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Ethical Issues in Film Erin Brockovich Essay

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Ethical Issues in film Erin Brockovich There are many ethical issues in the movie Erin Brockovich. This movie is about a mother of three who uncovers a water poisoning case by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) in southern California. Erin has the responsibility to feed and educate her three children and she has a general distrust of people. She begins by forcing her lawyer Ed Masry to give her a secretarial job after he failed to get her a settlement from an auto accident. She doesn't exactly fit in at the firm. Other female co-workers do not approve of her cleavage that she shows. Women in the office don't include Erin in going out to lunch and even helping her out when she asks for assistance. There are …show more content…

This representative is perceived to be a heartless person who is not taking responsibility for the damage his company has caused to families like the Jensen’s in the community of Hinckley. Another example of the company, and therefore business world, being rightfully portrayed in a negative light was when an assumed employee from PG&E actually calls to threaten the safety of Erin and her children. Erin is threatened by this person because PG&E know that she has valuable information that could prove their fault in the health issues of Hinckley community members. Clearly, this act portrays the business world in a damaging way, and I believe we would all hope that our companies would never act in a way to threaten an innocent mother and her family. PG&E did not care for others; otherwise they would have changed their policies to stop the use of harmful chemicals. The only employee who I would suggest to be at a higher level on Kohlberg’s scale was a man named Charles Embry who approached Erin toward the end of her investigation. He was instrumental in this law suit because he had saved the documents that PG&E had requested to destroy because he knew it was unethical to destroy the evidence of harmful chemicals. He watched his cousin pass away at only 41 years old, after suffering nose bleeds while cleaning the cooling towers, having his

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