Fidelity In Movies Essay, Research Paper
In today’s society, fidelity is something that most people no longer pay mind to. It has become so common to lie or cheat in a relationship that it is not looked at as a loss of moral values for most of today’s modern and more liberal society. It is rather unfortunate because I believe that the ability to maintain proper morals and values, or to instill them into those that are our future plays an important role in our lives today.
In the Webster’s Dictionary the noun, fidelity, is written to mean the quality or state of being faithful. This can be taken in a number of ways depending on the relationship two people may have. For example, the relationship between a parent and child, husband and wife, a friendship all carry a certain idea that one will be honest and faithful to the other and vice versa. Sometimes these feelings are also diverted. They may backfire and cause feelings of mistrust. Lying, cheating, abuse are all factors.
There are other values of morality other than fidelity. Other values or ethics deal with morality or the basis of moral values. Whether or not one should steal, rape, kill are all part of instilling morals. Any parent that would teach a child that these things are good was not raised in a normal loving household. It is extremely easy to blame society with what goes on in the media. Unfortunately what these people refuse to believe is that not everyone is born bad. They are taught these things by the company they keep or by the situations they involve themselves in.
In the play “Medea”, Medea faces the harsh reality of infidelity. Her husband Jason has left her for a princess. Medea, like any normal woman today would want revenge. The difference between them is that the normal woman would not commit the crime, while in fact Medea does. After what feels like an eternity of planning and vowing revenge she devises a plan to murder the woman who has stolen her husband as well as her husband and their two children. She feels betrayed and has every right to. Imagine in that time that it was a crime to commit adultery, but because Jason had left his wife for a princess it was plausible which left Medea livid. After being given a place of exile Medea puts her plan into action by “making a mends” with Jason. She in turn gives him gifts for his new princess. These gifts are poisoned and in turn cause the princess and the king’s death. She also murders her young children. This leaving Jason miserable and to blame he carries around his guilt, this leaving Medea happy with her revenge.
Picture that on the five o’clock news today. Unfortunately this has been something that has become so common it only proves that there is a definite loss in fidelity today. But sometimes, when you walk out of a movie theater, you can still feel that good overcomes evil.
In the film ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ the relationship held between the three girls, Natalie, Dylan and Alex is a,chemistry within its own right. The girls grow to depend on one another. To trust one another and know that undoubtedly they will be there to help each other out. As it is in their relationship with Bosley. Bosley aside from being a friend is also someone that the girls look up to and respect not only because he is their superior but also because they know that he would never harm them. Neither would his superior, a man with no identity, known only by his voice and with the name of Charlie.
In this film, Charlie is given an assignment for his girls to complete. He is told that a media mogul has been kidnapped and his partner has hired the Angels to find him. They begin their investigation to find that he may be linked to someone who is in the same field, but not as advanced. This leads to an investigation where the girls must go undercover to trap the “bad guy” only to believe that the mission is complete.
The philosopher Thrasymachos believed that justice was the advantage of the stronger people in his “just world.” For him, these things defined justice. The laws were made by those with political power and used for their own advantage. This is similar to those that played the evil roles in the film. The “bad guys,” if you will who wanted to do exactly that with their power by using money as an influence to get what they wanted.
To make a long story short the good guy turns out to have an evil streak. In this case he does a great job of deluding Dylan. He makes her believe that he and she should be romantically involved and in this case after a wonderful evening together his partner shows up at his house and together they kill her. Like all movies, she’s not really dead. She survives and finds her comrades to fight the enemy and to save her superiors.
At the same time Alex is dating a film star who is enthralled with himself more than her. Her ideal of fidelity is put on the line because she is not honest with him about what she really does for a living. Of course once she decides to tell him what she really does his trailer is blown to pieces, yet he is understanding and amusingly aroused.
Natalie finally meets the right guy during a stakeout and finds a genuine interest in him as they begin a relationship where fidelity will become an important factor. He seems to be an innocent man much like Natalie’s character. His actions portray him to be a well brought up young man.
As we all know Charlie’s identity is and has always been a secret. His trust and loyalty is put in the hands of Bosley as well as the girls by never revealing who he is. That was something we were made to understand from the beginning. It is a part of their understanding and relationship with one another.
After making a brief opening, the film introduces us to their life before becoming an Angels. They were all raised in good homes with loving environments and although one might have had a better education then the other there is still a regard to proper morals. My statement meaning that money will not buy you a better ethical or moral background. That may be used as an excuse. From the wealthiest to the most humble I believe that if good morals and values are instilled in you, you will undoubtedly be a good person.
Their true feelings of fidelity are towards each other. Much like the philosopher Polemarchos the girls believed that justice was “each person getting what is owed to them.” By this statement they followed general rules of doing the right thing by your friends, protecting yourself and those you love from your enemies and following the old saying “an eye for an eye.”
All in all I came to look at them as if they were a family. It made me believe that no matter how bad the world may one day be as long as I have someone that I love and cherish by my side who was taught the same ethical and moral values as I was it will be much easier to raise my child to be the same way. It is something that I believe we have lost as we adapt to a more liberal society. Hopefully with time I hope that most people will find that those values make the world a better place to live.