The scene is set in the 1978 version of
Dawn of the Dead with a zombie apocalypse continuing to wreak havoc in the city of Philadelphia. Despite all efforts, there seems to be no known cure and the "undead" continue to roam. At this point in time, surviving citizens are beginning to succumb to chaos as there seems to be no end in sight to the madness. The film starts off at the WGON television studio where one of the staff members, Stephen Andrews, and his girlfriend, Francine Parker, take one of the company's helicopters as a means of escape. During this time, SWAT teams members are out trying to restore some order and make sure that people follow the martial law that has been implemented. Through this, two members of the SWAT team named Roger DiMarco and Peter Washington meet and once they become friends, they choose to join Stephen and escape in the helicopter. Eventually, the four of them escape the city and come across an abandoned shopping mall which they decide is the best place that they can stay at for the time being. However, the "undead" roam freely in there too so the four of them must find a way to stay hidden. All of the stores within the mall still contain all of the merchandise and so the SWAT team members decide to take the master keys from the storage area of the mall and break into one of the shops. Once they avoid the zombies aimlessly walking the mall, they unlock the sliding door to a department store and start grabbing anything that they want. This is a point in the film where ethics could be brought into consideration.
Various theories can be applied to determine whether the actions that took place in this situation were acceptable or not. One of these theories would be Utilitarianism through which it is understood, as established in the article titled "Self-Interest," that each person is considered to be simply one more conscious being that is capable of experiencing pain and pleasure (Salazar). Thus, a person should only participate in a certain action if the outcome will benefit everyone else as well. It is also noted in this article that there are billions of people competing for resources and thus, self-sacrifice is often a part of benefitting the whole. A Utilitarianist would view the situation through which the two SWAT team members steal whatever it is that they want as not acceptable due to the fact that their actions are not benefitting everyone else. They aren't stealing items that could necessarily be useful for their survival and seem more interested in stealing items such as televisions and the like. Therefore, it is likely that someone who believes in the theory of Utilitarianism would not view the situation as very ethical and certainly not selfless as it does not help the other people who are also trying to keep away from the zombies. However, even though the actions of the SWAT team members do not help out Stephen and Francine or anybody else for that matter, they are taking advantage of the situation that they have found themselves in as humans are constantly competing for resources.
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| SWAT men: Peter (left) and Roger (right) |
This situation can also be interpreted through the understanding of Kant's theory which, as established by the article "Self-Interest," states that people should act out of motivation from duty and seek to do what is right because it is right (Salazar). Another aspect of this theory is the Categorical Imperative which holds people accountable for what it truly means to be human and therefore works to restrict what is rational for people to want (Salazar). The Kantian theory incorporates the Categorical Imperative in a way that calls for people to look into their own minds and the world around them to see what is reality and what is rational as established in the book titled
Being Good by Simon Blackburn. The Categorical Imperative goes on to explain that rationality is internal to all people and that it favors no one in particular so it is thus objective. Due to the fact that this theory talks of doing what is morally right, in the eyes of a Kantian, the situation in the movie as previously established would not be looked upon favorably. To go off of this further, the Formula of Humanity establishes that our rationality is what makes us human and thus any sort of lying or deceit is not acceptable (Salazar). This would suggest that the actions of these men are not ethically tolerable. As stated in
Being Good, "the core of morality... lies not in what we do, but in our motives in doing it..." (Blackburn 119). It is established in the essay "Kantian Business Ethics" that in Kant's theory that there is a way to determine the right action and the motivation that goes along with it. If an action comes from good will or an interpretation consistent with good will then the action and its motivation is good. Therefore, it is quite clear that the two men were not attuned to their morals and were not motivated from good will at the time being and seemed to only take advantage of the fact that there was nobody around to stop them as they not steal to try to help others out.
Through the explanations that have been provided concerning the Utilitarianist and Kantian view of the situation from the movie, both theories can be used to determine that the actions that took place were out of self interest. I agree that stealing is not right even when there are zombies everywhere and all rules have been thrown out the window. It truly wasn't morally right in this case for the men to steal whatever they wanted as it only benefitted themselves and no one else. If they were stealing important supplies for the group's survival then I would think differently of their actions.
References:
Salazar, Heather. "Self-Interest," The New Catholic Encyclopedia, Series on Ethics and Morality, ed. by Robert Fastiggi. Gale Cengage Learning, 2013. pg. 1392-1393
Blackburn, Simon. Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 119. Print.
Salazar, Heather. "Kantian Business Ethics," in Business in Ethical Focus, ed. Fritz Allhoff and Anand J. Vaidya. Broadview Press, 2008. pg. 5 and 9
Various theories can be applied to determine whether the actions that took place in this situation were acceptable or not. One of these theories would be Utilitarianism through which it is understood, as established in the article titled "Self-Interest," that each person is considered to be simply one more conscious being that is capable of experiencing pain and pleasure (Salazar). Thus, a person should only participate in a certain action if the outcome will benefit everyone else as well. It is also noted in this article that there are billions of people competing for resources and thus, self-sacrifice is often a part of benefitting the whole. A Utilitarianist would view the situation through which the two SWAT team members steal whatever it is that they want as not acceptable due to the fact that their actions are not benefitting everyone else. They aren't stealing items that could necessarily be useful for their survival and seem more interested in stealing items such as televisions and the like. Therefore, it is likely that someone who believes in the theory of Utilitarianism would not view the situation as very ethical and certainly not selfless as it does not help the other people who are also trying to keep away from the zombies. However, even though the actions of the SWAT team members do not help out Stephen and Francine or anybody else for that matter, they are taking advantage of the situation that they have found themselves in as humans are constantly competing for resources.
Through the explanations that have been provided concerning the Utilitarianist and Kantian view of the situation from the movie, both theories can be used to determine that the actions that took place were out of self interest. I agree that stealing is not right even when there are zombies everywhere and all rules have been thrown out the window. It truly wasn't morally right in this case for the men to steal whatever they wanted as it only benefitted themselves and no one else. If they were stealing important supplies for the group's survival then I would think differently of their actions. 
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