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Analysis Of The Movie ' A Few Good Men ' Essay

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Consequences of Obedience Late one night, two Marines, Lance Corporal Harold Dawson and Private First Class Louden Downey carried out a “code red” on Private First Class William Santiago that ultimately resulted in Santiago’s death. In the film A Few Good Men, nominated for an Academy Award for best picture and directed by Rob Reiner, Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, investigates the crime and develops his own opinion on whether the murder of Santiago was ethically stable in terms of Dawson and Downey’s mental attitude towards their actions. Meanwhile, Dawson and Downey have difficulty accepting responsibility for their actions. They believe they are not at fault because they were following orders from Colonel Nathan R. Jessep. Santiago’s demise shows that always being obedient can be a matter of life or death, and going against a superior command can possibly be the ethically correct action. Jessup is an aggressive and forceful leader who does not like to be mocked or questioned. Before Santiago’s murder, Jessep expresses to Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Andrew Markinson that transferring Santiago would be weak and “not the American way” (Reiner), Jessep then threatens to kill Lieutenant Johnanthan Kendrick if Santiago’s next report is not perfect. Although, he is not the only leader who is unjust in this way. In an experiment, known as The Stanford Prison Experiment, performed by Philip G. Zimbardo, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, the guards were given the

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