase continues on TV with an anonymous changeling taking his place and being shot down before the viewing audience, providing them with their happy ending and the comforting notion that the government has prevailed. "Come in cousins, be one of the family!"

[drachtri]

The Twonky- because even back then , Arch Oboler captured the concerns of television and the media

[vivaverhoeven]

Broadcast News would have to be my favorite movie that deals with television. It is a film that takes a subtly acidic look at the manner in which news broadcasts had started to shift from hard-hitting journalism to entertainment, epitomised by Hurt's hollow anchor. This shift to "info-tainment" news is also reflected in Jane and Aaron, who use their stress-filled jobs as superficial means of ignoring their flaws and anxieties. The now classic "sweating scene" is a triumph of storytelling, managing to be both comedic and tragic. It showcases the film's humanist heart, showing our frailty as a far more soulful alternative to the glib glitz that most news anchors trade in.

[AMalickLensFlare]

This is probably a bit of a stretch, but I'll go with it anyway since everyone has already made great choices.

No Country for Old Men, the part where Ed Tom is sharing a story from the newspaper with his deputy:

Here last week they found this couple out in California. They rent out rooms for old people, kill'em, bury'em in the yard, cash their social security checks. Well, they'd tortur'em first, I don't know why. Maybe the television set was broke.

No? I'll show myself out. :P

[Professor Wagstaff]

It's not a film and, therefore, probably won't count as a submission, but this question kept bringing me back to the Simpsons episode "Homer Badman" in which Homer is falsely accused of sexual harassment and becomes a victim of media scrutiny. It's a brilliant take on how television distorts public opinion through tabloid tactics rather than journalism, sending up then-popular cases (like Joey Buttafuoco) and shows (like Hard Copy) that have morphed into greater monsters as the television's influence has expanded even further in the last twenty years since the episode aired. "Homer Badman" also takes an interesting look at how a family weened on television copes when the object that controls their lives has turned against them, dividing children and parents, husbands and wives, all unable to separate what they know to be true from the television hype they so readily buy in to("It's just hard not to listen to TV, it's spent so much more time raising us than you have.") That, and it's just a damn funny episode.

[lady wakasa]

Head:

A manufactured movie.
About a manufactured band.
From a manufactured tv show.
Doing manufactured things.

Talk about your manufactured reality.

[WBadger]

Albert Brooks' Real Life. One of the best films I saw this month.

[cdnchris]

From Oscilloscope:

Thanks all for your thoughtful entries to our REALITY giveaway! We've chosen Lowry_Sam for their suggestion of "Being There," but kudos to all of you.

REALITY is currently in theaters nationwide and will be available on Blu-ray / DVD this summer.

Thanks,
Oscilloscope