Soothing an Old Wound

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to classes in Fall 2012.

Hollywood is a glittery factory town. It's not so different from Hershey, Pennsylvania where you can tour the chocolate factory, buy chocolate souvenirs, walk the same streets as people who work in the chocolate industry, and so forth.

But Hollywood is different in that it profoundly shapes--and is shaped by--culture and politics. The Hollywood Blacklist was an artifact of the virulently anti-Communist post-WWII era. This NPR story tells of an attempt to explain and bring to closure a troubled time in the history of the Hollywood entertainment industry.

Questions...

•What are all the ways that media destroys people, or at least their careers?

•Does the Internet make it easier to destroy careers, or does it make it easier to respond?

•Is big Hollywood entertainment diverse, or is it elitist?