Morality and the Movies

Reading Ethics Through Film

Dan Shaw

• Publisher: Continuum
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781441188281
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy

Morality and the Movies presents the ideal introduction to philosophical ethics for film lovers. Dan Shaw uses a series of sixteen popular films, including Hotel Rwanda, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, A Clockwork Orange, Dead Man Walking and Full Metal Jacket, to illustrate all the major ethical theories and key contemporary moral issues. The book provides a brief summary and philosophical interpretation of each film, with reference throughout to primary philosophical sources. A unique pedagogical feature is that each chapter begins with a five-step summary of the theoretical position in question and a critical evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses through a specific film. Topics covered include: - divine authority
- the social contract
- moral relativism
- virtue ethics
- freedom and determinism
- euthanasia
- capital punishment
- war and terrorism
- abortion
- business ethics Ideal for undergraduate students coming to philosophical ethics for the first time, this book utilizes popular film to introduce a central topic in the study of philosophy.

1

Submission to God’s will in A Man for All Seasons

Theoretical Summary: Divine Authority I. Overall Conclusion We are all obliged to obey God’s Will. II. Core Argument God is our infallible Creator, and hence always wills what is good. III. Subsidiary Arguments 1) God is the only possible source of universal moral standards; the unacceptable alternative is moral relativism. 2) Belief in the Christian God promises a higher purpose to human existence, that is, immortality in Heaven. 3) Christianity provides a powerful incentive for being good in order to avoid eternal punishment in Hell. 4) Christianity urges us to follow the proper moral values, even if God does not exist. IV. Overall Moral Theory Divine Authority. V. Critical Evaluation Strengths: 1) A perfect Creator God would indeed have an infallible moral will, in contrast to any mere mortal. 2) The promise of immortality as a higher purpose. 3) All other supposedly universal moral standards must come from fallible human beings. Weaknesses: 1) Faith in the Christian God is far from universal. 2) There is no proof of the existence of God or of an immortal soul. 3) The problem of Evil raises questions about the perfection of the Creator (if there is one).

In the Euthyphro, Plato takes on the question of whether morality must be derived from religious belief; Christian apologists have subsequently argued it must be, or else all values are merely relative to the individual or to his culture. Euthyphro is prosecuting his father, who, through sheer neglect, has permitted one of his slaves to die. He claims that what he is doing is pious (and hence morally good) because prosecuting murderers is beloved by the gods. Socrates points out that some of the gods might disapprove of a son bringing his father up on charges, as violating the duties of filial piety. If the same act is beloved by some of the gods and reviled by others, then it appears to be both good and evil, which is illogical.

Euthyphro then qualifies his position by claiming that what is pious is beloved by all of the gods, who surely agree that unjust deaths must be avenged. Socrates responds with a characteristically penetrating question: do the gods approve of punishing murderers because it is just (on other grounds) to do so, or is punishing murderers just only because it is approved of by all the gods? Socrates convincingly argues that the gods must have some reason for preferring some actions to others; otherwise they are merely capricious, and what they approve of at one time may well earn their disapproval the next. Socrates contends that any reason for morally preferring one alternative to another must be grounded in a concept of justice that exists independently of the will of the gods (an Ideal Form, in Plato’s mature philosophy). Moral goodness is rationally intelligible and does not require a deistic foundation.

But subsequently, in Republic, Plato wanted the denizens of his ideal society to believe in a single, perfect deity who is not responsible for human evil. Early Christian theologians like St. Augustine (under the influence of such neo-Platonists as Plotinus) adopted a strikingly similar form of monotheism, thereby avoiding the problems inherent in believing in a plurality of deities with opposing moral preferences. But most Christians part company with Plato and deny that the universe is rationally intelligible by finite minds like our own. They hence turn to faith in an infinite Being as the source of all goodness. As outlined in The Gospel According to St. Matthew and elsewhere, the fundamental tenets of Christianity have become the cornerstones upon which modern Western culture has been founded.

As Matthew tells us, Christ was the Son of God, sent to this earth to bring mankind the good news that immortality in heaven is ours if we will only have faith in his Divine Father in heaven. Jesus had to die on the cross in order to cleanse us of the original sin that we inherited from our fore parents, Adam and Eve. He was a scapegoat, a sacrificial lamb sent to teach us that we are essentially spiritual entities. Stuck in our bodies for a (comparatively brief) time, we are given the choice to earn our way back to our Creator by following his commands, or to violate his will and face damnation in Hell for all eternity. Bad things happen to good people in this life, and the evil seem to prosper, but justice will be meted out at the Last Judgment.

God, in the New Testament, is a being who possesses the sum total of all perfections. He is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), omnibenevolent (perfectly good), omnipresent, and eternal. He always was and always will be, and He created the universe from nothing at the beginning of time. The Christian God, as a supremely perfect Being, had to have created the best of all possible worlds, for His perfection would permit nothing less. The universe He created must ultimately be governed by principles of harmony. All apparent evil must contribute to developing a greater good in the long run (this response to the problem of evil is the notion of Divine Providence). Nothing happens by accident, and as Hamlet put it (in Act V, scene 2), when he was re-embracing his Christian faith, “there is providence in the fall of a sparrow.” God’s will is infallible, and He always wills what is best. His infallible will provides us with absolute standards for moral conduct, and is the only possible source of such standards.

Humans are an imperfect amalgam of flesh and spirit, and these two essentially distinct aspects of our nature are constantly at war with one another. God created humans with the freedom to either submit to God’s will and focus on the spirit or to follow one’s own fleshly inclinations. Our free will is at the heart of human dignity, for following the teachings of Christ is only praiseworthy if we could actually have done otherwise. It is better that some of us freely choose to do evil and face eternal damnation in Hell than for everyone to be pre-programmed to follow God’s will (more on this in a later chapter).

Human beings are essentially different from the animals: we have a soul and they don’t. Animals have no free will, but must rather act on their instincts in a deterministic fashion. There is no evil in the animal kingdom, because animals cannot choose to do otherwise. The soul is the seat of human reason, and we all innately know the difference between good and evil because of our conscience, which is a spark of the Divine within each of us.

The essence of Christian morality is best expressed in the Sermon on the Mount, and in particular in what has come to be called the Eight Beatitudes. In Christ’s first major public address, he turns the values of the Roman conquerors on their head. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted . . . ” (Matthew 5.3-10). The downtrodden of this earth are seen to be the most virtuous, and, at the Last Judgment, all of the injustices visited upon them will be righted and everyone will receive what they truly deserve. The Last Judgment will restore the harmony of absolute justice, where virtue will be rewarded and evil men will be punished. Christian charity and compassion sought to supplant Roman materialism and ruthlessness, and all of the worldly things that the Romans valued so highly (power, wealth, prestige, physical force, and sensual gratification) were recast by advocates of the new religion as the Seven Deadly Sins.

Like Platonism before it, Christianity preached that we must minimize our attachment to the things of this world, which will eventually weigh us down. The soul longs to reunite with its Creator, and all worldly ties stand in the way of that reunion. If your eye offends you (with its lustful gaze), pluck it out, for it is better to be blind than to lose your eternal soul.

The Jews rejected Christ as the Messiah because he renounced their struggle for political independence from Rome. When asked if a good Jew should pay his taxes to the oppressors, Christ responded: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22.21). In demanding that a rich man give away all that he owned to follow his savior, Christ observed that “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get to heaven” (Matthew 19.24). Christians are taught to develop a stoical attitude toward the things of this world, caring as little as possible about such things lest they be distracted from focusing on the spiritual realm. The things of this world are transitory, and it is a poor bargain to trade eternity in Heaven for the temporary enjoyment of material things.

All of us are sinners in His eyes, but the essence of the Christian God is love and forgiveness; His omnibenevolence permits nothing else. As the fate of the good thief (to whom Christ promised Heaven as they hung side by side on their crosses) testifies, any sinner can repent, do a sincere act of contrition, embrace the faith at the moment of death, and still be saved. This demonstrates conclusively that it is faith in God, and not good works, that gets us into Heaven. Christ returns to this theme in the parable of the workers in the vineyard, who are paid the same wages whether they began work at the first hour, or the fifth, or the ninth. If God were to treat us as we deserve, none of us would avoid the burning pit. It is only through His Divine Grace (bestowed upon the faithful alone) that we can survive.

Christianity is egalitarian; we are all God’s creatures, equally valuable in His eyes. The Brotherhood of Man was one of Jesus’ recurring themes, as he repeatedly condemned the elite in Jewish society for doing too little to help the poor: “That which you did not do to one of the least of these my brethren you did not do to me” (Matthew 25.45). Altruism was henceforth seen as the ultimate moral virtue. Good Christians seek to act solely for the sake of others, willingly sacrificing themselves in emulation of Christ, their savior. They are missionaries, bringing the “good news” to others. They see this world as a transient “vale of tears,” inconsequential by contrast with the permanent spiritual realm they believe it is their destiny to inhabit. They seek to control their bodily appetites and keep their eyes on the prize of eternal life. They rest assured that their sincere belief in the one true God, and willingness to make a sincere act of contrition for their sins, is all that is needed to get them to Heaven.

Christianity is a religion of peace; Christ himself rejected the “eye for an eye” mentality of the Old Testament, admonishing his followers to turn the other cheek instead. He warned his trusted apostle Peter (who cut off the ear of one of the men that sought to arrest Christ) that those who live by the sword shall die by it (Matthew 26.52). Yet he was not a complete pacifist either, for he physically threw the money changers out of the Temple for having turned it into a den of thieves.

As Father Mapple observed in Moby Dick, obedience to God often requires us to disobey ourselves; a good Christian must put God’s will above his own as often as possible. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed that He be relieved of the burden of His forthcoming sacrifice, the mere contemplation of which caused Him to sweat blood. Yet His final submission was complete, and he went to the Cross willingly, accepting His pivotal role in God’s Divine Plan. Surrendering our autonomy is even more difficult for us than it was for Christ. It wasn’t easy for St. Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons, since he realized that doing God’s will would eventually cost him his life.

More (Paul Scofield, in an Oscar-winning performance) was a reluctant hero. He did not seek martyrdom, but, when the necessity of making the ultimate sacrifice in God’s name became clear, he accepted it as willingly as Christ accepted his crucifixion. A noted English intellectual, More did not aspire to high office, yet he was appointed by his friend King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) to replace Cardinal Wolsey as Lord Chancellor of England. His work in the law courts was exemplary, but he resigned a scant three years later because he had displeased the King, who had expected greater loyalty from his former friend.

Famously, Henry sought an annulment from the Pope of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, so that he could marry Anne Boleyn and secure a male heir to the throne. When the petition was denied, Henry broke away from the Roman Catholic faith and declared himself head of the new Church of England. St. Thomas was a devout Roman Catholic, yet, out of respect for his friend and regent, he refused to take a public position against the King’s new marriage. He clung to his silence, secure in his belief that, legally, he could not be prosecuted for what he hadn’t said. Yet more and more people took his silence to indicate his disapproval of the arrangement, and the pressure built on him to take a stand. Thomas Cromwell, More’s successor as Lord Chancellor, tries to pin More down on several occasions, but to no avail.

Finally, all noblemen and Church fathers were obliged to swear an oath acknowledging King Henry as Head of the Church of England. More refused to sign such an oath, and was falsely accused of treason and convicted on the basis of perjured evidence. His final statement at the trial summarized his position perfectly: “The indictment is grounded in an Act of Parliament [which made Henry VIII head of the heretical Church of England] that is directly repugnant to the law of God and his Holy Church, the Supreme government of which no temporal person may by any law presume to avoid.” The law of God supersedes all human law, and when the two conflict, God’s law must be obeyed.

Earlier, More was blunt in condemning his friend, the Duke of Norfolk, for accepting such her...

Table of contents

• Cover-Page
• Half-Title
• Series_Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction: Morality and the movies: Reading ethics through film
• 1 Submission to God’s will in A Man for All Seasons
• 2 Egoism and utilitarianism in Casablanca
• 3 Social contract theory in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
• 4 Kant: Morality as rational consistency
• 5 Relativism, perspectivism, and Citizen Kane
• 6 Moral virtue and the limits of friendship in Nichomachean Ethics and The Third Man
• 7 Freedom and determinism in A Clockwork Orange
• 8 Kinsey and sexual morality
• 9 Active euthanasia and The Sea Inside
• 10 Capital punishment and compassion in Dead Man Walking
• 11 The morality and meaning of war in Full Metal Jacket
• 12 Individual autonomy and abortion rights in The Cider House Rules
• 13 Bowling for Columbine and gun control
• 14 Terrorism and counterterrorism in Munich
• 15 The ethics of business in Wall Street
• 16 Affirmative action and diversity in Remember the Titans
• Conclusion: How films can be philosophical and how philosophy can light up the screen
• Works Cited
• Index