by George F Pecoraro

Created on: June 09, 2008

Ethics and death as a topic for discussion, and the manner in which it is being utilized, and by whom, and for what purpose, can become quickly vague and distorted. Subjective and inferred references are often the cause of many a writer getting caught up in the side nuances, of which ethics, or death as a topic can induce. This is very prevalent in many discussions of Ethics and death in Film.

When a writer engages his or her creative side to compose a written work, decisions must be made relative to the purpose of that work. For example, I am a poet. I need to write a poem. If it is for my own personal expression, I have no constraints. However should I have a friend ask me to write a poem for his soon to be wife, or to help him express grief at the death of his mother for a eulogy, that changes my approach entirely, Therefore, it is the same with the movie making industry, and its use of ethics and death in its films.

I highly expect it is the same for a screenwriter. I cannot say that I am familiar with any major film production that did not have a writer as the source of the screenplay. I have never been involved in the production of a movie. I have with live theatre. I will risk the assumption that the director of the screenplay is likening to that of the director of a stage play. The original writer of that script does not always have changes in script presented to him or her for approval by the director and some times the producers. They get what they want, for whatever reason they have, and often at the chagrin of the writer.

Film, or movies if you will, can from the perspective of the writer be a medium of art. To the heads of a studio the esoteric side of film, the use of that film to express, ideologies, or to bring awareness of ethical questions to the public, is far less important to them then how much money the film will make. This concern of the studio relies more on the demographics of the times rather then any historical accuracy within the film's setting or the ethics of the characters. This is true of the western genre in its beginnings.

It would not be until the mid forties and early fifties that we begin to see changes in direction and content. The use of Ethics and Death would become a tool to manipulate audiences into attending (and PAYING to see) the movies.

In the earliest editions of western genres in movies, we can see the demographic influence of the times. Audiences were made up of mostly working class people, not the Socialites

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next Page >>