Film Analysis Essay on Law Abiding Citizen

Introduction

Law abiding citizen is a movie written by Kurt Wimmer and Frank Darabont. Shelton wife and daughter are being killed as he sees them, D.A Nick gets the two of the people who orchestrated the killing of Shelton's family, but he makes the two to testify against each other, on learning about this ten years later, Shelton decides to take revenge by himself. This movie has been written by incorporating various philosophies as put forward by Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato. Socrates is known to be the father of philosophy, and he was a key player in the development of philosophies in Greece.

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Socratic method. Socrates took Athens like his classroom, he could go around Athens asking people diverse questions about the social life, and he pretended to be not aware of what is going on in the society, he assumed that he was ignorant. In his method, Socrates was in the quest to expose and dispel error which was in the society. Socrates grew up at a time when Athens was undergoing drastic change politically, socially and economically and the philosophies put forward by Socrates helped to shape the state of the country.

As displayed in the movie, philosophy refers to the general study and interpretation of human values, language, knowledge and the state of the human mind. Hypothetical imperative philosophy is a philosophy which is put in place; there is a desire for a certain result. In this case, there are two actions which are in place such that you have to abscond to do one thing for you to achieve another. In the movie Law Abiding Citizen, Shelton threatens Nick that if he was not going to declare him free the following day in the morning, his family would be killed. In this case, Nick had a choice to choose which action to take for him to get either good or negative results.

Deontology philosophy has been used in the movie. In this case, the action is subjected to judgment to determine whether it is good or bad about the standing norms of the society; the result of the action is not put into consideration. Utilitarianism is utilized in this case; this means that if the action is good, definitely results will be useful; hence actions will be put into consideration since the action will come automatically based on actions. In the movie, it is evident that Shelton chooses to take an action of killing Derby who was involved in the killing of his family without considering the consequences. When Nick interrogated him, he admitted boldly that he killed Darby.

Shelton displays human nature philosophy when he retaliates to the killing of his wife and daughter by killing Derby and Aim. This was called when he realized that Nick was not willing to let him testify in the court of law. As a normal human, it is always common to wish that a negative thing happens to those who wronged us. At the end of the movie, we see Nick leaving Shelton in the house which was going to explode, this was due to the actions which Shelton had indulged in, he had extrinsically orchestrated the explosion at parking which claimed lives of seven members of chamber, as a liberal human you will love to see such person suffering. At the end of the movie we hear Nick telling Shelton 'I don't make a deal with murders anymore Clyn...' and locks him up in an exploding building.

Scholastic philosophy. In this philosophy, there is an emphasis in the passing of knowledge from an individual who is enlightened to the one who id not. Within the movie, Nick goes to interrogate Shelton on the murder of Derby, and he admits that he is the one who killed when Nick was leaving, Shelton called him to stay a while to enlighten him. This showed that Shelton was enlightened and had certain experience which he wanted to share with Nick.

Social philosophy. The society we live in tends to dictate the way we relate with each other and what we do. When one is subjected to grow in an immoral environment, there is a likelihood that he or she will inherit what is being done in the society, as a result of this we see society as autonomous; that is, it governs itself by dictating its occupants. In the movie, at one point we hear Nick saying, "the system you are trying to change changes you." This shows that society dictates one's behavior and if we try to change it, we fall victim of it and changes us.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is worth to know that our life is full of different philosophies which shape our life. The way we dress, what we eat, education system and how we interact is determined intrinsically within our society; hence it is worth to appreciate the impact of philosophies in our life.