Week-13
Activity 7 — Post 8
–MORALITY-, by Rashida Washington
The 7 Moral Positions in Barbara the Movie
My selection was the German film, “Barbara”. A story about a woman named Barbara, who was once a well-known doctor in 1980’s Berlin, who had arrived to a small town by the Baltic Sea to live and work at a children’s hospital as a probationary condition, after her release from prison. She served time for requesting to leave East Germany. A sort of exile, if you will. It is soon revealed that she was in the midst of a plan to flee the small town with the help of her lover, who was secretly supplying her with funds to help in her escape. When the time comes for her to make her great escape, Barbara’s morality is tested.
Barbara gave off an impression of a quiet, yet tough exterior. Rightfully so, as people can become somewhat hardened as they serve prison time. But her softer side is seen at the arrivals at the time of a pregnant teen patient who was rushed in screaming and hysterical after being caught escaping a labor camp. After growing fond of each other and her recovery, the young teen is returned to the labor camp, but later escapes requesting shelter from Barbara. But before that moment happens, a teen male patient requires surgery with the help of Barbara’s skills in administering anesthesia.
When time comes for Barbara’s great escape, she’s faced with two separate decisions effecting one. Follow through with her plan, or stay and assist in the boy’s surgery. Follow through with her plan, or stay and help the desperate girl she’s grown to care for.
In this movie there were two moral positions that fit each situation.
1. I would do whatever made me happy.
In describing this position as hedonist, Chaffee notes that, “this moral theory doesn’t take into account the interest or rights of other people; thus, when your interests conflicts with someone else’s, your interests always prevails.” When Barbara discovers that the boy’s brain surgery was at the same time of her escape, she chose her own interest, which was to leave. She lied and agreed to be there to assist with administering the anesthesia. As her surgical teammates awaited her arrival, she never did, and chose to head home to pack and prepare for her departure. She contemplated an action that would make her happiest, which was to get out of that town, rather than assist in saving the boy’s life.
2. I would do what is best for everyone involved.
At the moment Barbara was ready to walk out the door to make her great escape, the pregnant teen girl collapses on Barbara’s doorstep, rundown and wounded. The girl tells her that she had made yet another escape from the labor camp, and begs her to help and stay by her side. Without as much as a thought, Barbara allows her in for a bit of rest, while tending to her wounds. Moments later she takes the girl to the coast where the meeting point for her getaway. While they sat on the beach, Barbara writes a note her lover, letting him know why she didn’t make the trip. As a diver with a motorized raft arrives out of the sea, he gestures that he can only take one person. Barbara quickly takes her stash of cash and the note and wraps it around the girl’s neck and puts her own the raft, choosing to save the girl and her unborn child’s life, ahead of her own self-interest. Chaffee describes this moral position as, “a utilitarian moral theory, which holds that the morally right course of action is that which brings the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.” A selfless act, for taking this moral position could hold a lot of consequence for Barbara. But perhaps she did this as an act to do unto the girl as she would want someone to do for her. Or, that she just has a good soul.
Possible Outcomes
3. I would follow my conscience
It’s hard to tell what Barbara would do if her decisions were solely based on her conscience, because it’s hard to tell how her moral compass was constructed. No background of her life before prison was really described. But had she took that position, I’d imagine she would’ve still made the choices she made and leave the boy, but help the girl. This is only, because though she didn’t make the surgery, she wasn’t the only qualified person available to do it. I believe she only lied to cover her tracks, not for lack of care for the patient. And perhaps she still would’ve helped the girl, because even if she made her escape, what could be the outcome of the girl’s fate would haunt her forever.
4. I don’t know what I would do
This outcome would leave Barbara stagnant and sad. Without any direction, you’re led nowhere. Her situation would remain and her life would be what was set forth for her in her probationary terms and conditions.
5. I would do whatever would improve my own situation
This is a more selfish route. Self-serving in every sense of the words. Had this been Barbara’s mind frame, her reasons would’ve been a lot less based on the heart and more of the head, and ego. While working at the hospital, her partner developed a growing crush for her. She could’ve used his interest to benefit her mission to escape even more somehow. Perhaps by submitting to his subtle advances and flirts she could’ve used him to aid in her escape and cover-up.
6. I Would Do What God or the Scriptures Say Is Right.
If Barbara were a religious woman and made her decision based on her belief in God and what the scripture teach, she would’ve been there for the boy. She was the best one for the job and promised to perform it. As most religions tach compassion and self-sacrifice, her faith would’ve led her to follow through and help the boy.
7. I would follow the advice of an authority figure
If this had been the case, Barbara wouldn’t have taken the risks she took. The Stassi were the authorities over her life, and if she were followed the advice of her authority figure, she would’ve never risked her freedom by having secret meetings with her lover, let alone hatching a plan to escape. With a sense of obedience, she would’ve weigh out what’s right and wrong in the eyes of the authority. That obedience would give her more ease in settling into the environment and peace with her circumstances.
- What would you do?
In most cases where my own morality may come into play, I would choose the moral position of “I Would Do What God or the Scriptures Say is Right”. Though I’m not the most religious person in the world, when it comes to right and wrong, a lot of my choices start with “what would God think?”, because I was brought up in the church and have the fear of God in my heart. Still, my decisions in cases of what’s morally correct, doesn’t always end with what’s right or wrong, but what’s best for me and my well-being.
If I were in Barbara’s shoes, I would’ve chosen the same moral route as she in fact did in the movie, which is “I Would Do What Makes Me Happy”. I would’ve skipped the boy’s surgery and made my way out of town, only I would take it further and leave behind the young girl too. Because in the end, even with my care for both kids, my desire to leave would’ve carried me all the way to the beach and escape. Honestly, I would’ve used logical explanations for my reasons for choosing my happiness overall. For example, when the girl arrived at Barbara’s doorstep, she was worn down and weak, plus pregnant. There’s just no way would she have survived the trip across the ocean. It’s that certainty that would’ve given me comfort in knowing that my decision was based on what was sensible for me and her. As for the boy in need of brain surgery, Barbara wasn’t the only qualified person that could handle administering the anesthesia. There was one other doctor that wasn’t as good as her, but capable enough to get the job, and that too would’ve given me comfort in abandoning those responsibilities in exchange for my escape.
