Shattered Glass Essay

Shattered Glass begins with an obvious "good guy". However as the movie progresses we being to see who actually does what's right for everyone, in place of what's right only for themselves.
Stephen Glass…most everyone in the office loves him. His stories are very colorful, and exciting, he is the young star of The New Republic, he is very popular, and well liked. Not only is he well liked, but he has certain characteristic’s that could make anyone sympathize with him. Such as when he innocently asks, “are you mad at me?” Multiple times within the film. Or when, while hosting a party, he convinces fellow co-worker Caitlin that his parents are putting an extreme amount of stress on him to become a lawyer, making it appear as though even now, as an adult, he still cannot make decisions for himself.
However, Stephen Glass turns out to not be the star of the office like he appears. When Michael Kelly, the editor of The New Republic, is fired and another employee ,Chuck Lane is promoted to take his place, things around The New Republic take a sour turn for Stephen and his friends. Then the situation
progresses from bad to worse once it is discovered by Adam Penenberg, of rival magazine Forbes Digital Tool, that Stephen’s latest article “Hack Heaven” doesn’t have any credible sources or information things quickly begin to crumble around him. What could’ve been dismissed as a rookie mistake on Stephen’s part of being tricked by a few hackers is quickly turning into something much worse that could put the entire magazine in jeopardy. As perviously mentioned Stephen is the poster child for sympathy, he is a pro at using his innocence and unstable demeanor in order to gain compassion from his coworkers. However it quickly becomes obvious that what was once thought to be a rookie mistake, is nothing more that a web of lies that Stephen weaved together to make “Hack Heaven” seem credible. Once he realizes his lies have caught up with him, he tries to manipulate those around him. Going so far as to create a fake website for a phony company, to get his brother to pretend to be a president or said phony company, even resulting to calling coworkers and even pleading to Chuck that she couldn’t be trusted to be alone, in fear that he would harm himself. Whether or not he was truly hysterical or contemplating self harm over being fired from the New Republic is unknown, but I feel as though this was nothing other than Stephen trying to hold onto whatever connection he had left to The New Republic. While Chuck may be strict it is obvious he care deeply about working for The New Republic, whereas Stephen doesn’t seem to have any morals in regards to the magazine he’s so loved writing for. Going so far as to lie to Chuck’s face, even after tired to help him. The only time he came clean was when he was confronted head on about his lies, and even then he tried to use pity to prevent being fired. Glass was cunning and tried to use all the tools at his disposal to keep the job that he ruined for himself.
At first Chuck Lane is considered to be very stiff, and antisocial. The good people of The New Republic couldn’t stomach the thought of him being the new editor, especially after someone as amazing as Michael Kelly. Some going so far as to even consider quitting, even though Chuck was only trying to do his job. Not to mention, that compared to Stephen, Chuck’s stories are a bit lackluster, such as when he was forced to tell about his article he planned to publish about Haiti after the spectacle that is Stephen, just shared his story about a hackers convention that blew any other submissions out of the water. Because of his more serious demeanor, and him being promoted to editor when he wasn’t particular popular amongst his fellow employee’s he’s had more than his fair share of awkward moments.
Despite Chuck’s shortcomings and his being generally disliked his personality really shine’s through when Stephen’s “Hack Heaven” article is brought into question.
Although he may not have been good friend’s with Stephen, and he’d had all the evidence and reason’s to suspend Stephen for what was believed to be a rookie mistake, he still took the time to go check and see if all of Stephen’s facts added up. He truly tries to stay loyal to Stephen and give him a chance to prove that he hadn’t been fooled by unreliable resources. However once none of his facts line up it was obvious that Stephen had gotten himself into deep trouble. Despite that fact, Stephen still holds up against Chuck, he insists that he hasn’t done anything wrong, much to Chuck’s irritation. But when all the lies came to light he was not afraid to do the difficult things no matter how he would be
judged. Michael Kelly was the people’s editor, a man with a great personality who always stands up for his workers, even if it means that The New Republic suffers for it. He may have been the editor that everyone wanted, but Chuck was the editor that was needed. The movie starts out with Stephen Glass cast in a brilliant light, a kid with a bright future ahead of him. However we truly see the real “hero”, is Chuck. Fact checking every single one of Stephen’s articles, and never backing down when it came to the magazine proves he wants The New Republic readers to have the best information possible, and that he wants to do the best he can for the magazine. He stays loyal to the magazine, and even though at one point his opinion was not the most popular one, he still stuck with what he knew he had to do. In this process not only did he earn the respect of his fellow coworkers, show via and apology letter and a round of applause for his dedication, but he put an end to Stephen’s deceit and really shone through as the “good guy.”