God father
Project Overview
:
For this you will engage with a film that deliberates an ethical dilemma. This will
require you to consider the complexity of the films characters and the quandaries that
they face and require you to go beyond the movie, the characters, and the
circumstances as just pure entertainment. Your 2-3 page essay will be an
investigation, analysis, and evaluation of the ethical issues in a selected film.
In watching a film, you are presented with ethical perspectives and you reach
ethical conclusions, condemning some characters and admiring others. Whether you
are sitting in an armchair at home or in the theater, you enter into the lives of the
characters in a film and, along with the characters, experience a particular set of moral
challenges. You consider the various ethical decisions made by characters and
examine the rationale behind their decisions. You also consider your own point of view
as a viewer, a perspective that makes you think about the ethics involved in the films
story. You question your own responses to the same ethical circumstances present in
the film.
Purpose:
This assignment
is not a film review
but rather a rhetorical analysis that
considers ethical questions or multi-leveled ethical perspectives associated with a
particular film. The purpose of this assignment, then, is to help you learn about ethics
(the principles that define behavior as right, good, and proper) and to help you develop
the skills needed to write persuasively about ethics and about making ethical
decisions. Because abstract ethical theories become vivid when played out in the
dramatic narrative of film, this assignment will engage you in a discussion of the
complexities of moral dilemmas in the context of this medium.
Length, Format, and Design
: Your essay
should not be a summary
of the movie;
however, as you begin your discussion, you may need to include a few sentences that
recap important elements in the plot. Remember avoid easy assumptions,
stereotypes, and broad generalizations. Provide thoughtful, interesting examples and
backup your opinions with solid reasoning.
1. 2-3 pages, double spaced in 12 pt with 1 inch margins
2. Heading:
your name,
Ethics, include class day
Name of the movie (underline or italicize),
The director
The year of the movies release
3. Introduction:
Identify
the ethical themes at stake and briefly
describe
the ethical dilemmas
(the problem the character or characters face) in the film.
There will be
multiple choices by different characters!
When you mention characters by their name, do so with the character
name and the actor name in parentheses. i.e. Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey).
4. In the body of your essay:
Options:
Describe the various choices the characters have when facing
their ethical dilemma, include the various long & short term consequences
they face with the various choices
Influences:
What happens in the film that may cause the character to
choose one ethical choice over another? (Such as setting, history,
economics, events, other people)
Opposing point of view:
Thought Process:
What ethical theories are the characters operating
under when they make their decisions?
5. Conclusion:
Summarize the overall ethical issues in the movie and how they
were solved. What message do they give to you, the viewer of the film and is
your response to that message?
Important instructions for students :
All the films listed pose difficult questions that
can be argued from at least two distinctly different perspectives. If you feel you cannot
see two sides (or more) of an argument or you can’t write 2-3 pages on a certain film,
please choose another.
