Medium Cool - Film Notes

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Medium Cool (Haskell Wexler, 1969) Notes Stasia McGehee 9/30/98

Historical and cultural events that serve as the backdrop
· Vietnam War / Vietnam War protesters.
· The Free Speech Movement at Berkeley / Student Unrest.
· Democratic National Convention in Chicago - Mayor Daly calls upon the National Guard to quell protests, leading to the demise of the Democratic party.
· Experimentation of psychedelic drugs, new forms of art and self-expression.
· Alternate communal lifestyles adopted by "hippies".
· The assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King.
· Black Panther Movement - a response to Police Brutality.

John’s transformation from detached newsman to activist - the ideological transformation assumed by the protagonist as well as the viewer.
· The first wreck shows him as a passive observer, callously indifferent.
· He argues with his girlfriend over the role of the media. She decries the fact that reporters focus on tragedy, yet fail to intervene.
· A Black man turns in 10K and is roughed up by the police. John’s attempt to do a follow up story results in his subsequent education.
· John realizes that protest footage was being handed over to the FBI, so as to identify possible agitators. At this point he realizes that as an agent of the media, he is implicated in the political machinery.
· John’s attempt to arrest a thief leads him to return Harold’s pigeon, his token kind deed, his partner notes. There he befriends a woman whose husband had been killed in Vietnam.
· John’s attempt to help Irene locate her son leads them through a gauntlet of protesters, ravaged by police brutality. His avoidance of conflict ultimately ends in injury and death.

The Subplot
· The subplot concerns itself with John’s growing relationship with Irene and her son, and parallels his own transformation from indifference to compassionate and involved. His relationship with her is much more wholesome and nurturing than that with the nurse. His involvement with Irene leads to a climactic chase scene where as the two adults embark on a quest for the son.

Self Reflexive Elements
· The Black Panther breaks the 4th wall in addressing the audience. Hence John’s education in a Black point of view is to be our own.
· Children in both black and white ghettos run before the camera tauntingly, so as to undermine the authority of the media, so easily humiliated.
· The nature of the camera is constantly questioned - is it a neutral medium, like a typewriter; an extension of the artist; or a type of weapon - a gun?
· As John smokes a cigarette, a poster of the smoking Belmondo behind him pays homage to the film’s indebtedness to the French New Wave.
· In the final scene, we are situated within the wreck. Passersby pull out a camera to photograph us, forcing us to identify with the victim.

Socio-Political Themes of the Film
· Race - the same police brutality experienced by the Vietnam War protesters has incited Black militants to arm themselves. Just as the protesters acknowledge the importance of the Media, cajoling them to stay and bear witness, the disenfranchised Blacks note that their absence in the mainstream has rendered them invisible.

· Gender - John is patronizing towards women throughout the film. The Black actress is the first to heartily object to his condescension, nearly instigating a violent outbreak.

· Class - the wealth of the idle rich, the politician’s wife, is juxtaposed with the squalor of the poor, represented by Irene and her ilk.

· Education - The fact that TV’s dominate the classroom represents a crisis in the public educational system. According to Gov. Reagan the University’s sponsorship of youth culture is disgraceful, with its psychedelic parties and lewd dancing. The Panthers offer a corrective to their exclusion from the country’s education with their educational programs and militant demands to be heard. The role of the Media / the Role of the Individual in Society

· "The Tube is Life" - It is the media that validates experience, and without that validation, a class of people cease to exist. "The whole world is watching" - Media coverage of the Democratic National Convention, and its police brutality proved to be a windfall for Republicans. With the aid of the media, single individuals can have a role in society - from the Black good Samaritan to Martin Luther King.

Key Technical Aspects of Medium Cool
· On-location sound - sound is shot on-location, along with the film. Hence ambient sound can threaten to drown out the dialogue.
· Documentary footage is interspersed, giving it a more life-like feel.
· The conventional tri-part structure with it’s strong sense of causality is abandoned. Hence the randomness of events make it seem more true to life, less fabricated than in a conventional production.
· Hand-held cameras, fast film, and telephoto lenses make on-location shooting possible. This provides for more spontaneity than a tightly scripted studio production.

· Mode of production - This is a low-budget independent film, so Wexler had more artistic license than that of a large studio production. Although having exercised his artistic freedom, his film was slapped with an X rating for its subversive content.