Camus’ The Stranger and Cassavetes’ Alpha Dog
Introduction
According to Kaufman (2010), the act of making other people less human by taking away their individuality, the interesting or creative aspects or their sensitivity and compassion towards other is called dehumanization. Dehumanization concept has gained pragmatic attention in the field of psychological literature. The concept of dehumanization is applicable in The Stranger by Albert Camus and Alpha dog by Nick Cassavetes. The main character that is dehumanized in the movie Alpha Dog is Johnny Truelove, played by Emile Hirsh. From the series of events taking place in the movie, it is evident that Johnny Truelove is a victim of dehumanization.
Discussion
Alpha Dog is a film of crime drama genre that was directed by Nick Cassavetes in the year 2007. The film depicts a real life story revolving around the kidnapping and killing of a fifteen-year old teenager, Nicholas Markowitz and events related to this incident which occurred in the year 2000. Some of the stars in the film include Amanda Seyfried, Justin Timberlake, Emile Hirsch, and Bruce Willis among other stars. The movie narrates a story of Johnny Truelove, a young drug dealer and a circle of his pals. The movie is an epitome of internal gang dynamic as well as the social context which results to the series of events leading to murder and kidnapping (Indiana University, 2006).
Johnny Truelove seems to be deprived of his individuality, sensitivity and compassion towards other people. Hence, it is evident that he is a victim of dehumanization. His father, Sonny Truelove is held accountable for Johnny’s dehumanization. Instead of instilling sound morals in his son, Sonny supplies him with marijuana, which Johnny deals and sells to make a fortune. It is morally right for parents to instill good virtues and moral behavior in their children. Moreover, their actions or intentions towards their children should contribute to more good than harm. Supplying his son with marijuana would eventually result to more harm than good.
Sonny Truelove failed to show concern for the well-being of others. Supplying marijuana to his son could not only affect Johnny but also other people involved for instance, his friends and the people to whom he sold the drug. Sonny Truelove’s act can not be termed as an act of benevolence. Benevolence involves doing good unto other people, and it is evident that supplying marijuana can not be termed as a good deed at all (Champlin, pp10). This is due to the negative and detrimental effects associated with the use and abuse of the drug. The use and abuse of marijuana is associated with effects such as addiction, drug dependency, health disorders and even death in extreme situations.
Sonny Truelove’s dehumanization has greatly affected his ability to come up with morally sound decisions. The evidence of this is the actions or series of events that he is involved in as depicted in the movie, Alpha Dog. Johnny seems to make unethical decisions without a feeling of compassion and remorse for other people. He does not care whether the actions taken affect other people negatively or not. Additionally Johnny does not uphold the recommendable principles of personal ethics. Some of the principles of personal ethics are trustworthiness and honesty, respect for the autonomy of others, refusing to take unfair advantage, concern for other people’s well-being, preventing harm and benevolence, which entails doing good (Champlin, pp11). Johnny’s actions and choices seem to contradict virtually all the mentioned principles of personal ethics.
The conflict resolution method that Johnny uses is inappropriate since it results to harm and other negative consequences. The conflict in question stems from failure by one of a gang’s associate Jake Mazursky to settle a drug debt that he owes Johnny. Jake’s refusal to pay the debt is followed by a heated argument which leads to violent fight, eventually resulting to disintegration of the gang. Another action that Johnny takes is ratting on Jake to his boss claiming that he is on drugs. Consequently, Jake is dismissed or fired from his job. By doing this, Johnny failed to show concern for the well-being of other people. Loss of a job could not only affect Jake as a person but also his dependants for instance, his family and friends.
Another incidence is that of Johnny and two of his friends making a decision to go confront Jake personally so that they could collect the money with a threat of violence. Unfortunately, they do not find Jake. They stumble upon Jake’s brother, Zack Mazursky on their way back and make a choice of kidnapping him in broad daylight. This is a morally unsound decision since it depicts a lack of basic justice. It was unjust and unfair for Johnny and his friends to kidnap, Jake’s younger brother who had no idea about what was going on.
It is ethically right for an individual to respect the autonomy of others (Champlin, pp11). By kidnapping Zack Mazursky, Johnny and his friends deprived him the sense of autonomy. Every individual entitled to some basic rights and freedom. Examples of such rights include the right to associate, freedom of movement and the free will to come up with informed decisions. The act of kidnapping Zack deprived him of the freedom of movement and even association. Zack had no option but to adapt to the new life presented by his kidnappers. For example one of the gang members, Frankie, offers him cigarettes and beer, which he readily accepts. Zack even refuses to escape when given a chance to do so because he did not want to get his brother, Jake into trouble.
Dehumanization of Johnny deprived him of a sense of compassion. A good example is an incident where he hypothetically gives one of his friends, Frankie $2,500 so that he could kill Zack. This further illustrates the extent to which Johnny gave insignificant value to human life. He seems to depict human life as an asset that could easily be sold for a fee of a given amount of money. After a series of events, Johnny negotiates with a character named Elvis who owes him money. He lures Elvis into killing Zack in exchange for the debt cancellation. In the end, Elvis kills Zack, an innocent victim of circumstances.
Conclusion
It is thus clear that the lack of individuality, compassion and sensitivity in Johnny Truelove contributed to disastrous consequences including death. From the series of events taking place in the movie, it is evident that Johnny Truelove is a victim of dehumanization.
Works Cited
Champlin, J. T. First principles in Ethics. Kessinger Publishing, 2005
Kaufman, Paulus. Humiliation, Degradation, Dehumanization: Human Dignity Violated.
Springer, 2010
Indiana University. Elle, Vol. 21, issues 9-12. Elle Pub. Co., 2006
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