Comparing A Few Good Men And The Perils Of Obedience

In A Few Good Men, director Rob Reiner portrays the court case of two Marines named Dawson and Downey, on trial for the murder of another Marine, William Santiago. Santiago was killed due to a code red ordered by Kendrick and Jessep. Dawson and Downey felt that they are innocent because they were just following orders. The same situation arises in “The Perils of Obedience,” by Stanley Milgram. Milgram believes that everyone is inclined to be obedient but not hold responsibility, and proves this by including an experiment where while administering shocks to learners, teachers would only continue when being told to do so and when they were told that they are not responsible for what happens to the learner. This experiment shows that although

This code causes Dawson and Downey to place their own unit in front of all things. This implies that Dawson and Downey would perform any action, no matter how horrible, in order to keep their unit in check. In the film, It presents Dawson as the stronger of the two young Marines. Dawson has been reprimanded by his superior, Kendrick, because he had not followed all orders he was given, one being a code red. Because of this, Kendrick knows that Dawson will never disobey him again, and orders him to perform a code red. Dawson follows through with the order and even orders Downey to assist him. In the article, “The Perils of Obedience,” author Stanley Milgram believes that obedience is “deeply ingrained" in every being. This implies that when someone of authority demands something be done, it will be done. The same idea is presented in the article, “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience,” by Herbert C. Kelam and V. Lee Hamilton. This article provides evidence that soldiers are more than willing to perform any act, no matter if the order is unethical or unclear. Milgram’s article proves Dawson and Downey’s argument to be true that they were just doing their job. The article by Milgram also provides an explanation for obedience as one harboring their own anger, which makes following orders that hurt someone else almost easy. In A Few Good Men, Dawson is

Kaffee talks to Dawson and Downey and states, “...from now on, "Willy" is Private Santiago. You start calling him Willy and all of a sudden he's a person who's got a mother who's gonna miss him” (Reiner). This implies that Kaffee does not want Santiago to be seen as a person, but rather just a name. In the article, “The Stanford Prison Experiment,” author Philip G. Zombardo speaks of the prisoners becoming dehumanized. Their identities have been replaced with matching and revealing smocks, they are referred to as numbers, and they have to live in cold and empty cells. The prisoners are obedient to the guards partly because they no longer feel like they deserve to stand up for themselves. The guards themselves are stripped of their personalities as well when they all have to wear matching uniforms, but in return they are given power. When the prisoners lack confidence and self respect, it is implied that they will more than likely become submissive to the guards who have growing confidence and power. The article implies that when assigned a position, whether it is pleasant or not, many will conform to this position and live it. This is apparent in A Few Good Men, when a character named Markinson knows that what he is doing is wrong, but continued to do it because he is a high rank and is in power. In the article, “The Perils of Obedience,” by Stanley Milgram,