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ʑIn the film Being There, Director Hal Ashby very effectively makes a satirical comment on
the effect of television's impact on society. Chance, the central character in the spoof, is a mentally
challenged man who has lived his entire life enclosed by the walls of his rich master's luxurious
townhouse that isolate him from the actualities of the real world. He passes his days in a totally
routine manner, tending the master's garden, watching television and being fed by a black servant.
Any need to go beyond these daily rituals is precluded by his content state of mind and lack of
knowledge and interest in anything exceeding the boundaries of gardening and television. His habitual
means of living, however, comes to an end when his master is found dead in bed. Forced to leave
home for the first time in his life, he dresses himself in his master's elegant, specially tailored, 10s
apparel, and abandons the townhouse's shielding walls. While walking the streets of Washington, he
is awed by what to an average citizen would be mundane occurrences, for example kids playing
basketball. To him this fascinating phenomenon had been previously depicted only on the television
screen. Early in his induction into society he is struck by a limousine whose owner, Eve Rand, is the
wife of multimillionaire Benjamin Rand, an industrialist whose lofty connections tie him even to the
President of the United States. Chauncey Gardiner, the name Eve mistakenly interprets from Chance
the Gardener, is welcomed into her home to receive medical attention from her husband's personal
physician. Ben, Eve's husband, quickly becomes fond of Chance, mistaking his garden references,
such as "spring is a time for planting," for metaphorical axioms in relation to politics. Unable to
distinguish that Chance, who comports himself and is dressed in a manner that suggests he is a man
of prestige, is the simple-minded person he truly is, even the president takes his perceived symbolic
garden metaphors and quotes them on national television. Soon the media is stirred to action, trying
to determine just who this intellectual is. Audiences are captivated by the insightful messages they see
him present on television, and Washington considers him a candidate for presidency.
Being There, through the character of Chance, poignantly depicts the power that television
holds. Growing up Chance attained all his knowledge first through the radio and then through the
televison, once that means of communication was introduced. Chance in a sense did see the
television as a, "tiny box into which people are crowed and must live" (Carpenter 6).
Because of this reliance on the television, he was so overwhelming immersed in the medium that he
was unable to relate on a personal level to anything that occurred in reality. An example of this is
when the servant tells Chance his master has died. Upon hearing the news, Chance continues
watching television unable to express any emotion because his routine living has never called for it.
The television plays its purpose wonderfully by capturing Chance's attention with numerous images
flashing on the screen. He reacts to these images with interest and awe just as the first audience did
with the onset of the television. For them, it did not matter the quality of the programming but
rather the novelty of the technology. For Chance it did not matter the quality of the program
because of his lack of discerning judgement. The problem with the television in the case of
Chance, however, is that it is unable to provide the interaction necessary to develop intimate and
emotion filled relationships.
Other than television, the only event Chance takes part in during the day, other than eating,
is working in the garden. Even when working in the garden, however, he still lacks any interaction
that would foster his development to the point of allowing meaningful communication with others.
This complete lack of interaction is heightened when he leaves his deceased master's home
and wanders around the streets of Washington. When Chance is faced with a scene that causes him
discomfort, such as a gang of street kids antagonizing him, he reaches for his remote and tries to
switch the channel to a more pleasing prospect, not able to distinguish the difference between
television and reality.
It is ironic that something so detrimental to his personal and social development as the
television could in fact help him become respected and renowned in Washington. When Chance
arrives at the Rands' house, it is the mannerisms he mimics from the televison such as shaking hands
and looking pleasant that provide him with a semblance of normalcy. His inability to interact
intelligently manifests itself as a kind of quiet wisdom. Chance's garden references are mistaken by
Washington's elite for political metaphors. As a result, his status as a sagacious innovator takes hold
and grows to the extent that he is quoted by the president of the United States on national television.
Following his televison appearance on a talk show comparable to Leno, where once again his
simplistic gardening advice is misinterpreted, his credibility is enhanced and his celebrity status is
established. A media frenzy ensues, because like in the movie Quiz Show, where seeing is believing
and the audience is deceived by the suggestive power of televison, so too is the audience deceived
by Chance's naive innocence. After the broadcast, the nation is charmed and impressed and begins
to develop its own opinions and views on Chance, the latest televison dignitary. Miss Hayes, a lawyer
who at the beginning of the movie sees Chance as an anomalous inconvenience, labels him a man of
brilliance following the telecast. Miss Hayes' co-worker, Mr. Franklin, believes himself to have been
fooled by the act Chance put on at their meeting, thinking Chance fabricated his oblivious state of
mind. After seeing Chance on television he believes he, "must have been involved on some major
financial level with the deceased." Because Chance had no background, for reasons that are
unmentioned in the movie, the public begins to think that the information has been suppressed. One
man quotes, "No telling what he could be involved in. Could be extremely confidential matters."
There is even a heated debate as to whether it was the FBI or the CIA that destroyed the documents,
surely a parody of what happened in regard to Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President
John F. Kennedy. These examples exemplify satirically man's acceptance of television's assertions.
No sooner had Chance left the televison studio than the American public move to action, starting
conflicts with one another, diversely labeling a man no one knew hardly anything about, and basically
blowing things out of proportion. When watching the movie it is humorous to see the chaos that the
fictional character Chance causes, but what Ashby is daring to say with ridicule, is that there is in fact
truth in the plot. That we as a society do place tremendous importance on the televison, believing
what we see on nonfiction programs to be creditable.
Ashby's most powerful scene unfolds in the last minute of the movie, leaving the audience
stunned. While watching the movie I thought I had Chance figured out-- his character, his abilities
and his limitations Unlike the gullible and television-duped characters in the movie, I thought I had
totally discerned Chance's background and character and was feeling quite complacently smug about
it. The ultimate irony then occurs when Chance decides to walk across river, and he does just that,
walk across the river. This of course leaves the audience breathless realizing that they too did not
know just who Chance really was. Because we, this movie's audience had seen Chance at the
beginning of the movie we believed we understood who he really was and were not fooled by his
supposed metaphorical garden analogizes. When Chance took his stroll atop the river, submerging
his umbrella into it, it heightened Ashby's tacit contention that the audience just like the characters
in the movie began to see Chance as something deeper and we are now the umbrella trying to
penetrate the hidden depths.
Being There is a film with few limitations. The main drawback of the film is after the
extremely philosophical ending when the viewer is still searching for meaning the credits appear with
out takes that ruin the mood of reflection. Another limitation of the movie would be its audience.
Because of the complex content, it would only appeal to more mature viewers falling short of a
diverse market audience.
The cast for the movie come together to wonderfully pull off the spoof that Ashby masterfully
puts together. Peter Sellers whose acting credits are usually more of a boisterous and undignified
nature, Captain Clouseau from the Pink Panther for example, plays the lead role of Chance the
complete antithesis of The Pink Panther. In Being There, Sellers successfully fulfills the necessary
character traits of Chance such as his expressionless facial features, unawareness of the events
enfolding around him, and dignified overall appearance that makes Chance believable. Shirley
MacLaine who plays Eve Rand preforms her part as the wife of a dying husband depicting flawlessly,
the desire for sex that comes after months without being intimate with her husband. Melvyn Douglas,
who in fact won best supporting actor for his part as Benjamin Rand, most spectacularly portrays a
loveable, dying billionaire who is first to form the misconceptions of Chance that flourish into a
country wide debacle.
The sound in the movie is most prominent in relation to the televison. Any time Chance is in
the room watching television the viewers can clearly hear what he has tuned into regardless of the
conversation that is taking place foreground. It can be said that Ashby uses this method to reveal to
the viewers exactly what Chance hears. Although Chance is taking place in the conservation his main
focus is always the televison thus the sound of the television must always be in focus.
To be outright honest, this film should not have a sequel, prequel or be made into a televison
version. What makes this film so exceptional is the mystery of who Chance the gardener really is. To
have a sequel or prequel the answer would have to be unfolded thus ruining the Ashby's angle. The
ending if the movie can be taken in many forms. When Chance walks atop the water some could
compare it to the Jesus story and try and find a parallel there. Others may think that he walked upon
the water because in his lifetime nobody told him he couldn't. What I think Ashby did was make
Chance walk on the water just because he could knowing that people would search for the meaning,
such as some of the reasons mentioned above. I know after I saw the end I sat for hours trying to
figure out just what was the point Ashby was trying too make about Chance. The fact of the matter
is, in my opinion he is not trying to make any real point about Chance rather highlight his satire on
televison yet again.
However, not having a sequel, prequel, or television version is not an option to the successful
completion of this paper, so if I had to choose I would make a sequel where Chance learned to accept
and comprehend the other communication mediums. In the sequel, eventually people are going to find
out that Chance's metaphorical speeches are not in fact that but rather advice in how to maintain a
heathy garden. Eve Rand would be the one to help Chance adapt to the communication era since by
this point she had already fallen in love with him and her dead husband had left Chance his fortune.
In the movie, every communication medium would be explored by Chance. He would even have to
start right from the beginning with verbal communication learning how to maintain and participate
in a formal conversation. Next would com the telephone where he would learn the basics such as
actually picking it up when it is ringing, not hanging up without saying goodbye and saying hello,
rather than waiting for the person on the receiving end to do so. Finally he would learn how to read
and write. By its very absence from Chance's life promoting and sustaining Chance's celebrity status,
the all powerful print media is thereby ridiculed in Ashby's movie. Chance has risen to top celebrity
status without influence from the print media. Nieve simplicity
We don't watch TV; it watches us it guides us." Carpenter 65 (top right)
Television, it was said, would bring the family ever closer... Spigel 70 (top right)
"It keeps us together more." Spigel 7 (very bottom right)
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