Shattered Glass (Movie Review)

“PICKING UP THE SHATTERED PIECES”

A Critic on the Film, “Shattered Glass” (PART ONE)

By Group 5

EDITED BY: LEXSAFARI

“Long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”

Wait for a second! There’s a mistake here! Or should we say in this approach:

“Are you MAD at me?!”

Darth Vader settled down his light saber and relinquished his “powers of the dark side”, as a new persona stepped out on the film reels.

Hayden Christensen, the actor who played as Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader in the famous Star Wars Saga, returned as the “shattered” journalist, Stephen Glass, in the 2003 movie, “Shattered Glass”, directed by Billy Ray under Lions Gate Films. Other actors who played vital roles in this movie were Peter Sarsgaard, Chloe Sevigny, Hank Azaria, Steve Zahn, and Rosario Dawson.

“Shattered Glass” is an American drama film, telling the true-life story of a journalist, who achieved fame because of his well-written articles, which are always, or most often seen on the front page. However, a dark truth lies beneath these stories----they are all inventions of the journalist’s mind. He wrote them without leaving his post. Its screenplay was based on the September 1998 “Vanity Fair” article by H.G. Bissinger. It narrates the story of Stephen Glass, the youngest journalist who worked for “The New Republic”, an American magazine for politics and the arts, during the mid-1990s. His published stories made a grand slide, paving the way to his popularity. Still, it also tells of Glass’s steep fall after discovering that twenty-seven out of his forty-one articles are well-invented and fabricated by Glass, himself. Thus, his act of what the field of journalism calls as “journalistic fraud” has become widespread news at Washington.

This movie has a complicated flow, yet a powerful message, regarding the importance of credibility and honesty in journalism. Billy Ray has done a splendid job in executing the highlights of the film, not to mention on how he established the character of Stephen Glass in a remarkable manner. The scenes are on a whim taking its chronological course, as the story progresses in the film. One of the surprising scenes in the movie is when Stephen Glass (Christensen) has been shown speaking in front of his former high school journalism teacher’s class---giving advice to aspiring students who want to become journalists. Then, at the later part of the movie, this whole scenario is just a fragment of Glass’s imagination. This concept was executed, as Glass was seen in that same classroom without company. This scenario can be compared with Glass’s approach and principle in writing as a journalist, showing the beauty and well-made structure of his stories, but lack a heart and a soul: facts, information, and fairness…TRUTH.

The camera shots, lightings and angles used in the film created a somewhat retro-like feeling, in view of the fact that “Shattered Glass” was based on real events happened in the 1990s. The actors played their parts excellently, especially Hayden Christensen. He has portrayed the role with such oddity, still considered as an amazing act. The reason is there was this certain ability that he possesses as an actor. Just as some critics said, he has an exceptional talent of showing his emotions cunningly----in terms of the distinction between sincerity and fraud found in his facial expressions; manipulation and charm at the same time; until no one can tell what do this man really thinks and feels. This ability has been done by Christensen as Stephen Glass in the film. It is the same with his portrayal as Anakin Skywalker, which has the almost same persona as the character of Glass.

“Shattered Glass” is a great movie at its finest. Every pieces of the glass has been visibly seen, though time must be considered in order to get the full meanings of the reasons why such these scenes happen. The director’s purpose of delivering the cinematic counterpart of good reporting was a sweet success. Modern journalism, in its present state, along with the ins and outs of office politics were dissected in the film, wherein one must get along with the characters, in order for them to see whom they are closely associated with, until there’ll be a surprise and they’ll find out who the good guys are at the end. One must think critically to see what the happenings in the film imply and how do these scenarios could affect everything, just like when an editor uses a red pen in correcting errors in editing and proofreading articles to improve it, as well as to make it more beautifully-made and fact-based.

“READ BETWEEN THE LIES”

A Critic on the Film, “Shattered Glass” (PART TWO)

By Group 5

EDITED BY: MAESTRO LIZ

"You don't wanna hear all these stories about journalistic ethics, do you? All you care about is seeing your name published on that paper."

- Stephen Glass, from the film, “Shattered Glass”

        So, as the quote says about how the byline of a journalist brings achievement and glory on his or her part. As one of the powers possessed by the press as the fourth estate, every journalist considers seeing their name published on the paper a grand triumph. It was an immense privilege for them to have their articles and stories to be printed and be read by the public, and be proud of it.

      On the other hand, “Shattered Glass” has made a great transition regarding on how we perceive journalism as a field or profession. As this movie shows the true-to-life rise and fall of one of the America’s precocious journalists, Stephen Glass, and his tribulations of crossing the line between facts and reality, with fiction and fallacy, this is also a reflection of an essential insight concerning TRUTH, and how truth must be applied to a journalist, as someone who is a purveyor and beacon of truth.

         Stephen Glass, as was characterized in the film, possesses a highly imaginative mind and an excellent skill in writing. He made stories which are quite “too good to be true”, and articles that were seemingly happened in reality. He was a good journalist; his writing style was good, and some of his articles contain touches of humor into it. However, crossing the line between fact and fiction was a different chapter for Glass. In his case, he had disobeyed the principles of journalism, not to mention its Code of Ethics. He had over passed the thin border of the norms of the field, wherein one of these is that a good journalist must expose the truth, and nothing but the truth alone. He had done a great show---concealing the lies his stories lurk beneath, with his wits and charms. And don’t forget his famous comeback: “Are you mad at me?” As carefully noticed and analyze, Glass often state this quote in most scenes in the movie; showing his weakness, which is vulnerable enough to mask his pathologically deceiving identity.

        Being a journalist is not based on the name in its literal sense, it’s how that name was perceived by the people as someone who is credible enough to implement good, unbiased, factual reporting. And this is what made Glass experienced the “guided tour of the moments of [my] his life he is most ashamed of.” [As quoted from Glass] This principle applies selfishness on Glass’s side, without considering on what would be the outcomes of his actions, and how these consequences will affect his journalistic career.

      Regarding his skill as a journalist, it was no doubt that he was gifted with such an imaginative, creative mind. He has the talent to construct well-made, beautiful, and ostensibly realistic stories without leaving his place. Being creative is not a grave sin----it depends on how one will use it in his or her life. In Glass’s situation, he had used that gift for the worst. And so, he had been out of the eye of the public because of what he did.

A famous quote states in this way:

“And the truth shall set you free…”

      Truth often brings pain to those who’ll hear it. But, truth is the key to the freedom of the human soul suffering from the offensive sins he or she committed. In journalism, truth is the most essential value to be preserved and applied by journalists; exposing the truth means danger, tribulations, and even death. It’s better to face the consequences of telling the truth, no matter how hard the consequences will be; than to hide in the dark looms of treachery and hoaxes while enjoying your life in a lie. If Glass had made this act, this will at least leave him his honor and dignity as an individual, even if he was fired from the job which he considered as his life and passion. He should have been told the truth earlier in order to resolve any discrepancies occurred. Furthermore, telling the truth will definitely make things clear as it always does. Surely, trust will be definitely lost. But, this is way better than to make people depend and believe in someone, while wearing a deceitful mask to cover all the shams he or she is been hiding---especially in the roles of journalists as the outlets of truthful facts, news, and information. They must start to live and value truth within themselves. This will also apply to everyone.

Billy Ray’s “Shattered Glass” is a form of grasp of how journalism works and what do this field is expected to do to serve the people. This serves as an eye-opener for every journalists and aspiring journalists that they must be truthful to their stories that they write and will write in the future. It also serves as an apprehension to the public, suggesting that they have to think twice on what they read in the papers. Most important thing of all, this film teaches the value of honesty in the field of journalism, and how such honesty can affect a journalist’s reputation and credibility to the public.