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Good Night, and Good Luck

Date: Sep 14 2005

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

George Clooney’s movie Good Night, and Good Luck tells of the conflict between television newsman Edward R. Murrow and scaremonger Senator Joseph McCarthy and his House of Un-American Activities Committee. The movie, filmed in black and white, shows how fear can be used as a potent political weapon and how it is important to make decisions based on credible information rather than on far-fetched accusations.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Dave

Sarah

Dave: George Clooney has got a new movie coming out in a couple weeks.

Sarah: Really? What’s it called?

Dave: Good Night, and Good Luck.

Sarah: Huh. What’s it about?

Dave: It’s about the conflict between Senator McCarthy and…

Sarah: Murrow.

Dave: anchorman Murrow.

Sarah: Oh, okay. That was the whole “Red Scare,” right?

Dave: Yeah, everyone was being accused of being Communist, particularly in, in Hollywood.

Sarah: Is that because Hollywood’s a little bit more liberal and McCarthy was more conservative?

Dave: Yeah.

Sarah: So they felt like they were against the government or something.

Dave: Yeah, he was really conservative.

Sarah: Hm.

Dave: Ah, he blacklisted or led to the blacklist of a lot of Hollywood actors and screenwriters.

Sarah: Huh. Wow.

Dave: Kind of scary.

Sarah: Yeah, it sounds like a good movie, though. I’ll have to go see it.

Dave: Yeah, check it out.

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

From 1950-1954, America was overrun by McCarthyism, an intense fear of the spread of communist ideas throughout America. Senator Joseph McCarthy launched a series of witch-hunts in which he accused many people, including celebrities, scientists and politicians, of being secret members of the communist party.
In America in the 1950s, accusing someone of being (or supporting) a communist was the same as accusing someone nowadays of being (or supporting) a terrorist. It is very harmful to your reputation.
The House of Un-American Activities Committee began investigating people suspected of supporting the Communist agenda. As a result of its investigations, more than 300 Hollywood artists were boycotted by the studios.