Ethics is portrayed as the understanding of what people really ought to be doing, not what people are doing and why. To apply moral ethical concepts and reflections to the modern society, we will focus on the movie The Dark Knight. In the city of Gotham, Batman emerges to protect its civilians and to bring justice to those unable to follow its moral principles and laws. Viewed by some as the protector of the innocent and by others as a rampaging vigilante on a path of destruction, he continues to fight those in need of correction. When taking into consideration the contrast of Batman as a bringer of peace and Batman as a wild vigilante, one must determine the definition and comparison of justice and law. As justice being the action of retribution …show more content…
Throughout the movie we see a trail of destruction left by Batman’s chase of evil. He constantly breaks laws, endangers the lives of innocent bystanders, and uses his seemingly endless wealth to parade through the city of Gotham with destruction in his wake. One must consider if his moral values outweigh Gotham’s moral principles and law. Does the pursuit of evil justify the millions of dollars in wreckage left by his careless actions? Does justice outweigh the law? In a sense, Batman believes that his actions are justified because much more severe destruction can occur if the evil is not stopped. We take into consideration the actions of the Joker. His devious plans constantly test the moral values and principles of Batman and the people of Gotham. When straining the boat passengers to choose which boat survives, he pushes the people to the limit of their moral values. The people on the boats are forced to evaluate the limit of their values and decide if the action they perform can be justified as right or wrong. In doing so, he reveals that the subjective moral basis of humans is dependent on the situation at hand. Whether they decide to destroy one boat or have both boats destroyed, they personally are left to choose what they believe is correct. With a situation like this in which the people must choose the right thing to do, the Joker unravels that moral disagreements are impossible because each person on the boat is basing the decision off their own values and each person considers themselves right, thus causing the intended chaos. When observing both of the boats in a separate manner, we can conclude that one is filled with civilians and one is filled with prisoners and their guards. We can theoretically presume that each of the boats have their own “culture”, one of the civilian mind and one of the prisoner/ guard mind. It would be incorrect to assume the position of a cultural relativist in deducing that
Batman contradicts his morals while he is fighting the mutant leader and when he is about to shoot him he stops himself with “though that means crossing a line I drew for myself thirty years ago”. While Batman did not kill the mutant leader, earlier on Batman shoots a mutant grunt with a machine gun and faded blood is splattered behind the criminal holding a baby captive (Miller, 64). Later on in the novel Batman says to the joker “a gun is a coward’s weapon, a liars weapon” (Miller, 149). Batman has power to stick to his morals, to take on the evil of Gotham City, and to make the decision to deliver justice no matter whose side of the law he is. However, in the novel he has clearly stated that killing someone crosses his morals and that he despises guns yet he uses them to kill criminals. Batman crosses his golden rule of not killing criminals and shows that he will go above his own moral code of justice.
As each new member of a police department officially becomes a sworn member, friends, family and other members of the public gather as they speak an oath. The oath these officers take, promises their commitment to ensure the safety of the public they serve. This means more than protecting civilians from individuals who may stray from the law, but to also ensure the protection of basic human rights. Police and other public servants are given a great deal of trust and power, what they do with it is based on the ethics they choose to uphold. In this paper we will look at why it is important for these justice professionals to study ethics.
The Dark Knight (2008), directed by Christopher Nolan, demonstrates the idea of good versus evil. Batman is known as the protagonist, and Joker is known as the ultimate villain. The representation of crime in the film is seen from the actions of both characters. The film essentially depicts the act of deviance meaning, “behaviour that violates social norms, including laws”. In normality the government would have the greatest amount of power, but in the Gotham city, power is complex. There is minimal structure of law and order in Gotham city due to powerful people like Batman and the Joker. Citizens of Gotham city can no longer fight for themselves in a world filled with supernatural powers. Therefore, the only hope that citizens have rest in the hands of Batman. Although Batman attempts to save Gotham city from Joker’s criminal intentions. Batman, however, also plays a role in deviant activity while attempting to catch the Joker. Realistically, Batman violates the moral code due to destructive behaviour, and putting the lives of citizens at harm. He does not care for social norms, nor whether his acts are of legality. He is devoted to combat organized crime with Harvey Dent, a district attorney in Gotham city. Batman is in fact, the definition of crime, he understands but does not abide to individual rights and social contracts which make up the rule of law. In addition, the man behind Batman, Bruce Wayne also portrays a form of deviance by disguising himself as Batman.
“Their morals, their code, it’s a bad joke” said Joker, looking straight into Batman’s eyes and his soul. “They’re only as good as the world allows them to be. I’ll show you, when the chips are down, these civilized people, uh, they’ll eat each other.” Joker gives a rather chilling observation of how people would behave in the absence of laws. Along with this scene, there are many other scenes in The Dark Knight where Joker suggests the evil nature of humanity. However, this is a movie after all right? What Jokers can’t be that true, right? Or is he? The Dark Knight is the second installment in the Nolan’s Batman trilogy. In this movie, Gotham faces a new, much more sinister threat in the form of Joker and Batman rallies hard to find the line between Vigilantism and Heroism. According to Movie Pilot, the nature of humanity is determined by the choices made while Pop Mythology asserts that human nature is evil due our animalistic desires and instincts. While humans may perform good and bad actions, overall it is quite difficult to determine whether the human nature is definitively good or evil as there is constant change in the human nature.
Explain the difference between internal and external conflict and provide an example of each from a book or movie from outside this class.
It is easy to see why the Joker strongly believes that a sensible life is created by living by his or her own rules, but he is not right. If everyone lived by their own right and wrong, there would be never-ending chaos in the world. People would be doing what they believe is right, and then they would become angry when someone is unfair or cruel towards them. If everyone had a relativistic view, the universe would never be balanced.
When you think of psychology what is the the first name that comes to mind? My guess is that you thought of Sigmund Freud. Even though none of his theories of dreams or sexuality have any empirical evidence, he is still one of the most influential figures in all of philosophy. One of Freud’s ideas that does have substance is the idea that our minds are dynamic and contain both conscious and unconscious memories, thoughts, and desires. Freud labeled these phenomena the id, ego, and superego. While the nuances of this theory are complex and somewhat monotonous, they are brought to life in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. The chaotic and childish joker (id), the pure and valiant Harvey Dent (superego), and the one responsible for finding a balance between the two, Batman (ego).
Throughout “The Dark Knight” by Christopher Nolan crime and deviance is seen throughout the film. Crime and deviance in The Dark Knight has two faces as society accepts crime for those whose are helping them and at the same time punishes those who are punished. Society in Gotham accepts crime when the Batman commits it to help for the betterment of society; however, crime is not accepted when it is committed by mob bosses, gangs, criminal cops, and most importantly through the joker. The forms of deviancy/crime which are seen throughout the film is the Labeling Approach, Human Rights Approach, and Human Diversity Approach.
Ethics in the criminal justice system is customary when the administration measures are sometime virtuous and imperfect, attractive and unattractive and the ideas of production values are perceptive that this may be right and wrong. Working in the criminal justice system, every decision and results must meet the needs of the citizens and the law enforcement in regards to the balancing concern. The concerns are from prosecuting the guilty and respecting the right of the accused, protecting the victims, and creating a safe community. This paper will give analysis of the critical thinking concerning the relationship between ethics and professional behavior role of the law enforcement
Law enforcement officers deal with criminal offenders, some who are more dangerous than others . Officers may be sometimes assigned to field work that has a high crime ratio or even assigned to institutional settings, where there may be a high risk of violence. Results of working as a law enforcement agent can be very stressful and risky at times. Ethics in criminal justice provides us with the knowledge to get resources to help us make moral choices during challenging situations involving ethical issues in everyday operations.Moral rules and ethics are a very import concept in the criminal justice field.
In a movie where good and evil are divided by a very thin line, the Dark Knight rises up to fight against injustice and corruption in Gotham City. An action sequel to the original Batman Begins, this installment is a lot darker filled with more explosion, twists, and suspense. For the first time, a comic has been integrated into the issues of the real world. With the help of District Attorney Harvey Dent and Lieutenant Gordon, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining mob members and clean the streets of Gotham for good. Their success is only short-lived when they encounter the Joker, a mysterious mastermind who is out to prove that nobility cannot hold in a world of anarchy.
Gotham City is running rampant with organized crime and a hero must rise. However, it’s not the hero that we think. Bruce Wayne, A.K.A. “Batman” (Christian Bale) is viewed as a source of vigilante justice by a majority of the city, more or less a scapegoat for the city’s misfortunes. The situation in Gotham takes a turn for the worse once a sadistic psychopath named “Joker” (Heath Ledger) appears for the first time. The Joker’s crime wave begins small, but through his ability to manipulate and deceive, he begins to change the culture in Gotham. Writer/Director Christopher Nolan’s second installment to Batman Begins successfully progresses past the story’s origins in the last film, creating characters that undergo noticeable development. Nolan throws us into a post 9/11 world, with obvious themes of domestic terrorism embedded throughout an urban setting. Although the film may be labeled as dark by many, The Dark Knight, captures its audience from the beginning through Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker and through its complex themes.
"The Dark Knight" is grimly magisterial. It's a summer blockbuster that contemplates near-total civic disaster: Crowds surge, tractor-trailers flip, and buildings explode, but the pop violence feels heavy, mournful. Light barely escapes the film's gravitational pull.
Many people tend to equate ethics with their feelings. But being ethical is clearly not a matter of followings one’s feelings. Ethics, however, cannot be confined to religion nor is it the same as religion. Being ethical is not the same as following the law. The law often incorporates ethical standards to which most citizens subscribe. But laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is ethical. Finally, being ethical is not the same as doing “whatever society accepts.” In any society, most people accept standards that are ethical. But standards of behaviour in society can deviate from what is ethical. An entire society can become ethically corrupt. Nazi Germany is good example of a morally corrupt society. What then, is
Every society and culture has different ways of interpreting and defining occurrences by the way their own culture or society functions. “A society’s culture, consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members”(Geertz 242). The rituals, customs, ethics and morals that are attributed to the cultures have caused these differences. To understand how the people of one culture interpret a situation or event, one must evaluate the attributes that a culture has. The criteria that an event is based on changes as one culture applies their own ideas to the given situation. Heroism and violation are two concepts that are easily misinterpreted depending on culture’s ideals. Since cultures