Faye Dunaway as Diana Christensen in Network

Best Actress at the 49th Annual Oscars (1976)

Notable Quote:

“This is really terrific footage!”

Synopsis:

In this cutting satire, Hollywood imagines a horrifying world: one where the goal of media is to stoke as much outrage as possible, conspiracy theorists are given center stage, and people are boiled down to data points in order to make money. So … 2020? I guess they didn’t predict the pandemic at least?

The character:

Diana is a pretty classic crooked executive type, but there are several things that elevate her above cliché. First, “crooked” is really an understatement: Diana is completely amoral, driven only by a desire to conquer the television landscape. The scariest thing about Diana is that she doesn’t particularly seem to care about money, or even power: she just wants to get as many eyes on her network as possible. She’s unconcerned with the effects her decisions will have on, ya know, actual people: Howard Beale, a mentally ill man, is just a tool for her. Her evil culminates in the movie’s finale, when she casually arranges for Howard to be assassinated on-air because it’ll make great television, Jesus Christ.

Now, credit where it is due: girl is an innovator. She’s got wild ideas, like bringing a Wall Street psychic onto a news show, or working with a radical terrorist group, and she’s not afraid to stand up for these ideas. Diana is absolutely someone that would be working for the Trump Administration today because she can roll out the most despicable, morally depraved plan and make you the crazy person if you don’t get on-board. She cheerfully owns that she’s terrible, so you can’t shame her for her bad behavior.

My favorite thing about Diana is her insane energy: she manages to somehow have an intense “go-go-go” nature, while also remaining nonchalant. Anytime she’s talking to someone, it’s a pitch, rather than an interaction. She’s always speaking incredibly fast, so you’re just overtaken by this wall of words, and have no choice but to go along with what she says.

The other important facet of Diana is her relationship with Max. I’m not entirely sold on this element of the story: she’s not really a woman who seems to need or want a man, but I guess that’s kind of the point. And I do love this idea that she can only think about relationships in terms of scripts. When Max asks her to love him, she says, “I don’t know how to do that.” Sidebar: can I just say what an ass Max is for calling her out when he dumps her? You’re the one cheating on your wife, leave the robot lady alone! (Although “there’s nothing left in you that I can live with” is an incredible line, so all is forgiven).

The performance:

As will be the case with many older actors and actresses throughout this column, I didn’t know much about Faye Dunaway before this, but her performance in Network is great! (Except oops, I just looked her up and learned that she’s apparently a nightmare on set, never meet your heroes kids. Although it’s rumored that she threw a cup of piss at Roman Polanski, so props for that tbh). She has a really captivating vibe about her, so even though Diana is incredibly evil, she also comes off as very cool. (Can I also say, her eyebrows were doing werk during this movie, wow).

The best thing about Dunaway’s performance? Diana’s fast-talking energy is central to her character and Dunaway nails it, which is complicated: she’s making incredibly precise, densely-packed speeches, but they have to roll off her tongue in a cool, controlled manner, every word over-articulated. And, while she’s speaking, she always has to stomp around and perch on desks and wave her hands wildly because Diana never. stops. moving.

I also find Diana to be the funniest part of this movie, and a lot of that is because of Dunaway’s great comedic timing. There’s her breezy greeting to radical Communist Loreen: “Hi. I'm Diana Christensen, a racist lackey of the imperialist ruling circles.” There’s her sarcastic yet apologetic, “I'm sorry I impugned your cocksmanship.” And there’s her brief but perfect nod after Robert Duvall’s, “For god sakes Diana, we’re talking about putting a manifestly irresponsible man on national television.”

The movie:

Network is, first and foremost, very prescient in a lot of ways. The emphasis on commodifying people’s outrage, not to direct that outrage anywhere productive but just to rile people up, felt particularly relevant. The movie also foreshadows a show like Succession, another satire of media based around witty exchanges. In some ways, Network’s version of TV is really tame compared to the YouTube assholes and Fox News bigots of today.

At the same time, the movie is too dense for my liking. There’s certainly a lot to analyze and dissect, and I’m looking forward to rewatching at some point, but it’s a lot for a movie that I’m ultimately watching for entertainment value. I’m also not always sure that it’s as smart as it thinks it is. Some of the critiques are interesting and insightful (the ending, with the TV ads running next to the image of Howard’s body, is a perfect skewer of capitalism) and then some of them boil down to grumpy old man complaints about “the TV generation”. I found it hard to follow the plot at times because the movie was trying to say so much.

Was the Oscar deserved?

Yep! Diana is a great character, but it’s Dunaway’s acting that brings her to life.