What's Cool About Medium Cool

There is a lot more meaning behind medium Cool than just what the spectator watches. If one looks close into it's intertextual meaning, it is not just about the 60's, but about people's search for something better. No better way to present this idea in the film then by mixing fictional storyline with documentary footage of things happening during that time. It also makes it complicated for the spectator to distinguish between the fact and fiction. One of the most important things that was done to make this mixture of fact and fiction work was making the main character a news reporter. Through the 60's with all the controversial things happening, like the Vietnam war and Civil Rights movement, one of the more controversial issues was the news reporters and what they were reporting on. Making the main character a news reporter was a way to relate the documentary footage with the fiction so there is a common bond between the two and most importantly, make it even more complicated for the spectator to distinguish between the two. Another element that the film does a great job with is the dialogue that is said between the characters. Like in the field with the father and son; they have a conversation about never letting a women take charge. Though the scene had nothing to do with the plot, it fits right in with the theme of the movie because that was another major issue at the time; women's rights. The poster of Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King's speech, the segregation of black people; all these elements are added to make this mixture of fact and fiction work together through this hybrid film. Though the film is not considered a documentary, it comes closer to documenting reality than do a majority of documentaries. Even though the film was not a big hit at the box office, probably because most viewers are afraid of something new, it does an excellent job a presenting something new and inventive.