Liar, Liar Essay

LIAR, LIAR

Liar, Liar is a movie produced in 1997 that talks about a lawyer who keeps on lying all the time, either to his friends at work, his wife whom because of lying and his work caused a lot of problems between them that led to a breakup and divorce, and even his little son. One day Fletcher, who plays the role of the lawyer, promised his son Max to be there on his 8th birthday, but of course Fletcher got busy with his work and had to come up with an excuse for his wife and son to miss the birthday. His son Max could see through the excuse and made a wish on his birthday that his father doesn 't lie for one day. All you find the next day is that Fletcher stops lying and can 't lie for a whole day, which causes him a difficulty in his work being a lawyer who always lie to get through with his profession.

The concept of this movie is lying, it showed us how lying can affect our lives. Lying cost Fletcher his marriage and his relationship with his son and made him lie during his work that he started believing his own lies. People who lie can be caught easily lying and that something not good, Fletcher didn 't care about what would happen if he kept on lying. All the lies he used to say and which are mostly white lies became so true to him and he kept going on with his life lying to everyone. "The movie orchestrates one situation after another in which he has to tell the truth. "Do you know why I pulled you over? ' ' a traffic cop asks. "That depends on how long you were following me, ' ' Carrey says. In one of the best sequences, he disrupts a meeting at his firm by telling the complete truth about everyone present." (Ebert, 1997)
This is what happened to Fletcher after his son made that wish that his dad does not lie for one full day and now Fletcher has to deal with the consequences of not lying where actually he has to lie in the case he has at his work.
Talking ethically and morally, lying goes against honesty. If we take some of the theories and compare them with what Fletcher has done by lying we will find that some theories agree with this concept and some others disagree with the idea of lying.
First of all, if we look at KANT 's theory it states that we should act morally regardless of the consequences, which means that we should do the right thing even if we know it will lead to bad results and that someone might get harmed or hurt. Here in Fletchers position he might have acted by the theory and he might have disobeyed what the theory said. He kept on lying at his work knowing that this might help him get through with his job being a lawyer, but the consequences is that he get used to it and he lost his wife and had problems with his son Max. However, Fletcher did the right thing by lying, to him this would help him so much, but morally we know that lying is not a good thing. His goodwill to lie is what made him do so, his intentions to lie were not bad and so he kept on lying but didn 't look at the consequences of that.
Moreover, if we look at another theory like the Egoism theory which states that everybody should act in their own interest and not think about others. That 's exactly what Fletcher did, he was lying to reach to his own goals and for his own good, he really didn 't care much about what others were doing or what they think about him which also cost him his marriage. Having an ego can sometimes be a good thing, as the theory says: "Ethical egoists sometimes maintain that if each person took care of himself/herself, the overall effect would be to make the world a better place for everyone." (Hinman, 2011). This is somewhat true, if people will do just do what 's good for their own will and takes care of his own self or her own self everyone will be living with no problems and no one would care about what the other is doing.
Last but not least, one last theory may contribute with the fact that Fletcher keeps lying, the Utilitarianism theory, which states that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone. The theory states that it focuses on the consequences not the intentions, so in the case of Fletcher the consequences are bad although his intentions are good, but Fletcher has to deal with his consequences as he is the one who put himself in this situation through his actions that no one else but him can live with. His actions indeed were wrong and the theory demands us to put aside our self-interest, but of course we can 't do that morally it means putting aside our beliefs. If this is true it would mean that Fletcher would not have lied again, but the fact is different than what the theory demands.
Overall , I think that the most suitable theory that would match with Fletchers case of lying is the Egoism theory. Kant 's theory would not match with the fact that he 's lying because morally lying is wrong.
Moving on with the idea of the society and principles of this story we can ask a question what is the impact of lying on the society? To answer this question we need to first compare between our society here in the UAE and the society in which the movie was made, USA. We can find a huge difference in both societies, for example, the USA is a democratic country unlike here in the UAE. However, lying itself is not a good thing in both societies. We cannot say that people can lie in USA and not here in UAE, in both societies lying is not allowed, not enforced by law, but morally and ethically people shouldn 't lie and in courts they are forced not to lie by law, unlike what Fletcher is doing as a lawyer that he is always lying. Sometimes people can 't avoid lying, you can never find a person who does not lie in his or her daily life, all people lie some are white lies and some are really serious or big. We all lie about anything but Fletcher turned those lies into something that he made himself believe. So in both societies either here in the UAE or USA, the people keep on lying everyday just not as much as Fletcher did in his life, we sometimes need to lie for our own self-interest, to avoid problems, but we never escape from the consequences of lying no matter how long we kept on lying.
The principle of this is that lying in all societies is wrong, whether it is in the UAE or USA or any other society. Although all societies are different from each other but the principle of lying is not allowed in all societies. People need to try to stop lying in their lives even if they need to lie to get away with something, there is nothing more better than being honest.
To conclude, lying breaks the code of ethics of lawyers and here is a part of the legal responsibilities of the lawyers in their field,

"DR 1-102 [1200.3] Misconduct.
A. A lawyer or law firm shall not:
1. Violate a Disciplinary Rule.
2. Circumvent a Disciplinary Rule through actions of another.
3. Engage in illegal conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer 's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer.
4. Engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.
5. Engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.
6. Unlawfully discriminate in the practice of law, including in hiring, promoting or otherwise determining conditions of employment, on the basis of age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation. Where there is a tribunal with jurisdiction to hear a complaint, if timely brought, other than a Departmental Disciplinary Committee, a complaint based on unlawful discrimination shall be brought before such tribunal in the first instance. A certified copy of a determination by such a tribunal, which has become final and enforceable, and as to which the right to judicial or appellate review has been exhausted, finding that the lawyer has engaged in an unlawful discriminatory practice shall constitute prima facie evidence of professional misconduct in a disciplinary proceeding.
7. Engage in any other conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer 's fitness as a lawyer." (Ethics, 2007)
According to Fletcher he has broken the code of ethics of lawyers by lying and by having a secret affair with one of his clients, the defendant he was defending in the movie. After Fletcher 's son, Max, made the wish and Fletcher stopped lying for a whole day, he learned that he should stop lying and to be honest with his wife, son, and in his work. This would lead him to a better life especially with his family.
Moral of this movie, never lie to your family, always be honest and respect the code of ethics or your work. Never let one lie takeover your life and be a routine that you have to lie every single day of your life to reach a level where you have to believe your own lies. References:

Ebert, R. (1997, March 21). Retrieved April 24, 2013, from www.rogerebert.com: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/liar-liar-1997

Ethics, C. o. (2007, December 28). Cornell University Law School. Retrieved April 25, 2013, from Legal Information Institute: http://www.law.cornell.edu/ethics/ny/code/NY_CODE.HTM

Hinman, L. M. (2011). Ethical Egoism. Acting Selfishly Creates a Better World .

References: Ebert, R. (1997, March 21). Retrieved April 24, 2013, from www.rogerebert.com: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/liar-liar-1997 Ethics, C. o. (2007, December 28). Cornell University Law School. Retrieved April 25, 2013, from Legal Information Institute: http://www.law.cornell.edu/ethics/ny/code/NY_CODE.HTM Hinman, L. M. (2011). Ethical Egoism. Acting Selfishly Creates a Better World .