3. Tabloid TV - Network
One of the all-time great movie satires, Network is a masterpiece of prescience, unarguably most famous for its iconic scene in which Howard Beale (Peter Finch), an incensed TV news anchor, declares, "I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!". Despite being close to 40 years old, it's incredible that Network still feels as fresh and on the money as it surely did upon release; it was lavished with awards at 1977's Oscars, and has taken on a whole new lease of life in recent years once we began to realise how accurately it began to predict 21st-century media trends. Most disturbingly apt was its depiction of so-called "tabloid TV", wherein news channels would grab for ratings by depicting the most sensationalist news items possible, and as Beale himself remarks, "we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be!". Look at conservative douche-news anchor Glenn Beck today; his crazed ramblings pull in viewers in just the same way that Beale did in the film, through a sensationalistic "car crash" appeal. Nowadays, just look at channels like FOX News and their emphasis on breaking, live news; the recent Christopher Dorner siege was a pitch-perfect example of how crassly news channels the world over have tried to turn real life into some sort of Hollywood spectacle, complete with trailer-style narration and dramatic music.