I quite enjoy this movie featuring acting performances by many well known names such as, Aaron Eckhart, William H. Macy, Rob Lowe, Robert Duvall, and many many more. This movie is very well written and demonstrates some interesting thoughts. Aaron Eckhart (Nick Naylor) plays the role of a lobbyist for the tobacco company in this movie and constantly uses argument to clear the guilt put on tobacco companies by health boards and such. I think Mr. Naylor uses perspective to help him in most of his arguments. I think this movie is a battle between realistic and twisted perspective. In one point of the movie Nick uses the argument that if people said choclate was bad would you eat it. When you think about it though you're talking about choclate vs. cigarettes. Nick Naylor constantly twists the perspective of things to make the people against tobacco look wrong. He doesn't have to prove he's right, but just help the public look through a different window. One thing that can be learned from this strategy is that "if you argue correctly you're never wrong." The question of whether cigarettes are wrong or right comes down to this...
self interest vs. social interest
you can either make the choices that are in your self interest or (from the social interest perspective) you can make the choice that are best for society as a whole, by keeping a profitable tobacco company in business.
It kind of comes down to Microeconomics.
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3 comments:
Do you say that it comes down to microeconomics because you are in a...microeconomics class? lol
When I was watching this movie that is what I was thinking...somewhat
excellent deconstruction of naylor's character and motives - however, remember, most of what he pushes is the chance for the individual to choose - he dodges right and wrong, choosing to do so because it requires responsibility, something his character has difficulty dealing with - microeconomics... perhaps, but it is also the right of the individual to make mistakes
but here's the real question: who decides what decisions are mistakes?
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