There is an awful lot of content out there right now if you’re captivated by media celebrities and the gossip factory built around them. A teaser was just released for a new film titled Bombshell, and it’s taking audiences inside the halls of Fox News during the height of scandal involving the late CEO and chairman, Roger Ailes. In the trailer we see Megyn Kelly portrayed by Charlize Theron and Gretchen Carlson played by Nicole Kidman, finding themselves awkwardly sharing the same elevator. The tension is enough to make anyone uncomfortable. Slated for release on Dec. 20, Bombshell is no doubt going to focus on the mountain of sexual harassment claims against Ailes, and bring to theaters the same drama being portrayed in Showtime’s series The Loudest Voice.
Media intrigue, specifically the mechanics of conservative media, seems to be having its moment in the sun. Between Bombshell, The Loudest Voice, and HBO’s highly successful series Succession, the footprint of content aimed at the the role of media in our society is growing. Succession is the most important of the three, because the story takes place at the highest level of corporate media with a dramatization of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. empire (which includes Fox News).
In the show, the fictional Roy family operates Waystar Royco, the somewhat equivalent spin on News Corporation and 21st Century Fox. Succession is all about which one of the Roy children will take over the massive news, entertainment, travel, and mixed media company when the patriarch, Logan Roy, steps down. It’s a show focused on the characters and interpersonal conflict, but the plot itself is the defining issue of our time: the size, wealth, and power of media conglomerates.
Watching all of these shows, and reading about the upcoming Bombshell film, you’ll notice a few similarities that tie them together. Everyone on-screen is in over their heads: CEOs, startup founders, and Silicon Valley tech gurus are a new American royalty. Their influence is unmatched, their expertise is trusted, and their appetites cannot be satisfied.
But whether it’s the depiction of renowned communicator Bill Shine in The Loudest Voice, or most of the Roy family in Succession, and we can’t forget the entire cast of HBO’s comedy Silicon Valley, it’s a fake it till you make it world. Even when success has been had, these characters sitting atop massive media and tech empires do not know what to do with their creations.
There’s a strange mix across these programs of cynicism and confusion. The creators are obviously miffed by the role of conservative billionaires in the mainstream culture. That’s what explains the hit-piece tone of The Loudest Voice, which depicts some quite conspiratorial claims about the editorial process at Fox. Beyond the verifiable stories on sexual misconduct, HBO and Showtime both pursue the same narrative about Fox News (in Succession it’s called ATN). They are duping their viewers, and are willfully selling a bill of lies to rubes in the Midwest, who are silently racist, overweight alcoholics.
Both series, and likely Bombshell as well, don’t grapple with the reality of sincere political disagreement in America. That’s the cynicism.
The “confusion” part is more correct, embracing the idea that Federalist publisher Ben Domenech has pinned on his Twitter: “Consider the possibility we are led by idiots.”
That too sums up a growing mood of the times. We’ve watched the veil of secrecy behind Facebook and the social media giants collapse, and behind it is exactly what we knew was there but didn’t previously accept — maladjusted 20-somethings who stumbled into riches and fame. The media companies gobbling one another up aren’t always chasing a grand plan, they’re just eating with tunnel vision like Pac-Man, who is also just hauling tail to avoid being dinner himself. That’s a kind of scary, anarchic way to look at this time in American media, but it may well be true.
Does it even need to be said how much of a farce our politicians and government leaders have been shown to be?
Bombshell will no doubt be a salacious and well-acted film, though it’s hard to see how a sexual harassment drama triumphs at the box office for a Christmas season release alongside a new Star Wars. It’s a film worth making; the story is there and it’s a big one. But it’s not because of the talent at Fox News, NBC, or CNN — it’s because we are only now realizing how much media companies have become integral to our lives and identities.
There is no “palace intrigue” to be had unless something has become a sort of palace. Whether you view Fox News as Camelot or Mordor, it’s become a pillar of American life alongside it’s rivals.
Stephen Kent (@Stephen_Kent89) is the spokesperson for Young Voices, host of Beltway Banthas Podcast, and an entertainment contributor for the Washington Examiner.
