Ethics in Film

This week I have had the opportunity to view three movies and consider their ethical dimensions.

One of the movies, Changing Lanes (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264472/) tells the story of what happens one day in New York when a young lawyer and a businessman have an automobile accident and their mutual road rage turns into an all-out feud.

This movie perfectly epitomized the line from a Sir Walter Scott poem that suggests “What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” 

Throughout the movie both men make choices resulting in horrible and life-altering outcomes for the other. They both make selfish choices of revenge not only to get what they want but purposefully to harm the other. The movie ends with a sense of resolution and that although the terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad day has taken place, both men might actually be in a better place as a result. This brought up major questions for me about consequentialism. Does the film suggest that if the actions of the day resulted in morally positive outcomes the actions are therefore good? It is something I am still pondering.

The second movie I watched was the classic To Kill a Mockingbird (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056592/?ref_=nv_sr_1).  

My parents only watch the old movie channel because they can’t stand commercials and this movie was on this week when I stopped by their house. I had the opportunity to see the end of the film again when Boo – err Arthur Radley is the hero and saves Jim and Scout. 

I thought about how the movie is often heralded as a film that deals with ethical choices around race  - and indeed that’s why the film was playing this week just days after Martin Luther King’s birthday. 

But also thought about the plethora of other observations one could make about parts of the film that have little to do with race. For example – the line that gives the movie it’s title occurs at the end and deals understanding Arthur’s situation and mental capacities. Here’s the clip: http://www.anyclip.com/movies/to-kill-a-mockingbird/understanding-and-thanks/

Coincidently I also read an article when reading about how film portrays ethics in general that discussed how movies portray lawyers that mentioned Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. The article stated: 

     Not since Atticus Finch have lawyers been able to take ethical cues from lawyers

     portrayed in the movies. After all, screen writers get paid big bucks to ensure that lawyers in

     movies face issues that will entertain, not enlighten. But sometimes the lawyers in movies are

     faced with the same types of ethical issues that real practitioners face. What choices do celluloid

     lawyers make when confronted with ethical dilemmas from real life? It is fair to say that the

     Hollywood choices are not reliable guides for real lawyers. 

(More from the article can be found here: http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/labor_law/meetings/2008/ac2008/089.authcheckdam.pdf)

Considering how Changing Lanes portrays lawyers I see the truth in this statement! 

This clip from Changing Lanes gives a small example of the kind of portrayal lawyers get in film. In this clip Banek (the younger man) is hearing from an older partner in his firm about how he feels about a client and the truth about a case. 

Banek is faced with a choice. Now, I am not an attorney and do not know the kinds of choices they are faced to make on a daily basis but I see how most lawyers we see on TV of film are put into situations like this one – to entertain – more than enlighten.

The third movie I watched this week was My Sister’s Keeper (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1078588/?ref_=nv_sr_1).

I was interested to watch the film after reading the book many years ago when it first was published. 

This film also presents several ethical issues but primarily focuses on a young woman (who is 11 in the film) who wants to be medically emancipated from her parents so she no longer has to undergo dangerous medical procedures to try and save her sister’s life. In the film we learn this girl, Anna, was conceived and brought into this world with the clear purpose of being a donor for her sister, Kate. She has donated bone marrow, stem cells and is about to undergo a kidney transplant when the film ends.

This film was interesting to me in light of the recent news of a Connecticut teen who was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma last year and did not want to receive chemo. After discussion with her parents they agreed she would not receive the treatments. At this point the DCF stepped in and took Cassandra into their custody and forced her to undergo chemo and other procedures against her will. In an op ed piece Cassandra recently wrote she described the experience as a continuous nightmare and stated she cared about the quality of her life and not just quantity.

More about the story here: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/9/cassandra-c-teen-forced-to-take-chemotherapy-i-am-/

These movies together and separate gave me the opportunity to think through issues and other ethical concerns I might not otherwise I have thought about this week. It goes to show that ethics is not something removed from life or who we are but is something that is all around is – only waiting for us to engage.