A Face in the Crowd (1957)

 Elia Kazan's "A Face in the Crowd"

Acting as a proto-"Network" long before Sidney Lumet's vision of modernity graced our film screens, Elia Kazan's 1957 film "A Face in the Crowd" is as prescient as a film could get. It stars the normally wholesome Andy Griffith in his feature film debut as a folksy down-on-his-luck drifter who becomes the 'voice of the people' across radio and television. If you're reminded of Howard Beale, then my 'proto-"Network" comment isn't far off. 

Similarly to "Network," this ability to be a 'voice for the people' by our charming and boisterous anti-hero begins by being critical of the established media and commercial structures. As time passes, however, this false prophet only integrates into the very structures of power he originally criticized. While this hypocrisy is apparent, it's not entirely the point. 

For someone living in the 21st century, the point of "A Face in the Crowd" isn't easy to miss. In fact, someone living in today's world can't help but bite their tongue from shouting the word 'influencer' at the screen. The rise and fall of Andy Griffith's 'Lonesome Rhodes' echo the rise of contemporary social media influencers. What makes Lonesome Rhodes such an influence is the same reasons modern folk get similar attention in today's landscape: they just 'tell it like it is,' or whatever approximates a smooth-talking car salesman. 

What makes this kind of person successful is neither here nor there - they've been around since the dawn of political congress. Rather, it's the intentional navigation of their influences through the means of technology that illustrates the larger point of "A Face in the Crowd." The use of the radio and television as a means of peddling faux prescriptions and crappy mattresses through Lonesome Rhodes's back-country familiarity is no different than the modern equivalent of our podcasters, Youtubers, and TikTok stars trying to get us to buy in to whatever their powerful benefactors have to offer. 

Kazan makes a notable contribution as a director to this Budd Schulberg-penned story through his teleplay-esque visual style. Kazan is probably more thought of as a director who employs modern expressionist imagery with films like "A Streetcar Named Desire" or more neo-realism with "On the Waterfront" or perhaps even neo-Western color filmmaking with "East of Eden." However, "A Face in the Crowd" differentiates itself from his standard filmography by telling this story of the evils of television through what visually looks like a television drama, thereby committing fully to the aesthetic of what people would have been watching on the television in the late 1950s. 

"A Face in the Crowd" perhaps was speaking on something unique to the 1950s with Elvis-like superstars rising to fame and representing a new commercial market used to sell toilet paper, but anyone who lives in modern times can tell that its not anything different from the new, modern world of social media and influencers. It is a film that will resonate with modern audiences as clearly as it did for audiences in 1957.