Editing Quiz Show (film) (section)

== Themes ==
''Quiz Show'' has been categorized as a [[Faust]]ian tale<ref name="TimeOut">{{cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/film/quiz-show|title=Time Out|work=Time Out London |date=8 February 2012 |access-date=July 23, 2020}}</ref> about the loss of innocence (both for its three main characters and the entire country),<ref name="FlawedCharacters"/> temptation with money,<ref name="Empire"/> [[moral ambiguity]],<ref name="LATimes"/> positive guises hiding negative actions,<ref name="LATimes">{{cite web|last=Turan|first=Kenneth|date=September 16, 1994|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-16-ca-39115-story.html|title=Movie Review : 'Quiz Show's' Category: Evil and Moral Ambiguity|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=July 11, 2020}}</ref> the [[cult of celebrity]],<ref name="Empire">{{cite web|last=Newman|first=Kim|year=1995|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/quiz-show-review/|title=Quiz Show Review|work=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]|access-date=July 23, 2020}}</ref> the negative side effects of fame,<ref name="Empire"/> the power and corruption of big business and mass media,<ref name="Empire"/><ref name="TarnishingGoldenAge">{{cite web|last=Wilmington|first=Michael|date=September 16, 1994|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-09-16-9409160132-story.html|title=Tarnishing the Golden Age|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=August 10, 2020}}</ref> the consequences of overcompetitiveness in business,<ref name="RaisesRight">{{cite web|last=Siskel|first=Gene|date=September 16, 1994|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-09-16-9409160130-story.html|title=Redford's 'Quiz Show' Raises All the Right Questions|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=July 23, 2020}}</ref> [[race relations|racial]], [[Ethnic conflict|ethnic]] and [[class conflict]]<ref name="Newsweek1994"/><ref name="ChicagoReader">{{cite web|last=Rosenbaum|first=Jonathan|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/quiz-show/Film?oid=1067760|title=Quiz Show|work=[[Chicago Reader]]|date=7 September 1994 |access-date=July 23, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Levy2007">{{cite web|last=Levy|first=Emanuel|date=July 27, 2007|url=https://emanuellevy.com/review/quiz-show-1994-2/|title=Quiz Show (1994): Redford's Compelling Drama of TV Twenty-One Scandal, Starring Ralph Fiennes|website=EmanuelLevy.com|access-date=July 23, 2020}}</ref> and the discord between [[education and entertainment]].<ref name="Empire"/> Attanasio, Redford and many film critics considered ''Quiz Show''{{'}}s subject matter essential, as it marked the beginning of the country's loss of innocence and faith in its trusted institutions that was exacerbated by events such as the [[Vietnam War]] and the [[Watergate scandal]].<ref name="FlawedCharacters"/><ref name="TriInnocence"/><ref name="TimeOut"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Royko|first=Mike|date=September 23, 1994|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-09-23-9409230085-story.html|title=Movie Critics' View from Isolation Booth|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=July 23, 2020}}</ref><ref name="SFgate">{{cite web|last=Stack|first=Peter|url=https://www.seattlepi.com/movies/article/Dark-Days-of-a-TV-Quiz-Show-3036037.php|title=Dark Days of a TV 'Quiz Show' |date=April 21, 1995|work=[[The San Francisco Chronicle]]|access-date=July 25, 2020}}</ref>

Reviews from ''[[TV Guide]]'' and ''[[Newsweek]]'' noted that in the era of the film's release, scandals and culturally unacceptable behaviors were more expected and less shocking to the American public than they had been in the 1950s.<ref name="Newsweek1994"/><ref name="TVGuide">{{cite web|url=http://tvguide.com/Movies/database/ShowMovie.asp?MI=36379|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001029100656/http://tvguide.com/Movies/database/ShowMovie.asp?MI=36379|archive-date=October 29, 2000|title=Quiz Show|work=[[TV Guide]]|access-date=July 25, 2020}}</ref> ''Newsweek'' wrote: "Neck high in '90s cynicism, it's hard to believe the tremors these scandals provoked. [...] In the '50s, [[Ingrid Bergman]] was blacklisted from Hollywood for having a baby out of wedlock. Today, [[Oliver North]] makes hash of the Constitution and it jump-starts his political career. What used to ruin your life gets you invited on 'Oprah' and a fat book deal. Shame is for losers; public confession and a 12-step program can turn you into a role model."<ref name="Newsweek1994"/>