Authority In A Few Good Men
To what degree should people follow orders of superiors due to their authority? A Few Good Men is a movie where the moral difference between right and wrong is very unclear in the name of following authority. Professors of sociology, Kelman and Hamilton worked together on “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience” where they tried to apply reason to the soldiers who committed a massacre of unarmed women and children during the Vietnam War. Theodore Dalrymple is a physician who wrote “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You” by analyzing Milgram’s electric shock torture experiment to shine light on when is right to obey to authority, while he emphasizes not to follow authority blindly. These pieces can be used to understand how Marines were able to kill a fellow Marine in Rob Reiner’s A Few Good Men.
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In the film, Lance Cpl.
Harold W. Dawson and Pfc. Louden Downey are Marines in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. William Santiago was also a private in the Marines, Santiago had been suffering from his poor physical condition. Santiago witnessed a fenceline shooting where other Marines shot over the border as a bargaining chip to get off of the base. Col. Jessup learned of the fenceline shooting and instead officially gave him a transfer when he actually ordered Dawson and Downey to commit a code red on Santiago. Dawson had given Santiago food when his was confiscated, showing that Dawson cared about Santiago. Dawson and Downey did kill Santiago but they didn’t do it for any reason other than that they were ordered to and they blindly obey orders from authority due to their military
code.
“Milgram proved that it was obedience to authority that led people to behave in this fashion, rather than, say, the unleashing of latent sadistic urge to inflict pain on the people” (Dalrymple 120). Dalrymple shows that Dawson and Downey aren’t cynical murderers, they are just blindly following orders. Dawson had brought Santiago food and got punished for it. Dawson didn’t want to kill Santiago. Kelman and Hamilton showed that in the My Lai Massacre, the young men that killed the unarmed women and children had unclear orders and “authorization obviates the necessity of making judgments or choices”(139). The soldiers in the My Lai Massacre didn’t have the ability to make their own decision, so they just ran with the obsolete order to kill gooks. Dawson and Downey didn’t make the decision to go into Santiago’s room to kill him, they were ordered to give him a code red. Kelman and Hamilton show that the men the military follow often orders blindly without forming their own thoughts on if it is acceptable or not. Dalrymple talks about a woman on a plane that claims that she disregards all authority. There is a very strong similarity in the difference between this woman and Dawsons’ views on authority. Dalrymple shows that she is actually following the pilot’s authority and the woman realized that she actually follows a lot of authority.“She trusted much of it implicitly, even blindly. And necessarily so in a complex, technologically advanced society.” (Dalrymple 120) This woman can be used to understand Dawson’s assessment of following authority blindly. Instead of disregarding all authority and making a few exceptions to follow authority like the woman, Dawson obeys all authority and breaks it at times to do the right thing. At the end of the movie Dawson realized that he should have not followed the order and “stick up for the little man” like the woman realizes that she should obey authority by letting pilots fly planes and doctors do surgeries. Being completely opposed to something makes it so decisions can’t be made, Dawson wasn’t able to save Santiago due to his complete obedience to authority.
Marines believe very strongly in authority. Their motto, Unit Corps God Country shows Marines will do much more for their unit even if it was immoral. Dalrymple explains that people will often know what they are doing wrong. When working with doctors, Dalrymple said “I was, of course, only obeying orders. I sometimes questioned those orders but in the end I obeyed them” (Dalrymple 121). Dalrymple explained that this was the right thing for him to do. When Dawson was talking with his lawyer Kaffee, Kaffee wanted Dawson to admit to murdering Santiago for minimal prison time. Dawson felt so strongly against being dishonest against his beliefs that when Kaffee, a military officer, left the room, Dawson put his hands in his pockets instead of saluting Kaffee. Dawson realizes that what he did to Santiago was wrong. It is only due to his obedience to authority that he wanted to take the sentence instead of being dishonorably discharged. After the trial, Dawson says that he should have gone against his Marine code to save Santiago. It is possible that he knew that he should save Santiago earlier in the movie, but with Dalrymple’s lense it is understood that he bottled his questions and obeyed the order.
Dalrymple and Kelman and Hamiltons’ pieces help a viewer of A Few Good Men understand of how young men in the military are obligated to do what they are told no matter their opinion. While the values obedience are present in the pieces, they can be applied to movies and social human life.
In the film, Lance Cpl.
Harold W. Dawson and Pfc. Louden Downey are Marines in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. William Santiago was also a private in the Marines, Santiago had been suffering from his poor physical condition. Santiago witnessed a fenceline shooting where other Marines shot over the border as a bargaining chip to get off of the base. Col. Jessup learned of the fenceline shooting and instead officially gave him a transfer when he actually ordered Dawson and Downey to commit a code red on Santiago. Dawson had given Santiago food when his was confiscated, showing that Dawson cared about Santiago. Dawson and Downey did kill Santiago but they didn’t do it for any reason other than that they were ordered to and they blindly obey orders from authority due to their military
code.
“Milgram proved that it was obedience to authority that led people to behave in this fashion, rather than, say, the unleashing of latent sadistic urge to inflict pain on the people” (Dalrymple 120). Dalrymple shows that Dawson and Downey aren’t cynical murderers, they are just blindly following orders. Dawson had brought Santiago food and got punished for it. Dawson didn’t want to kill Santiago. Kelman and Hamilton showed that in the My Lai Massacre, the young men that killed the unarmed women and children had unclear orders and “authorization obviates the necessity of making judgments or choices”(139). The soldiers in the My Lai Massacre didn’t have the ability to make their own decision, so they just ran with the obsolete order to kill gooks. Dawson and Downey didn’t make the decision to go into Santiago’s room to kill him, they were ordered to give him a code red. Kelman and Hamilton show that the men the military follow often orders blindly without forming their own thoughts on if it is acceptable or not. Dalrymple talks about a woman on a plane that claims that she disregards all authority. There is a very strong similarity in the difference between this woman and Dawsons’ views on authority. Dalrymple shows that she is actually following the pilot’s authority and the woman realized that she actually follows a lot of authority.“She trusted much of it implicitly, even blindly. And necessarily so in a complex, technologically advanced society.” (Dalrymple 120) This woman can be used to understand Dawson’s assessment of following authority blindly. Instead of disregarding all authority and making a few exceptions to follow authority like the woman, Dawson obeys all authority and breaks it at times to do the right thing. At the end of the movie Dawson realized that he should have not followed the order and “stick up for the little man” like the woman realizes that she should obey authority by letting pilots fly planes and doctors do surgeries. Being completely opposed to something makes it so decisions can’t be made, Dawson wasn’t able to save Santiago due to his complete obedience to authority.
Marines believe very strongly in authority. Their motto, Unit Corps God Country shows Marines will do much more for their unit even if it was immoral. Dalrymple explains that people will often know what they are doing wrong. When working with doctors, Dalrymple said “I was, of course, only obeying orders. I sometimes questioned those orders but in the end I obeyed them” (Dalrymple 121). Dalrymple explained that this was the right thing for him to do. When Dawson was talking with his lawyer Kaffee, Kaffee wanted Dawson to admit to murdering Santiago for minimal prison time. Dawson felt so strongly against being dishonest against his beliefs that when Kaffee, a military officer, left the room, Dawson put his hands in his pockets instead of saluting Kaffee. Dawson realizes that what he did to Santiago was wrong. It is only due to his obedience to authority that he wanted to take the sentence instead of being dishonorably discharged. After the trial, Dawson says that he should have gone against his Marine code to save Santiago. It is possible that he knew that he should save Santiago earlier in the movie, but with Dalrymple’s lense it is understood that he bottled his questions and obeyed the order.
Dalrymple and Kelman and Hamiltons’ pieces help a viewer of A Few Good Men understand of how young men in the military are obligated to do what they are told no matter their opinion. While the values obedience are present in the pieces, they can be applied to movies and social human life.