The Insider, an award winning film directed by Michael Mann and starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe, tells a story about a "whistle blower" that works for tobacco giant Brown & Williamson (B&H) teaming up with a CBS 60 Minutes producer/journalist. Working together they bring to light the fraud and health risks that the Tobacco industry knowingly commits on the general public. Based on a true story, Jeffrey Wigand, a senior scientist originally employed at B&H (played by Russell Crowe), and Lowell Bergman, a respected CBS 60 Minutes producer (played by Al Pacino), take on enormous personal and professional risks fighting their respective corporate employers to bring the truth to the world. Having worked for B&W as Head of Research and Development and as a corporate vice president, Wigand has the key information to bring down the company, and being an esteemed producer of CBS 60 Minutes, Bergman possesses the ability to inform the public of Wigand’s knowledge. However, the journey to reveal the truth is not so easy, as the two men are set against CBS corporate’s unwillingness to air the story and B&W’s ironclad confidentiality …show more content…
The plot evokes deep thought within its characters, as they constantly struggle with their evolving goals and values. Lowell Bergman represents the newsman with integrity, but in his quest to deliver the news, his pledge to his source is compromised and he is forced to balance and prioritize his values. Jeffrey Wigand begins as a family man, but in his crusade he loses everything he once had and has to deal with newly altered values and goals. Wigand is the insider in that he has the information to bring down the tobacco industry, but Bergman is also an insider in that he is the newsman with the power to inform the public. In the end, both men are considered heroes because they got the secret out that nicotine is a
Do we control the judgments and decisions that we make every day? In the book,
...t task to tell a story from someone’s perspective rather than my own. Although, considering other’s perspectives can be detrimental in order to understand the choices they make. I sympathize with Wideman because he has a difficult task, which he accomplished outstandingly. I was surprised on how much emphasis he gives to the possibility that he may be misrepresenting his brother’s perspective, and consider this is a smart move in the sense that he is being fair to his brother. Finally, I consider any solutions he has taken to not interfere with Robby’s perspective have failed because representing another person’s point of view rather than your own is next to impossible.
Throughout the novel the characters are put in these situations which force them to obtain information about the people they thought they knew. The center of finding out who everyone is was brought into play through the death of Marie. The story is told by David, only twelve years old, who sees his family an community in a different light for who they truly are under there cover. By doing his own little investigations, often times eavesdropping, David saw through the lies, secures and betrayals to find the truth.
The prominent theme that was exhibited throughout the novel was inhumanity. The quote "Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky." This quotation shows how a powerful authority had all the control to carry out disturbing actions and no common ma...
The story The Outsiders By S.E Hinton is said to be “timeless” because kids can relate to the characters and themes of the story. In my opinion the story The Outsiders is not timeless because kids these days can’t relate to the characters in the story The Outsiders. Kids today aren’t riding in rodeos, roll drunks, jump smaller kids, walk to a stranger's house, or get in a stranger’s car, also they get arrested at the age of 10. Saying the statement “The Outsiders is a “timeless” book “ is an invalid statement. So, Kids today often don’t relate to The Outsiders anymore in many ways.
Michael Mann's "The Insider" revolves around one whistle blower's true story. Jeffrey Wigand, a former Brown and Williamsons research scientist's justice. He is fired as a consequence for his poor communication skills, but he was actually dismissed because he disagreed to the method of manipulating the nicotine content in cigarettes to enhance addiction. ‘The Insider’ is predominantly an individual’s struggle for predominance, idealism, and is a reflection of Wigand’s intrinsic moral values. At the beginning of the film, Mann has used Misen-en-scene to establish Wigand's character without vocally articulating it through the frame work of spoken dialogue. Wigand is sitting in his office, completely disorientated from the work, packing boxes, juxtaposed against the busy office environment. This aids in establishing his character as well as reflects his inner feelings in this scene.
Lies and Mendacity run rampant in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. They help keep the play going and keep it interesting. The play shows us the lies that people tell themselves and other instead of the truth that is hard to accept but must be said.
Imagine what it would have been like to be cooped up in an attic during the Holocaust,with only very little space eight people in one little attic. For the Franks and the Van Danns it was eight people and a cat for most the time. With no one to talk to they have to keep everything in, unless they write it. In “The Diary of Anne Frank” the two families live this way. Anne and Peter were two of the characters who experienced this. Anne is a teenage girl who has a sister and lives during the Holocaust. Anne also had a lot of friends so she was popular; she loved to read and write in her journal. She was very loud and obnoxious. In Act one Scene two ,Peter says “I was always by myself, while you were in a big crowd of people.” This shows that Anne was very popular and is used to people; while Peter was not used to as much attention and people. Then in Act one Scene three, Mr.Van Dann says, “ Why can’t you be more like your sister Margot?” This proves that the Van Danns like Margot more than they like Anne ; it also proves they think Anne is obnoxious.
The protagonists of both films were caught in a time frame when promoting sex and cigarettes was taboo. Alfred Kinsey is driven to educate the men and women in his society of the mysteries of human sexuality in a period of time when sex was secret, whereas the job of Nick Naylor is to promote cigarette smoking in a time when the health effects proved it to be a danger to the public’s health. Both these men share a similar predicament, though their approach to these obstacles differs. Kinsey unveils his argument through substantial research conducted by interviews and uses truth to justify his knowledge in an educational setting. Naylor, however, uses manipulation to reinforce the negative habit of smoking and tries to glamorize it in Hollywood movies. While Kinsey’s argumentation enhances the positive improvement of public knowledge, Naylor’s argumentation degrades the health, education, environment, and stereotype for the individuals in his socie...
Is it better to be an individual or conform to expectations just to fit in like others? This choice is faced by Ponyboy Curtis, the narrator, throughout S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. He belongs to the Greasers, a group of delinquent friends, who are viewed by many as poor and dangerous, while the rival Socs are viewed as rich, smart, and powerful causing the Greasers to envy them. Ponyboy learns from Randy Adderson, a Soc who is trapped by stereotype threat, that their lives are not as perfect as he expected it to be and they too face problems. In addition, Ponyboy tries to act tough and fit in with the rest of gang, but his Greaser companions, such as Two-Bit Matthews, teach him to embrace his own characteristics which sets him apart from
Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” focuses on several characters throughout the novel making the idea of a main character moot. However, one character can be described as the most influential to the plot of the graphic novel. Rorschach can be seen as such due to the fact that he narrates a large portion of the novel, and his heroic code that he follows. Not only does he influence the plot by those two reasons, but also by uniting the characters after a long silence. The Comedian is the only character that almost perfectly fits as the character with the most influence on the plot of “Watchmen.” The death of his character allows for the plot to be set in motion. He has not only has he shaped every other character in the novel, but the symbol that represents his character can be found throughout the graphic novel. Although Rorschach can be interpreted as the most influential character of “Watchmen,” The Comedian influenced more aspects of the plot than any other character of the graphic novel.
In the book The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, there is an emotional and inspiring story about eight Jewish people hiding in a Secret Annex in Amsterdam, Holland, making an effort to survive in the harsh time period of the Holocaust. The time period and setting of this book is World War II and during the Holocaust. It is in 1942 through 1944, and in Amsterdam, Holland. The street name of this Secret Annex in the attic of the old office building of Otto Frank is Prinsengracht 263-267, 1016 GV. This influential play has the story about eight Jews going into hiding in the dreaded time of the Holocaust, and giving it all their will and strength to survive and get through the 1940s. The main characters of this book are Anne Frank and her family, the Van Pel Family, Fritz Pfeffer, Miep Gies, and Mr. Kraler. D-Day is an important event for these Jewish fellows, and it gave a lot of meaning to them. These Jews went through a lot of stress and mixed emotions. Anne says, “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart” (Goodrich and Hackett 122). This quote shows the way that Anne can extract all of the bad in people and just see the good in people, even when they might be very notorious. D-Day gave these innocent Jewish members of the Annex a sense of hope and faith in these Allies to fight through German defenses to come rescue and save the Jews. Not only did D-Day give them hope and faith, but it also gave them a sense of safety and comfort each time the Allies get one step closer to aid.
The Outsiders is about the life of a 14-year-old boy. The book tells the story of Ponyboy “Curtis” and his struggles with right and wrong in a society in which he believes that he is an outsider. Ponyboy and his two brothers, Darrel (Darry), who is 20, and Sodapop, who is 16, have recently lost their parents in an automobile accident. Pony and Soda are allowed to stay under Darry's guardianship as long as they all behave themselves. The boys are greasers, a class term that refers to the young men on the East Side, the poor side of town. The greasers' rivals are the Socs, short for Socials, who are the "West-side rich kids."
Michael Henchard’s constant exercise of jealousy, pride, immature actions and overwhelming emotions bring him to his tragic end. Although Henchard might have you think he is a victim, the reader can see that his personality leads to the conclusion of his downfall and that Henchard’s inability to learn from his first mistakes takes him down a path no one wants to face. He might have been able to survive his mistakes had he not been so self-destructive. But because of the combination of his personality traits and the complexity of his character’s mind, he is eventually led to the nothingness that engulfs him.
It is based on a true story related to a 1994 episode of the CBS news show 60 Minutes