NOOB FILM REVIEW - FURY by FRITZ LANG (1936) pt.2

READING THE SUBTEXT - MEDIA MASS PSYCHOSIS AND MOB LYNCHING

MOB LYNCHING

Google defines it as "...a form of violence in which a mob, under the pretext of administering justice without trial, executes a presumed offender, often after inflicting torture and corporal mutilation. The term lynch law refers to a self-constituted court that imposes a sentence on a person without due process of law.."

In Fury, the newspaper headlines about the protagonist Joe Wilson have influenced society to believe that the man is guilty. The earlier mentioned 'Chinese Whispers' concept is in full swing here. It is the basic construct of the Mass Society.

Google defines Mass Society as"...modern industrialized urbanized society: the society of the mass man especially when held to be marked by anonymity, high mobility, lack of individuality, and a general dominance of impersonal relationships.."

The society that has been influenced by the media gathers as one big group and forms a collective take on issues and most of the time it follows the majority and the loudest voice instead of critically evaluating it. It is comforting to just follow what the majority group says and grow the sense of belonging into something, pride, and finally, becoming authoritarian. Those who have a different opinion will be marked as heretics and burned at the stake. There are too many such example through our history.

In this film, the title Fury, I think, came from the psychological hate developed as the result of the mass psychosis. As a result, Fritz Lang captures the scene where the police station building is burned and the raging crowd frozen and watched over, admiring it. Almost hypnotized. A pinnacle of mob lynching and the death of Individualism.