Ace in the Hole: Skewing Reality

From a strictly cinematic view, Ace in the Hole was my favorite film so far. I love its unexpected and non-cliché plot that shows an honest representation of the media and human nature, as unglamorous as it may be. The themes about journalism and the media were so beyond their time. Though Ace in the Hole deals with newspapers, it holds even more true today with reality shows and 24/7 television news. In fact, this film reminded me a lot of The Truman Show, a 1998 film about a man whose life has been completely manufactured for 24/7 public viewing, via the television. The audience in the The Truman Show, Ace in the Hole alike is ruthlessly consumed and infatuated with the media victim’s fate. The producer in The Truman Show is strikingly similar to Chuck Tatum in that they both will stop at nothing for a good story, no matter the pain and misery they inflict upon their subjects. In reality shows today, there is very little “reality,” just as the need for a week-long rescue mission of Leo wasn't reality. Though dramatized to an extent, I think Ace in the Hole portrayed the reality show/tabloid aspect of the media dead-on, especially for a film made in 1951.

Pocket Aces

This film made me feel like a terrible human being. And that is a good thing. Kirk Douglas plays this type of Han Solo character that you can't help but love and hate. Everytime he comes close to doing a good deed, he screws it up for his own personal gain, and we're left there clenching our fists wanting to yell at the screen and curse. It's difficult to even talk about this film in an educated way. Kirk Douglas made this what it is in my opinion. The charm and bite of a snake.

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Ace In The Hole

Ace in the Hole is a fantastic film about one journalist's determination to extend a story as far as it can go. He does this with the purpose of getting back on top of the newspaper game. Unfortunately his actions cause the death of the protagonist of his article. I believe that director Billy Wilder was saying something about the power of media influence in this film. That the media can significantly influence the outcome of a story. For Kirk Douglas in Ace in the Hole, it was the creation of a media firestorm that resulted in a tent city. I know that the media has a great potential for doing good, alerting the public to an important situation, but I wanted to see if there was any case where media overexposure worked badly. A recent story that came to mind for me was the issue of Obama's birth certificate. It was proven long ago that Obama had a birth certificate, he was born in the U.S. and he has every right to be the president since he was elected democratically. But, even so, many people cried out for his birth certificate, especially Donald Trump. Every news channel picked up the controversy, but there was no controversy. It was already proven that Obama had it, but the firestorm forced him to release a long form birth certificate anyways. Should the media have covered what many consider a non-story? I feel like this overexposure may have actually led more people into believing there was no birth certificate. I know that this is not as dramatic as a man's death like in Ace in the Hole, but it shows how overexposed some things can get. It is a tricky area for networks to balance what is important and what is too frivolous to really matter.

The Circus and it's Ringmaster

When watching "Ace in the Hole" I was struck by the actions above ground compared to the situation underground. Everyone on the surface had a false sense of optimism about getting Leo Minosa unstuck from the ancient indian mines. Not only that, but the situation had turned into a spectacle, to the point where people were literally celebrating and having a circus above a suffering Leo Minosa. In this movie, the type of journalism that is portrayed is selfish, and sensational. Tatum bends the truth to tell people what they want to hear, which in part is reflected in the overly positive gathering next to the ancient indian mines. What comes next is a process of acceptance, and in my opinion redemption. Chuck truly realizes what he's done, and accepts his own fate. His announcement to the audience is chilling when he says "The Circus is over." I feel this scene is the most powerful scene in the movie, because it shows really how out of hand the entire situation has become. Chuck must yell over the jubilus crowd several times, and even when the sound quells down he still yells "Listen," almost to quite their spirits as well, and lay the gravity of the fact that they have all turned a suffering, trapped man in a mine into a circus, and that he was the ring master.

Journalism in Ace in the Hole

Ace in the Hole is the perfect example of how journalism can get way out of hand and potentially magnify situations which it seeks to report. Chuck Tatum's desperation to make it big drove him to commit atrocities that eventually lead to his own death and the death of Leo Minosa. For Chuck Tatum, what ever sells is what he prints; Exaggeration of existing details of the story, and fabricating new details are the name of the game. Tatum put his advancement over the lives of those who were involved in the story he was covering and as a result parents lost their son, a wife lost her husband, and Tatum lost his own life.