The Moral Equivalent of a Parking Ticket?

"Quiz Show" is an excellent film. (It was also partly shot at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I went to school.)

I believe director Robert Redford saw the quiz show scandal as a type of metaphor for life in the United States during the much-loved 1950s, meaning that appearances can be deceiving and deep down there were serious problems that were concealed by the glossy image on the surface.

Although he made a great film, I wonder if Redford overreaches. So "21" was rigged, and the contestants got the answers. The film implies that NBC and Geritol, which sponsored the show, both knew this. So who was getting cheated? No Geritol money was stolen. Was anyone even indicted? No.

Imagine making a great film (well-shot, well-acted, and well-directed) about getting a parking ticket.

Also, the film itself isn't completely accurate. Actual events and persons were changed to tell a better story. So if Redford can alter the truth to tell a better story, then why couldn't the folks behind "21" bend the truth for entertainment purposes?

And about 10 years after HUAC's investigation into Communism in Hollywood, you wonder why investigating the television industry--or namely "21"--seemed to have been welcomed.

The 1950s have been praised to the skies as a great time in America before the decadent 1960s, but it's been Hollywood ironically that helped create the nostalgia.

It was by no means a perfect or great decade. There were two big recessions (and a smaller one in 1960--which helped JFK in the campaign). The Korean War cost 50,000 American lives in three years--it took the Vietnam War 10 years to rack up 58,000 Americans dead. It ended in a negotiated settlement without defeating North Korea in the way Japan, Germany, and Italy were defeated. The racial segregation in the south was often discussed in the media and not hidden. And the world lived in fear of nuclear war. I'm no 50s-bashing liberal who idolizes everything about the 1960s (I lean to the right), but I don't think the 1950s were either the nostalgic Golden Age of the United States or a phony facade that concealed major problems. Like every decade, it had its good points and bad.