Let's get the basics out of the way first. Obviously in dealing with crime journalism and the ethics involved in glorifying such material Nightcrawler makes some points about the modern role news plays in our lives and its general legitimacy. It's not as probing as some of its other points, but any dissection of the film would be incomplete without looking at it. We all know the news is as much a ratings game as any other area of television, over the past few decades leading to increased sensationalisation and a misrepresentation of facts. Nightcrawler takes this all a step further, having it slowly unmasked to the point where any justification is so warped it's invalid. Throughout the film Nina develops an increasing lack of shyness around her lack of journalistic ethics. She initially tries to deter Lou's suggestions of chasing gore, but come the end she's not only hyping up a spate of killings in a bid to boost ratings and refusing help to the police, but is actually hiding the true story, refusing to report the drug angle to the thriple-murder. It's something lying just under the surface of this ambulance-chasing style news coverage that only gets fully embraced when someone as morally skewed as Lou steps into the fray.
