Film Analysis Of Erin Brockovich, By Erin Brockovich

1740 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Importance of ethics in leadership

Introduction
Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) was a three time divorcee struggling with three young kids. She was involved in a hit and run accident and was badly injured thus hired a lawyer, Ed Masry (Albert Finney) to assist her in this case. Unfortunately, Ed Masry loses the case and he offered Erin a job as a file clerk in his small legal firm. She came across a file regarding Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and the people of Hinkley, which caught her attention and went on her investigation. After much investigation, she found out that the people in Hinkley are suffering from contaminated and poisonous water that is causing health threats and illness to the people, young and old. She found out that the plant PG&E had in Hinkley is the cause …show more content…

Erin feels that such actions by PG&E is unethical and thus help the people of Hinkley to fight for what they deserve which Erin feels that it is right to do so.
Honesty toward others – Erin is transparent to the people of Hinkley. She explains and gives only the truth to the people of Hinkley.
Building community with others – Erin is able to influence and convince the people of Hinkley to achieve a common goal which is to sue PG&E. Erin is able to unite and bring the whole town people together to fight for this case and get justice.
Thus with the evidences mentioned from the movie, we can see that Erin fulfill the five ethical leadership principles.
The LPC Contingency Model
Fiedler’s least preferred co-worker (LPC) theory is to determine the leader’s effectiveness through the leader’s personal characteristics. Leaders with high LPC have a good relationship with their followers and these leaders prioritize relationship before work while on the other hand leaders with low LPC prioritize work before relationships (Michaelsen , 1973). There are three elements identified in this model and they are Leader-member relations, Task structure and Position power (Fiedler, …show more content…

Firstly, Erin has a good leader member relations in terms of her relationship with her group of followers which is the people in Hinkley. The people in Hinkley trusted her and believe that she will be able to fight together with them and win this case for them.
Next, Erin is clear of her goals and aims, and understand clearly each of the situation of every members of the family in Hinkley and her goals was to win this case for the people of Hinkley.
Lastly, Erin has got a weak position power as she was only a clerk then and she has no authority or position power to make important decisions but she has the personal powe, the leadership power to make things work.
Other than those metioned above, in the movie we can see that Erin focuses on her task and prioritze her task before any other things which includes her relationships with her family and partner and therefore she falls under Low LPC.
Challenges –

Show More
Related

  • Abuse In The Movie 'Safe Haven'

    661 Words  | 2 Pages

    The abuser, Kevin, was Erin’s husband. He was a police officer who used his job connections to escalate his abuse. Kevin was a heavy drinker. He drank at home, but also on the job; he kept a water

    Read More

  • Nursing Case Study: Erin's Dilemma

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    O-Outline the option(s): convince Erin to speak to her parents, guide, provide information for Erin to make the best decision possible.

    Read More

  • How J.B. Priestley Uses Dialogue and Stage Directions in "An Inspector Calls

    2233 Words  | 5 Pages

    In act 1, while Arthur Birling was giving advice to Eric and Gerald, an Inspector gives them a visit to investigate a young working-class girl’s suicidal death. This is very important because later on, we find out how J. B. Priestley has linked the girl’s death to all the Birling family members.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest And Dead Poets Society

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    Consider McMurphy and Mr. Keating, both characters are very similar in a multitude of ways. Neither of them is in charge as they are both under their respective antagonist, either being Nurse Ratched or Principle Nolan. However throughout the progression of each plot, they both teach and inspire either the patients or the students to become individuals. McMurphy gave the patients the ability to seize back the power from Nurse Ratched through showing them the way how, and teaching the patients that they are their own person and have their own rights. Mr. Keating teaches the students how to be outside the box, as shown when in class he strays from the regular methods of teaching and shows the students a truly out-of-the-box concept about life, “Carpe Diem.” Towards the final moments of the plot, both characters achieve a full commitment to their cause that eventuates in self-sacrifice. McMurphy is lobotomized and Mr. Keating is fired from Welton Academy. However similarly in both plots, after both characters sacrifices themselves they pass on what they have learned and allowed others to beat their struggle for independence. Chief leaves the institution and the students stand up against Principle Nolan with what they believe in. Weir and Kesey use these characters to inspire and support those who struggle for independence and use their characterization as a technique to do so.

    Read More

  • Symbols In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

    1685 Words  | 4 Pages

    The story provides two dramatically polar-opposite symbols of power: McMurphy and Ratched (and her fog machine). McMurphy displays and utilizes his power through leadership and inspiration to the patients. McMurphy leads the crew of patients on a fishing trip, which leads to relevations for all of them. By the end of the trip, the patients are described “They could sense the change that most of us were only suspecting; these weren’t the same bunch of weak-knees from a nuthouse that they’d watched take their insults on the dock this morning” (196). This novel is based on the idea of power, and the idea of it is shown in every single chapter. However, to make the idea of power more dynamic, McMurphy was introduced by the author to display a certain type of power; power that is good and inspires others. By bringing in McMurphy, readers can see how truly changing the concept of power can be, but also show that power does not have to be evil and bad. McMurphy’s influence of the patients on the fishing trip shows that good power even has the capabilities of changing the lives of people. On the other hand, Nurse Ratched is also a symbol of power, but the power instilled by Nurse Ratched is very menacing and dark. An example of her power is when she “turns on the fog machine”. Nurse and her assistants are shown instilling their power like during moments “They’re at the fog machine again but they haven’t

    Read More

  • Film Analysis of The Graduate Directed by Mike Nichols

    2034 Words  | 5 Pages

    "Mrs. Robinson, you are trying to seduce me," says Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman). The Graduate, directed by Mike Nichols in 1967 is an influential satire/comedy film about a recent East Coast college graduated who finds himself alienated and aimless in the changing, social and sexual general public of the 1960s, and questioning the values of society. The theme of the film is of an innocent and confused youth who is exploited, mis-directed, seduced (literally and figuratively) and betrayed by a corrupt, self-indulgent, and discredited older generation (that finds stability in “plastics”) that I found to be quite clear and understanding, while also capturing the real spirit of the times and allows America's youth to perceive onscreen an image of themselves which they can both identify with and emulate. The Graduate is a significant film even today due to its use of abstract camera angles, telephoto lenses, excellent cinematography, and great acting. Few visual effects were used, however, matting and numerous point of view shots were used. These characteristics and the fabulous use of mis-en-scene, great writing and the era of the film all made The Graduate what it is today, magnificent.

    Read More

  • Ethical Issues in film Erin Brockovich

    1531 Words  | 4 Pages

    Erin fights for respect and acceptance from a world, which tends to judge from appearance only. Ed accuses her of extortion when she attempts to get raises out of him every time he approves her doing another job with the PG&E case. She asks for increase in salary and at one-point event benefits. Ed ends up giving it to her maybe because he knows that she is on to something and it could end up being really big. However, sh...

    Read More

  • The Breakfast Club

    392 Words  | 1 Pages

    Allison (Ally Sheedy) is the eccentric of the group. "My home life is unsatisfactory," she confides. Living in her own fantasy world, Allison can't really tell the difference between the truth and the lies she fabricates.

    Read More

  • My Directive Leadership Theory: Participative Leadership

    1713 Words  | 4 Pages

    Directive leadership is characterized as leaders taking the decision into their own hands and expecting the followers to just follow the instructions. We all have been in one of those groups where someone wants to become Adolf and control everything, am I right? Last but not least, Participative Leadership, which is my favorite, in which the leader involves the group in a goal setting to give input and share feedback with one another. This next theory completely opened my eyes. The dependencies for effective leadership is defined as situations where a mix of factors the control and influence productivity. The contingency theory used LPC to measure a leader’s motivation, and task motivation vs relationship motivation. People who are relationship motivated have an inclination to describe their least favored associates in a more optimistic, pleasant and efficient, and they also received higher LPC scores. Task motivated people have a tendency to rate their least favored associates in a more negative manner. Thus, they receive lower LPC scores. Therefore, the LPC scale is actually not about the least desired coworker. In fact, it is actually about the person who takes the test, and this person 's motivation type. This got me thinking - what kind of LPC am I? Apparently my leader member relationship is good, my task structure was unstructured, and my leader position power is strong. Also , my LPC was Low. I don’t think of myself as the all-out leader, but I have some great followership in my opinion. I feel that leaders can lead more effectively when there is a match between your motivation type and the situation. These matches exist between a task and relationship motivated leader. When a leader and the situation does not match, many things have to be altered. Since

    Read More

  • Film Analysis: The Shawshank Redemption

    1480 Words  | 3 Pages

    ‘Our interest in the parallels between the adaptation inter-texts is further enhanced by consideration of their marked differences in textual form,’

    Read More

  • McMurphy as Hero of Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

    506 Words  | 2 Pages

    There were no heroes on the psychiatric ward until McMurphy's arrival. McMurphy gave the patients courage to stand against a truncated concept of masculinity, such as Nurse Ratched. For example, Harding states, "No ones ever dared to come out and say it before, but there is not a man among us that does not think it. That doesn't feel just as you do about her, and the whole business feels it somewhere down deep in his sacred little soul." McMurphy did not only understand his friends/patients, but understood the enemy who portrayed evil, spite, and hatred. McMurphy is the only one who can stand against the Big Nurse's oppressive supreme power. Chief explains this by stating, "To beat her you don't have to whip her two out of three or three out of five, but every time you meet. As soon as you let down your guard, as sson as you loose once, she's won for good. And eventually we all got to lose. Nobody can help that." McMuprhy's struggle for hte patient's free will is a disruption to Nurse Ratched's social order. Though she holds down her guard she yet is incapable of controlling what McMurphy is incontrollable of , such as his friends well being, to the order of Nurse Ratched and the Combine.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of the Opening of Erin Brockovich

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    An Analysis of the Opening of Erin Brockovich Erin Brockovich is a film based on the true story of a poor single mother who becomes a lawyer. The film is basically a comedy drama, although not laugh out loud funny, just ironically funny. Steven Soderbergh directs it, and it is his 12th film after his hugely successful film 'Traffic'. The first scene is in some sort of doctor's office; she is applying for a job.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Magaret Atwood's Bluebeard's Egg: External versus Internal Self

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ned with Ed and Marylynn, and it is very logical that one would do so. However, readers may find reading this story more beneficial if they can learn from it. The lesson behind this story is that one should not be suppressing one's feelings and emotions too extensively and should let out these feelings by seeking forms of release or by simply expressing one's feelings. One might argue that Sally's esteem is what ultimately led to her downfall, nonetheless we have to keep in mind that confidence and self-approval, not to be confused with arrogance, are also what individuals need in order to live a fun and fulfilling life. It might be an overstatement to say that our protagonist is living a lie, but it is easy to say that she is not living her life as her true self, her internal self, and can very well never be happy in this lifetime if she continues to live this way.

    Read More

  • Article Analysis: Semi-Adequate Response

    1291 Words  | 3 Pages

    When she makes a decision about anyone in the company she think how it will affect the rest. She missed the opportunity to keep Adrienne from leaving the company after Tom. However, I cannot blame her for that because (1) she doesn’t know why Adrienne wanted to leave in the first place, and (2) even if Adrienne was following Tom’s steps, Mary wouldn’t have known about it because employees at Sambian do not trust managers, so they do not tell them anything about their personal life and relationships at work. Mary is an organized worker, she has a schedule of certain things and procedures she follows. One of the examples is the employee satisfaction survey, it was scheduled for a specific time, but she decided to move it up the schedule because it would be more relevant and helpful for the company at this time. She managed to get the survey up and running early, which means she has good time management skills and organized for the responses to be in on time. Mary is also not affected by the impulses, she prefers going slow and pays attention to small details before making the final

    Read More

  • Nickel And Dimes Critical Analysis

    1743 Words  | 4 Pages

    She starts to take a stand and realizes that she’s pathetic in the way that she’s just letting this pass by her. As she watches her co-workers take the abuse without any retaliation she snaps and tells Ted to treat them better. She’s surprised that no one has the fight to talk back. Surprisingly Ted gives her a raise when he calls her in. She thought she was going to get fired. Then she realizes it’s because another co-worker quit. She’s had enough and decides to reveal herself to everyone that she’s working in secret when she’s really an author. She asks why they would go through this kind of work and they say that it motivates them to work harder.Ehrenreich

    Read More

More about Film Analysis Of Erin Brockovich, By Erin Brockovich

Open Document