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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A paper which considers the film Saving Private Ryan from various ethical perspectives, including utilitarianism and Kantian deontology, with specific reference to military propaganda and the use of human beings as a "means to an end".
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: JL5_JLethfilm2.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
exercise" of tracking down the last surviving Ryan brother, and the potentially more positive actions which Millers patrol might have undertaken instead. However, if we consider the narrative from the
various ethical perspectives which might be used to analyse it, it becomes apparent that the issues are rather more complex than they first appear.
For example, one could argue that Miller is "just following orders" from his superiors, and the members of the patrol are, in turn, "just following" his orders. However, whilst obeying
orders is certainly an integral and necessary part of military discipline, it would no longer be accepted as justification for embarking on an action which was clearly immoral and unethical:
something which has been thrashed out in war crimes trials ever since the end of World War 2. Even though the narrative is set during that war, the perspective of
the director is, obviously, a modern one: the idea that the ethical principles demonstrated in the film could be summed up as "just following orders" is much too simplistic.
If we look at the patrols, and Millers, actions from a utilitarian point of view, we could argue that although the search for Ryan appears, on
the face of it, to go against the utilitarian principle of the "greatest good of the greatest number", taking a more long-term view shows that it does not. The idea
behind the "PR exercise" is not motivated by emotionalism on the part of the military authorities: it is a calculated propaganda exercise in which the potential loss of individual soldiers
is outweighed by the positive psychological impact of the exercise on both ordinary soldiers and on the general public. If the objective is to
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