Post 1 - Les Miserables

In the first part of the movie, Les Miserables, communication ethics was illustrated in various ways. A simple definition of communication ethics that the class came up during lecture could be put as the right or wrong way of transmitting a message or interacting between two or more persons.

One example of this happening throughout the movie was the interaction between Jean and Javert. When Jean was labeled as a criminal, he was treated horribly, especially by Javert. But when Jean became a mayor and changed his identity, Javert treated Jean's new identity with respect. The interactions between Javert and the two different identities of Jean are completely opposites. It shows how power plays a large role in communication ethics. Those with more power (or higher status), like Javert, feel that they can treat those who have less power or status, like Jean the criminal, disrespectfully or in a mean manner. This is not ethically right, but this sort of interaction happens throughout the movie. But since Jean the mayor had equal, if not more power than Javert, Javert treated him as an equal with respect, even though he may not have agreed with some of Jean the mayor's actions.

Another example are the interactions between Fantine and the women factory workers. Their interactions seemed to be just fine -- they are all there to work, the don't have to be friends --before they had found out she had a baby outside of wedlock. But once they found that out, they were mean and judged her. They were trying to communicate that because she had a baby, she was a bad person and would cause trouble, and they did all of this in front of everyone in that building, even though none of this may not be true. They communicated this message well enough to the foreman and he fired her. The right way to communicate this message would have been for the ladies to talk to the foreman privately, and he privately with Fantine.