Next (2007)

There’s a nuclear bomb somewhere in LA and Nicholas Cage’s character is the only person who can help. He has the supernatural ability to see ten minutes into the future. Julianne Moore’s character is sent to convince him to help. Is it morally justifiable to torture him to agree? The same issue is tackled by the idea of rendition – the practice of transporting terror suspects from one country to another that allows torture.

Valkyrie (Scene 21-3) Should the one be killed to save the many?

Tom Cruise plays Claus Von Stauffenberg, a Colonel who forms a plot to kill Hitler. In this scene we see him trying to fuse a bomb, despite his hand which is missing fingers. The plot fails because a chair leg gets in the way. Interestingly, Churchill rejected the idea, put forward b a double agent, of assassinating Hitler. Was Stauffenberg right to do what he did? In the evening he was shot, by General Fromm, a fellow conspirator who tried to cover his tracks after the plot failed.
.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (link with soma tablets in Extract 1: Brave New World on website)  Is pain avoidance a good thing?

People who are experiencing a great deal of psychological pain choose to undergo selective memory erasure because it promises them relief from that pain. In addition to the lovers who choose to erase their painful memories, we see an oriental woman who appears to be so distressed over the death of her cat.
Utilitarians might claim people would be made better off if, when they were having extremely painful memories that disrupted their lives and kept them from ‘moving on’, they could have those memories erased. Although the film contests this view, it shows that people in the film’s world accept this rationale for the procedure.
Eternal Sunshine presents a counter-example to utilitarianism. The film claims social welfare is not increased by showing that Joel is made truly miserable by discovering that Clem has had all the memories of their relationship expunged from her consciousness. Indeed, he becomes so miserable that he decides to undergo the process himself.

The Pianist Can we conceive of a world without rules?
I, Robot (Scene 9, then 22) Can we operate morality according to strict calculation?

Robots are programmed to operate according to the three laws (explained in scene 9). But this calculating, empirical approach to morality produces inhuman outcomes. For example, when Wll Smith’s character is in a crash, the Robot saves him, as he has a 45% chance of surviving, rather than a young girl who has an 11% chance. A utilitarian might also argue Will Smith is of more use to society. Could lead into a discussion of Ross’s prima facie duties as an alternative to utilitarian ethics.

For full discussion go to:

http://www.aaai.org/Papers/Symposia/Fall/2005/FS-05-06/FS05-06-007.pdf

I, Robot (Scene 32- end) Is it logical to kill human beings in order to protect them?

The climax of the film comes to the heart of utilitarian ethics. Sunny is good because he is not programmed according to utilitarian calculations, whereas Vikki, the master robot at the heart of the machine, decides she must “save you from yourselves” by sacrificing some humans ina robot revolution. Dr Lanning, whose murder started Will Smith’s quest, sacrificed himself by ordering the good robot, Sunny, to kill him as he knew the one cop who hated robots would get on the case. Sunny also saves the girl rather than use the destructive agent on Vikki – so again proving it is the only human robot around (Will Smith has to save the world alone).

Dark Knight                                                        Does Batman make the right choice?

In the movie “The Dark Knight”, Batman, played by Christian Bale, has to choose between either saving his love Rachel (Maggie Gyllenhaal) or the crime-fighting District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Most of us would probably let our personal feelings guide us and try to save the person we love. However, Batman chooses rationally believing that saving the District Attorney would be the more honourable action because a larger amount of people now and in the future would benefit from it, whereas saving Rachel would be less directed towards the common good, but more the satisfaction of a selfish motive from which only a few would benefit.
Does he make the right choice? According to the movie the answer is no. Dent, the person whom he saves has been traumatized by the death of his girlfriend Rachel and he starts an irrational quest for revenge by killing people he believes have betrayed him. As such, Batman’s plan backfires and more suffering is created by saving Dent’s life.
Read more at Suite101: Nolan’s Batman and the Field of Ethics: Utilitarian and Moral Philosophy of the Dark Knight.

http://action-films-thrillers.suite101.com/article.cfm/batman_and_ethics#ixzz0qlLaS1Vb

Extreme Measures
http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Philosophical-Approaches-Kants-Deontology-Mills-Utilitarianism/75973

The Mission (Scene 15) Do the ends justifies means? (see Morton A. pages 200-1)

A Priest is protecting a group of Amazonian Indians against attempts by Spanish settlers to enslave them. A messenger arrives at his safe haven saying the church has struck a deal with the settlers and they must leave the mission. If the deal isn’t kept, there will be more violence, and even more people will die. The Priest refuses to abandon the mission and force is used to take it. Did the Priest do the right thing in reusing to abandon the people?

The Beach  Do ideas of happiness have to include some understanding of imperfection? Are people unhappy today because they have false/wrong expectations or ideals?

The incident where a member of the ideal community is bitten by a shark and is dying, and so is placed outside the camp in a tent (because such unhappiness has no part of paradise) mirror exactly the short story extract on this site – the ones who walk away from Omelas.  You could read the story, watch the film clip, and discuss what the meaning is. Can you have happiness and imperfection?  Doesn’t happiness entail handling/living with/accepting imeprfection?  Mill himself said we “should not expect from life more than it is capable of bestowing” – and includes this in his concept of happiness.

Recap utilitarianism