A Bronx Tale Analysis Essay Example
A Bronx Tale Analysis Essay Example

A Bronx Tale Analysis Essay Example

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  • Pages: 3 (799 words)
  • Published: February 5, 2017
  • Type: Analysis
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In the movie A Bronx Tale, young Calogero witnessed a shooting outside his house. The cops show up at his house later that day to question him. The police officer had Calogero go to where the police had a line of men who were suspects of the shooting. Calogero got to Sonny, who was pretty much the head gangster of the neighborhood. Calogero knew it was Sunny but chose to tell the police it wasn’t any of them.

The lie that Calogero told to the police is morally wrong because according to Pollock, in the ethics book “Morals and morality refer to what is judged as good conduct. Pollock, 8, 2012). I would say that the lie he told was not illegal. Akrasia is the weakness of will, especially a failure to act according to a sense of moral obligation. I b

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elieve he did fail to act to his obligation to tell the truth. The ethical issues that are addressed in “A Bronx Tale” are religious and applied ethics. “Applied ethics is the study of what is right and wrong pertaining to a specific profession or subject” (Pollock, 8, 2012).

The application of ethical principles to specific issues is also addressed in the text. Religious ethics is the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc. : medical ethics” (Dictionary. com, 2012). The moral system and core of Sonny would be morality of integrity. Clearly an individual has interests, views and intentions – yet which rights does he have to pursue these against higher powers and other individuals' interests? Sonn

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seems to only have his best interest in himself. For Calogero, his ethical system would be ethics of virtue. Calogero approaches a moral dilemma and finds himself lying to the police.

The ethical system that fits Rosina best would be utilitarianism. Where actions are judged right or wrong solely by their consequences. Right actions are those that produce the greatest balance of happiness over unhappiness. (The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation) Each person's happiness is equally important. The ethical system that fits Calogero would be deontology. Emphasis is on moral rules and duty. If not willing for everyone to follow the rule, then it is not morally permissible. Emphasis on autonomy, justice and kind acts. People treated as ends, never means.

Rosina responds to the situation by getting scared and always watching out the window and making sure Calogero got inside right away when he got home. She responded this way because it is an action that is produced over happiness or unhappiness. She was not happy when she saw her son at the bar one day and proceeded to yell at him and question why he was there. Calogero responds to the situation differently because he is young and does not understand what happens most of the time. When Calogero was nicknamed “C” by sonny he took on a lot more responsibility. As stated in the movie, Calogeros dad told Sonny, you made him grow up to fast.

Calogero became more of a teleological ethical system when he became “C”. He judged the consequences of the act of telling the truth to the police. Even a bad act, if it results

in good consequences, can be defined as good under a theological system”. (Pollock, 2012: 25). Calogero and his friends became different when Sonny came into the picture. They kind of went separate ways because Sonny was always taking Calogero away. As C grows up and becomes a teenager, socialization occurs. Resocialization is radically changing a person’s personality by carefully controlling the environment around them.

Their identity is broken down and a new self is re-built. In this case, Sonny controls the environment around C and thus, changes C into a bad-boy. The total institution, which is a setting in which people are isolated from the rest of society and manipulated by an administrative staff, is Sonny’s group. As C becomes closer to Sonny, his relationship with his real father strays and his beings to rebel and not listen to him. Soon, Sonny “replaces” his father. As time passes, Sonny grows in power while the neighborhood stays the same. Everyone grows up and they finally get their own social club.

The socializing agents are C’s friends and family. When C was young, he was always dependent on his parents when making decisions. Calogero shows an example of free will. He exempts from responsibility in this sense are the young and the insane. Discretion is also showed by him, that is, the power to make a decision. Although the specific decisions are different, they all involve power over others and the potential deprivation of life, liberty, or property. An ethical system is a structured set of principles that defines what is moral.

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