The concept of ethics entails systemizing, justifying, and recommending right and wrong conduct. It involves in practical reasoning: good, right, duty, obligation, virtue, freedom, rationality, and choice. Humanity has questioned this concept of ethics and ‘good’ for as long as it has survived, as it deals with real-life issues such as “what is morally right and wrong?” and “how do people ought to act?” Such ethical dilemmas can be found in people’s everyday lives, and although appears to be a straightforward question, there is much debate over which standard of behavior people should abide to when responding to certain situations, and determining what is morally right or wrong. The medium of film provides us with a fictional world in which …show more content…
Initially the situation perplexes him, but over time he gradually gets aware of the situation and realizes the lack of consequence for his actions and immorality. This leads him to lose moral responsibility for his actions, and throwing the question “well, what if there is no tomorrow” (Groundhog Day, 1993), he goes on a hedonistic, exciting adventure; he eats like a glutton, seduces women, and gets arrested. This suggests that Phil has not acted in this way previously simply due to the constraints set by society and his fear of punishment by God. However, now that Phil knows that the events of the day will be reset automatically, he undertakes actions that are obviously deemed as unethical. However, what constitutes an immoral, or moral …show more content…
This constitutes the idea of consequentialism, in which “certain normative properties depend only on consequences.” To be moral in this sense is to engage in activities that bring about the best consequences. John Stuart Mill, being a utilitarianist, contends that the aim of all human activity is happiness and “that pleasure, and freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends [the consequence]” (Mill, 1861, p.343). With regards to Phil Connors at the early stages of the film, however, is not a utilitarianist, as he puts his own happiness first, and his own self interests matter more than those of others. For Phil, the consequences of his actions within the time warp are short term, as he does not have to pay a price for them; hence, he does not need to care about the consequences of what his actions may proceed. He does not have a tomorrow, which means “that there would be no consequences; there would be no hangovers; we could do whatever we wanted" (Groundhog Day,
Groundhog Day: Breakthrough to the True Self An example of an exceptional work of moral fiction is the apparently minor comedy, Groundhog Day, which shows us a character who has to be exiled from normal life so he can discover that he is in exile from himself. In the movie, actor Bill Murray plays Phil, an arrogant, Scroogelike weather forecaster who spends the night in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where he is to do a broadcast the next day about the annual ritual of the coming out of the groundhog. He wakes up the next morning, does his story and is annoyed to discover that he is trapped in Punxsutawney for a second night because of a snowstorm that comes in after the groundhog ceremony. When he wakes up in his guest house room the next morning, lo and behold, it is the morning of the day before all over again. Everything that happened to him
In the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, the protagonist (Bill Murray) had to repeat the same day over again, scores of times, in order to gain enough information to break out of an inexplicable
The idea of ethics can be shown many different ways, as displayed within our readings. When looking at ethics, there is a broad spectrum of what people believe to be right and wrong. One instance that I saw the issue of ethics was in the Disney movie Aladdin. When referencing the reading regarding ethics, there are six principles of ethics that can be shown through both this picture as well as this scene depicted within Aladdin: categorical imperative, utilitarianism, hedonism, the golden mean, the golden rule, and the veil of ignorance. Staring with categorical imperative, this principle states that right is right and must be done even under the most extreme conditions.
When questions of ethics and morality are brought up for discussion they can be immensely difficult to mediate. What is perceived as ethically “right” to one person may be considered “wrong” to another. It is part of human nature to evaluate issues from a subjective standpoint, as opinions and prioritization of values vary on an individual level. This difference of personal beliefs, therefore, often leads to the existence of biased arguments. Due to this, it is essential for any argument to follow a set of ethical criteria in order to be considered valid and effective.
You never know what will happen in a day until it's
Ryan Adkins 9/20/17 PHI100 Film Analysis Throughout the movie Groundhog Day there is various different themes of existentialism. The two major themes that stood out to me was his loss of identity and the loss of his sense of worth, that takes place throughout the film. When Phil made a realization that he is waking up on Groundhog Day every day, he begins to change his ways and become someone he isn’t.
Reema Alfayez Leslie Martin Drama62 11/21/2016 ‘Do the right thing’ Analysis ‘Do the right thing’ is a widely recognized film for bringing out controversial issues facing our society. This film by Spike's Lee's challenges the audience to reflect on societal issues by constantly butting together the conflicting ideologies of violence as self-defence and non-violence. Lee manages to highlight this compelling question without telling the audience which is the better choice. The film successfully portrays the diverse, personalities, attitudes and desires that are in conflict in society.
Good Will Hunting is a movie released in 1997 directed by Gus Van Sant. The movie progresses around Will Hunting (Matt Damon), M.I.T janitor who has mathematical talent. Despite possessing this talent, Will had been living his life in no direction. In order to guide Will into the right way, he was introduced to psychologist by the name of Sean Maguire (Robin Williams). Helping Will overcome his fear and cope with the world is the main plot of the movie.
A possible theme that is used to grasp the audience is the concept of teaching them that emotional maturity is something that can be developed and molded over time through thoughtful conversations with guiding adults, appropriate role models, and soul searching. Phil Conner starts off the movie being an egotistical career driven pinhole who is disconnected from himself and outer life. Being stuck in rural Punxsutawney, where the first official Groundhog Day took place in 1886, this then leads him to have the opportunity to analyze his life and change it; before it is too late and days’ turns into years. This movie can be inferred as a display of philosophical ideologies that are disproved by Phil not finding happiness through these ideologies. As Michael P. Foley stated, Phil did not find content with liberation nor pursue of excellence
Throughout this time Phil tries to attempt suicide a few time but realize he just wakes up on the same day each time so he knew it was unless to take the easy way out. Maybe after day or even years Phil decides to improve his life and change the way he behaves and changes his attitude towards others. He starts to learn about the people from the
Utilitarianism, a moral code built by an English philosopher in the turn of the 19th century, follows the classical behavior of Consequentialism, in that not only is the theory a reiteration of consequentialism but also a more abstract and modernized version of it. Looking at both definitions and their teachings, consequentialism ultimately encompasses the ideology of “the end justifies the means”, or that the act or omission of an act to seek the highest moral result is the goal, no matter the path that must be taken to get there. Utilitarianism, however, simply states that an indicidual or group of people should aim to find the highest amount of happiness as possible, and base their judgment upon what act will either bring or destroy happiness.
"Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that places the focus of right and wrong solely on the outcomes of choosing one action and or policy over others (Cavalier 1996) ". It is a morally demanding position and asks one to do the most to maximise utility, and thus always ask one to set aside personal interest for the sake of the whole. In the most extreme of situations, it demands the weaker person to be scarified for the greater good. Its principles, therefore, are characterised by two elements, happiness and consequentialism (Utilitarianphilosophy 2010). Utilitarians therefore believe that the purpose of morality is to make life better by considering one's actions and whether or not those actions increase the amount of good things in
In Itself states that people should act in a certain way that you always treat humanity and always consider them as an end but never as mere means. This moral theory opposes to Utilitarianism, which supports the “greatest happiness principle”. According to “greatest happiness principle” people ought to act in such a way that produce the greatest amount of happiness for the
In today’s world, many people tend to have a set of ethical principles which is one of the guidelines for them to follow on. The question is how he or she defines ethics? To answer, Ethics is best defined as knowing what is right or wrong in the action based on the moral principles. Moreover, it is also known as the branch of knowledge that deals with ethical issues. In relation, there are some ethical theories which deal with the ethical issues.
As children, we were taught by our parents that it is wrong to lie, cheat, and steal. As we grow up and enter into the real world with some knowledge of right and wrong, we see, first hand, the importance of ethics as well as its complexity. The role of ethics in our society and in an individual’s life is very necessary because it has a large influence on today, as well as the future. We need to learn about good ethics because they guide our decisions, make us who we are, and determine our future.