Abstract
Film can be used effectively to teach business ethics, but, for a variety of reasons, teachers need to choose wisely which films to use. In this paper, I argue that Michael Moore’s film Roger and Me is especially well-suited for use in a business ethics classroom, in part because it avoids some of the problems associated with other films. Moreover, the film does several things that standard business ethics textbooks do not do. Through this visual medium, Moore is able: (1) to make the audience complicit at least to some degree in the dynamics it portrays; (2) to raise questions about the status of those whose voice is heard (including the voice of Michael Moore) and of those who do not get to speak or are actively silenced; and (3) to perform its magic through a powerful “showing” instead of a plodding “telling”. This multi-faceted capability of art fuses the ethical with the aesthetic (where “aesthetic” is understood to refer both to the specific powers of art and to the sensed dimension of ethical issues).
Perhaps it is necessary to imagine much, in order to know a little. Etienne Gilson
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Notes
- 1.
Michaelson (2005).
- 2.
Kerri Miller, “The Psychological Strain Facing the Long-Term Unemployed,” discussion with Robert Leahy, Midmorning with Kerri Miller, November 4, 2011, Minnesota Public Radio, http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/11/04/midmorning1/.
- 3.
Aristotle, De Anima.
- 4.
DeGeorge (2010), p. 197.
- 5.
DeGeorge, pp. 424–425. DeGeorge never states clearly what he means by the “system.” Moore would say that the “system” includes linguistic abuse by those in power, various methods corporations have for avoiding accountability, strategies adopted by executives to undermine critics, and so on.
References
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Koehn, D. (2014). Ethical Darkness Made Visible: Michael Moore’s Roger and Me . In: Koehn, D., Elm, D. (eds) Aesthetics and Business Ethics. Issues in Business Ethics, vol 41. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7070-6_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7070-6_7
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