The Most Profound Moment in Movie History?

Special thanks to Indi, once again, for helping make this video possible.

This week I explain one of my boldest claims to date, the most profound moment in the history of cinema.

Unlike video games which have been around for less than half a century, movies and literature have challenged human thought for exponentially longer. This is why I have hesitated to make this claim in the past... until now. I have decided to analyze a movie that just may have the most profound and compelling moment in cinematic history.

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[eli]

Max I don’t blame you and please don’t take this comment in a bad way, but you not showing the most profound scene fully due to demonetization is extremely ironic.

[Bltzknght]

As a wise man said "A person is smart, people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."

[Theomite]

There's one salient piece of information that undermines this thesis (albeit unintentionally, so don't feel bad).
Before Jensen and Beale sit down in the conference room, he mentions that he used to be a salesman and was rumored to be able to "sell anything" to anyone. That preface changes the entire character of the Profound Moment. Jensen's entire monologue has the quality of a religious sermon, which he even refers to as "an evangel" he has chosen Beale to preach.

He starts out with scathing bombast, and then a flat, weary heart-to-heart "admission", followed by a quiet, escalating optimism into a hopeful conclusion. Combined with Jensen's tiny backstory, we see what Jensen is doing: he is "selling" Beale on his "truth" by using the same methods of influence that Beale is using, albeit more intently: Jensen probably has decades of experience exploiting the religiosity of his rural customers to convince them to buy what he's selling.

The point is, just like his underlings, *Jensen doesn't actually believe in what he's preaching:* he's simply manipulating Beale to believe in it. Jensen's only real interest is in making more money and consolidating corporate control of the media, and the world beyond. His worldview's "ecumenical holding company" is a Privatized Corporatocracy, which is a long-term goal of Free-Market ideology, and the Neoliberal agenda of the Reagan Administration only 4 years later is the manifestation of it. But as we've seen with our own eyes--and probably speculated at the time--Jensen's proposal hasn't done what he proposed, only exacerbates the opposite, but the morality of that result is irrelevant because it was never the goal: only consolidation.

I've never played _Metal Gear Solid 2, _ but my guess is that the villain has some sincere conviction in his position; Jensen does not. Like everything else the executive committee does in NETWORK, it's another cynical ploy to manipulate consumers into ignorantly enriching them. It's atavism, not activism.

[Warrior-Of-Virtue]

_Our job is to report the news, not fabricate it. That's the Government's job._
-Dascomb, V for Vendetta

[jwnj]

What a performance. You can't take your eyes off him.

[akeanu]

Watched this movie a few weeks ago and loved it. First heard of it from an album intro sampling Howard's infamous speech. Song is The New Black by Perturbator, and damn those words are powerful

[BAGGBAGG]

jean Baudrillard was right, all things come full circle and become hyper real, what we needed were icons of change and we got the illusions of that in Obama and Trump, characters spouting change whilst keeping the same bloody wheel turning.
Visionary film.

[matias]

Problem. Corporatization is going to collapse as all structures that grow too large do.

And the human condition is too complex to stick in to any box.

People will crack once they cant take it anynore. And things will change. For better or for worse

[taihounaishi]

He did it again!
He said the word again!
This time it's about movie history!

[mostverticalproductions]

Right after I finished the Ergo Proxy and Planescape videos. Perfect timing. That freakout is amongst the greatest moments in cinema history, I knew it way before I saw the film, and it's relevant to this day.

[federicocrescentini]

There is a scene where Faye Dunaway's character has to approve a new show for UBS, and they pitch her like 4 different shows with different settings and characters but when they read the description of the plot and characters they are the same every time. Seen today's shows and movies and you find the same, deep down they are the same dull stuff and executives are only worried on the coat they put on top to address a trending topic or use an IP that could bring more revenues.

[ImarBenIsrael]

"For the love of money is the root of all evils "
And quote from the WEF Karl swab _ You'll own nothing and be happy " welcome to the age of the end times . Metal gear and network is very interesting 🤔

[veracityhiphop]

I remember parts of that speech being sampled in Immortal Technique's song "Rich Mans World". All the lyrics are written from the perspective of corrupt people in power mocking all of those underneath their thumb, great song. Can't believe album it was featured on is over a decade old now.

[slaindesmond]

This a perfect describer of what happened to documentary channels like History Channel it went for trying at least to emphasize factual science and history to simply cure "Boredom" with conspiracy theory garbage like Ancient Aliens. Even things such as Tik Tok show we don't desire truth but food to mediate our boredom at the expense of knowledge.

[Ohem]

To me "Pi" and "The Man From Earth" are few "intellectual" movies I really like and had an impact on me.

[sageemerald]

The most profound moment in movie history is the ending of Time-Bandits when the garage-sale thing blows up the boy's parents.

[triberium_]

Watched Network a couple of weeks ago and it was crazy how in line with reality that movie actually was

[ATroubledMaker]

Perhaps it is because I have lived in a state of poverty for nearly all of my adult life that I have zero issue with the idea of giving up life comforts and securities because I have rarely had them to begin with. Maybe that is what has provoked a strong sense of individualism in my life, when there is nothing to lose it is much easier to take what many would see as a risk when all you know it to always be is reality. No set or production value will ever mask that and your thoughts can never be narrated by anyone else when so much effort is already spent on survival alone.

[jba]

I knew it was going to be Network. I saw the title and Ned Beatty’s speech about “the forces of nature!!!” Immediately popped in my head. I love this film and own a copy. Now if only I could find a copy of Being There I’ll double my profoundness.

[FlexxibleFree]

Boi, what a play! Too bad late stage capitalism is already here and every opinion is championed by it's own pundit. It doesn't make life better like movie proposed, it's just a better way to extract all the money from every person who listens to them