Nightcrawler- Joel DiMambro

Joel DiMambro

September 25, 2015

Mass Communications

The Realism of Nightcrawler

Everyday, we read, watch or listen to the news, whether it is sports, the weather or local stories. We know how the news workers present these stories, but do we know exactly how the stories get on air or print? In the film “Nightcrawler” with it’s main character Lou Bloom, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, the news is presented in a whole new way. According to one article’s interpretation of the movie, “ Lou pitches himself as a hustling, scrappy hard worker who wants to make his way in the business world, constantly referring to his willingness to start at the bottom and work his way up to management” (Jessica Goldstein). Gyllenhaal plays a young man desperate for a job, which ends up acquiring a video camera and a police radio to try and become a cameraman for some local news stations. He struggles for a bit but then starts to film some edgy stories for a big T.V news station in Los Angeles and finds his passion. To get to the point he gets to, Lou performs some questionable acts such as trespassing and even letting his assistant take a shot to the chest. And the scary part is how this is all just for his job, filming crime scenes or tragedies and selling them to the news stations. How real are the actions of Lou Bloom in this film? Do news anchors in real life go through this much just for one video? According to sources, “Nightcrawler” is an accurate depiction of the late night desperate acts of these filmmakers trying to make a living, while others think the movie puts down the cameramen of the world.

            As sick and twisted as it may seem, most of the scenes in “Nightcrawler” were based on a real group of camera men in Los Angeles who perform jobs equivalent to Gyllenhaal’s character Lou Bloom. One group of three brothers in Los Angeles performs jobs very similar to Bloom does in the movie. The Raishbrook brothers own and work for a filming company in Los Angeles called RMG media and are the closest thing to real life Lou Blooms. One of the brothers, Marc said that, “I love the way Jake captured the intensity of what we feel every night” (Steven Zeitchik). I found this to be pretty cool that the movie represented the lives and jobs of these people accurately. When asked about the movie, Gyllenhaal stated, “I think a lot of people watch the movie and think it's a heightened, very unrealistic version of the job, But everything that happened in the film either happens all the time or has happened some time" (Steven Zeitchik). This is almost hard to believe after watching the film and observing some of the things that happened while filming or going to the scene of a crime. Gyllenhaal even travelled with the filming company to experience what it’s like to be a “Nightcrawler” and did the job that his character did in the movie. This is a good way to prepare for the role, which I’m sure was very accurate compared to the people who actually make a living out of it.

            Overall I would say “Nightcrawler” is a very good adaptation of mass media in the world, and its extreme realism. The movie obviously wasn’t 100% based on real or true facts but it did a good job capturing the lives of these men and women. Mass media in our world can be dangerous in more forms than one. This is shown especially in the film, when Lou’s intern is shot and killed at the end and Lou films the entire thing. The fact that he can let his own partner die in action like that is absurd and cruel. Mass media can also be dangerous in forms of what is reported. News stories can make or break someone’s career or lifestyle if they act up in public or get in trouble with the law. The realism of “Nightcrawler” gives everyone a brand new view on mass media and news programs that these audiences couldn’t get from comedies like Anchorman or even documentaries about news stations. The realism of “Nightcrawler” creates a spooky and entertaining vibe that kept audiences, including myself, glued to my seat waiting for the next big scene.

Bibliography

Goldstein, Jessica. "The Gory Truth Of 'Nightcrawler'" ThinkProgress The Gory Truth Of Nightcrawler Comments. N.p., 07 Nov. 2014. Web. 25 Sept. 2015.

ZEITCHIK, STEVEN. "Movie Fiction Mirrors Fact for L.A.'s Real-life 'nightcrawlers." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 25 Sept. 2015.