Spotlight Film Analysis

Freedom and Responsibility Freedom and responsibility are two directly related concepts that explored throughout many works of art. There are three different philosophical balancing acts related to this topic: conformity and free thinking, positive and negative freedom, and responsibility for others versus responsibility for yourself. To conform is to follow the group and to think freely is to allow one self’s thoughts to diverge from the group. These free thoughts can help one’s group to develop new traditions or can make the group more prone to throw out the free thinker, for disrupting the peace. Balancing these things can allow one to remain an individual while still belonging to one’s group. Positive freedom consists of the freedom to

In the movie, the Catholic church and its members were protecting priests that had been molesting children. Once a priest was accused of rape, they would be taken out of that church and moved to another one with no legal consequences. This protection is an example of the Catholic church members conforming to this idea that priests should not be prosecuted for their actions because they are under the influence of God. Anyone who protested was silenced immediately by the church to protect their image. Freethought was not allowed within the church. However, the Spotlight investigation team had no limit on their free thought and used their knowledge of the churches’ atrocities to question further the people involved. The Catholic church saw this as positive freedom, where they were protecting themselves by keeping the information from the public. Them protecting themselves, however, was negative freedom because of how many children were hurt by this and ashamed. They could speak out, but no one would listen to them, and they were too ashamed to try to talk to someone about the incident. One of the survivors portrayed in the movie had not even told his wife about it because he was so humiliated by the incidents. The journalists of Spotlight felt they had a responsibility to the victims of the church, and investigated the church’s court case to publish an article that would show how corrupt the church and law was for

Both Banksy and the investigators in the film felt a responsibility to encourage others to be aware and act. By opening others eye’s, they make them responsible for causing change, either by voting or speaking out when something is wrong. Conforming is not something Banksy or the journalists do, however, the society around them does. The journalists and Banksy use positive freedom to open other eyes and help victims of different crisis like the raping of children at churches and the Syrian refugee crisis. Negative freedom is also seen by the church burying information on the priests to protect them instead of the children, while Banksy protects himself by hiding his identity. They both take responsibility for themselves and encourage others to do the same. Freedom is impossible without taking responsibility, as shown in both sources, and vice