In the film Le Miserables examples of communication ethics can easily be spotted throughout it's entirety. The film illustrates the difference in social classes specifically the contrast between the rich and the poor during the French Revolution.
In class, we defined communication as transmitting a message, an interaction, or an exchange of ideas just to name a few possibilities. It is interesting to view how the exchange between characters plays out in the film. Ethics have to do with how a person communicates based on their moral code. One of the first examples of this we see in the film is when Jean Valjean spends the night at the church. He greedily takes silver from the church and runs off with the stolen goods. The Bishop has the authority to ruin Valjean and severely punish him for his actions by sending him back to prison. But, when Valjean is returned to the church after being caught the bishop goes along with his lie that the silver was given to him and then gives Valjean more silver saying that he must make himself a better man with the money he gets from the silver. The Bishop saw how much Valjean's time as a prisoner affected him and knew that he would likely starve or return as a prisoner if he did not lie about the silver. In this situation the Bishop saw that lying about the silver was more ethically right in order to save Valjean from more crime and poverty since it was nearly impossible to work with a criminal record.
Valjean then destroys his papers and changes his identity to make a better life for himself. In that instance he realized that breaking the law in order to help himself and others was more morally correct because the benefits outweighed the risks.
In this first part of the film we see that communication choices can greatly affect the outcome of someone's life so we need to be cautious to make the best ethical decision even if it is not the most popular route.
I would agree with your statements about how Valjean changed his life for the better. I do have to ask if it is okay to lie if you have been a criminal or if you feel you were wrongly accused. As we study our communication in ethics we see that ethics play a big role in each and every communication we encounter.
ReplyDeleteI think you sum up communication very well in this Blog. I notice that you address how choices in communication can affect someones life. This holds very true and we must remember how important it is to be cautious of how much we disclose and who we confide in.
The observation you make about Valjean weighing the benefits and the risks of his choice to run from his past is an interesting comment. I feel like this could be a defining moment for communication ethics (even ethics as a whole). Like you said, even though he's aware of the ethical immorality of his actions to flee parole and change his name, he acknowledges that - morally - there is more good that can be done if he were to lie than if he were to tell the truth. I, too, identified the Bishop as a major player in Valjean's ethic morality. Again, your observation of weighing benefits versus risks applies to the Bishops actions. The Bishop acknowledges that lying will produce more good than telling the truth. The ethics of communication run rampant between the Bishop and Valjean, particularly within their views of truth and virtue.
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