Ethical dilemmas

Prior to beginning work on this assignment, listen to Of Marvel and Morals (Links to an external site.).

Your goal for this assignment is to apply ethical theories to a moral or ethical dilemma. You will identify a moral or ethical dilemma in society, identify ethical theories related to the societal issue, and examine how social actors attempt to resolve their ethical concerns. You will do this through a film review.

Choose a film from the list below. Watch the film and record your personal field notes regarding the issues raised in the film. Then, prepare an original essay of at least 650 words that addresses all the following prompts.

Note: you must submit your field notes separately from the essay.

In your paper,

• Develop a thesis that summarizes what the film is telling the viewer about how social actors attempt to resolve their ethical concerns.


• Summarize the plot of the film, identifying the main social issue(s) that are being addressed.


• Explain at least one ethical dilemma introduced in the film.
  
  
  
  • What ethical stances are being taken and how are they central to the story being told in the film?
  
  
  
  


• Identify the philosophical theory (i.e., utilitarianism, deontology, or virtue ethics) that corresponds with the stance taken by characters in the film.

Note: you must submit your field notes as a separate Word document or PDF in addition to your essay.

Film Choices:

• Philadelphia (1993)


• Quiz Show (1994)


• Miss Evers’ Boys (1997)


• The Emperor’s Club (2002)


• The Rosa Parks Story (2002)


• The Sea Inside (2004)


• Thank You for Smoking (2005)


• Gone Baby Gone (2007)


• The Dark Knight (2008)


• Inception (2010)


• Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)


• Passengers (2016)


• Thor: Ragnarok (2017)


• Black Panther (2018)

The Applying Theory: Ethical Dilemmas in Film paper

• Must be at least two to three double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.)


• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  
  
  
  • Title of paper
  
  
  • Student’s name
  
  
  • Course name and number
  
  
  • Instructor’s name
  
  
  • Date submitted
  
  
  
  


• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.


• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  
  
  
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
  
  
  
  


• Must use at least two scholarly sources in addition to the course text.
  
  
  
  • The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
  
  
  • To assist you in completing the research required for this assignment, view this Ashford University Library Quick ‘n’ Dirty (Links to an external site.) tutorial, which introduces the Ashford University Library and the research process, and provides some library search tips.
  
  
  
  


• Must document any information used from any sources in APA Style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)


• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the APA: Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.


• Late Policy: Written assignments (essays, journals, presentations) are due on the specified days in the course. Written assignments will be subject to a late penalty of up to 10% per day up to three days late. If written assignments are submitted after 72 hours past the due date, instructors can give a penalty up to and including a grade of 0 for the assignment.