Corrupting Influence of Power By Kamrul Shikdar

Introduction

I’m going to show you how power can cause people to be corrupt and that even those who society trusts and admires, can turn out to be corrupted by the power given to them. The corrupting influence of power in this context means that power corrupts people and that the more power you have, the worse the acts of corruption are.

Film: LA Confidential

LA Confidential is a highly acclaimed film starring Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce. It is about two cops in Los Angeles; Bud White, a hard, violent cop with aims for justice and Ed Exley, an ambitious, intelligent cop who wants to climb the ladder in power in the police department. The film is set in the 50s and one of its objectives is to show the corruption in the police department. This was a time where acts of corruption and violence caused officers to gain respect and promotions such as the incident where Exley shot several escaped criminals in self defence which earned him respect from the other officers and the name “Shotgun Ed”. Examples of corruption from police officers involve taking bribes, unnecessarily beating thugs, murdering fellow and ex officers to cover your own acts of corruption and lying to the public to uphold the image of the police force. These all come from having power within the police department and those who have the most power, can commit the biggest crimes as they can cover up their tracks and frame other people which was shown in the film.

Throughout the entire film corruption is shown by the police in the cases of both the “good guys” and the “bad guys”. For example, White and Exley, who portray the “good guys” dangle the also corrupt District Attorney from a high window to achieve information about other corrupt officers, the “bad guys”. Even though their intentions are good, they use their power as police officers to intimidate people into recieving information.

Among the officers, there is a general lack of concern for the different acts of corruption and in some cases they are encouraged to do them in order to get promoted. The captain of the police force, Dudley Smith asks White to assist him in beating various people up. When White shows a lack of enthusiam in hurting possibly innocent people, Smith tells him that he is disappointed in him and that he must remember what he has to do in order to get more power as a cop. This shows that desires for power and power itself is often achieved by a means of corruption because those that grant you that power are usually corrupt themselves.

Smith, the most powerful officer in the department, is also the villain of the film. At the start of the film, he tells Exley that he couldn’t become a detective without bending the law which shows that he has already done multiple acts of corruption. He gives an example which was if he would shoot a hardened criminal in the back. Exley said that he wouldn’t. Smith is involved in the murders of other and former officers, framing innocent people, tricking officers into killing each other and many others acts of corruption. These acts are allowed to be achieved by his great influence and power in the police department. His power also allows him to get away with them as he has influnce over the media and the department because he is considered a “hero”. This is proven right until the end where he and Exley are in a hotel which was a trap that Smith had set up to murder White and Exley. Exley had recently found out that Smith was actually the one behind the murders of several people including his father who was also a detective. Both he and White arrive at the hotel and have a gunfight with Smith’s men. After it seems like White and Exley have taken them all out, Smith turns up and shoots White thus wounding him and leaving him unconscious. Smith tells Exley that the department will again make up a cover story for him and that he will get away with it once again. Realising that Smith was right Exley shot Smith in the back, which is an example of foreshadowing at the beginning of the film. This also proves Smith right, that you do have to bend the law as a cop if you want to climb the ladder. At the end of the film, corruption still proves to be a key factor in the police department because the police are prepared to change the story and call Smith a hero. Exley, after revealing the entire truth to the senior officers, offers to keep quiet in exchange of gaining a medal of honour and a promotion. This shows that Exley is prepared to be a police puppet in order to gain his ambitions which are to climb the ladder in the police force. This shows that even though the “good guys” have won, the influence of power still affects the police department which means that the entire system hasn’t changed and it gives the viewers the impression that it never will.

Poem: Sonnet 66 by William Shakespeare

Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,
As to behold desert a beggar born,
And needy nothing trimm’d in jollity,
And purest faith unhappily forsworn,
And gilded honour shamefully misplaced,
And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted,
And right perfection wrongfully disgraced,
And strength by limping sway disabled
And art made tongue-tied by authority,
And folly, doctor-like, controlling skill,
And simple truth miscalled simplicity,
And captive good attending captain ill:
Tired with all these, from these would I be gone,
Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.

In Sonnet 66, Shakespeare expresses a desire to escape from a world that is filled with corruption and evil. He lists various examples of different types of corruption, and how certain people use power and authority to get what they want even when they are undeserving. Alternatively, the poet also gives us examples of deserving individuals who are oppressed by the ‘system’ and suffer from such corruption. This poem is a prime example of literature depicting the corrupting influence of power in society.

Shakespeare begins the poem by expressing a desire for ‘release’ due to his exhaustion of the evils of corruption in the world. He then goes on to give examples of this corruption. Firstly, he claims that deserving people (possessing good qualities) are “beggar born”, whereas those people who lack positive characteristics are the ones who have all the wealth and riches, or “trimm’d in jollity”. This suggests that it is not actual qualities and traits that matter, but more so your social status. Shakespeare demonstrates the unfairness of life in that a “needy nothiing” can hold such a high position in society, and whether they really deserve it or not is irrelavent.

The next few lines explain how those who are righteous and of “purest faith” are lied to and betrayed, while the powerful and corrupted will dress up their own achievements and reputation to make themselves seem greater and more honourable than they actually are. This is shown in the phrase “gilded honour”, which suggests that corrupt individuals mask their evil and malicious ways with authority and power. This false honour is “shamefully misplaced” upon those who do not deserve it, yet righteous individuals are the ones who are deceived and kept downtrodden.

Shakespeare describes how individuals of “maiden virtue” and “right perfection” are wrongfully shamed and disgraced. They are bestowed with unpleasant reputations in society, although they do not deserve this treatment. The phrase “rudely strumpeted” suggests virtue being forced into evil ways by corrupt society, and therefore forced into a bad image.

The word “strength” is used to refer to moral thinking and morally right decisions and actions. “Limping sway” personifies corruption as an elderly or crippled figure who is able to ‘pull strings’ and manipulate things in their favour and at the expense of the strong, new talent with fresh ideas. Shakespeare describes the “strength” as being disabled by those who use their influence and power to corrupt ideas and manipulate perceptions of people in order to suit their own views and ideologies. This perhaps reflects on the suppression of younger individuals in climbing the ‘success ladder’ and rising up in society, through the use of authority, power and conservative/traditional systems. This is also a reflection on media using bias to represent an individual or party’s opinions.

The next line describes art and talent as being “tongue-tied by authority”, meaning that authority would stamp down on the abilities and potentials of others. In relation to this, the next line includes the phrase “folly, doctor-like”, which refers to an ignorant person who is disguised as a qualified professional or expert. This line explains how these ‘phonies’ who lack real talent will use their power and authority to make themselves seem superior to those who are actually more talented and skilled than they are. This shows how power can lead to people corrupting and defiling the images of others and make themselves seem better.

As with “right perfection” being “wrongly disgraced” (7th line), in line 11 Shakespeare state that honesty and “simple truth” is “miscalled simplicity”, meaning that honesty is falsely regarded as being wrong and ignorant. This again reflects on how power is used to suppress truths from being exposed, especially if these truths conflict their own interests. Here, again, is an example of truths being unjustly criticised and disregarded by the media.
The last point Shakespeare makes when saying “captive good attending captain evil” is that the person with the good qualities is always serving or working for the corrupted person in authority, perhaps against their own will if they are ‘captives’. This expresses the unpleasant circumstances in life where the evil are in a position of control over the righteous.

Reflecting on the very first line in the poem, Shakespeare ends the poem by stating a desire to “escape from it all”, but he is being held back by the fact that he will have to leave the one(s) he loves.

Book: Animal Farm by George Orwell

In Animal Farm, the story begins with a rebellion of farm animals against their human owners. The original idea of these animals, led by pigs, were that all animals were to be treated equally and not be enslaved or serve any human. The animals were to live and work for themselves to create a better life for them. The Seven Commandments of Animalism were created to ensure that they do not follow the human ways and become like them. As the story progresses we see many acts of corruption by the pigs, who use their power of being intelligent and well-spoken to get away with not doing manual labour on the farm and even breaking their own commandments to do human like things, such as drink alcohol or sleep in beds. The pigs abuse their power in many ways so that they mantain the animals’ loyalty and yet still do these human like things.

Acts of corruption in the earlier stages of the book by the pigs are little things, such as obtaining the majority of the milk and apples for themselves. They told the animals lies about how the pigs need it to be able to improve the farm and keep the pigs healthy. They also told them that their human owners would return if the pigs did not have these luxuries which was also a lie. This frightened the other animals and prevented any protests from them.

As the pigs had more and more access to power, their greed grew and grew and the acts of corruption became greater. At one point, there was a feud among the leaders of the pigs; Napoloen and Snowball. Just when it looked like Snowball was going to win the loyalty of the animals, Napoloen used brute force to gain control and full leadership of the farm. He commanded a number of dogs to kill Snowball which chased him away thus giving Napoloen all the power in the farm. Another act of corruption by Napoloen was when he threatened the animals with the dogs if they attempted to protest. Napoloen is using his power to unfairly control and scare the animals into following him.

Napoloem then uses his well-spoken pigs to implement a mindset into the gullible animals on the farm which are to work harder and to believe that what Napoloen says is always right. The pigs are corrupt and they use their powers to manipulate the animals into serving the pigs. With this, the pigs do more and more human like things, like living in the house, drinking whiskey and trading with other humans. They eventually break their own Commandments resulting into them being changed. They take advantage of the other animals inablilty to read and their short memories by doing this. This is another act of corruption fueled by the pigs’ power and desires to be like humans, which is the complete opposite of their original objective.

One of the more serious acts of corruption is the massacre of the animals, when Napoleon orders his dogs to kill all supposed traitors and the leave a pile of dead bodies. This struck fear in all the animals and forced them to swallow lies about how Napoleon is their true leader and that Snowball is their enemy.

This book is a prime example of how the influence of power leads to corruption and that the greater the power someone has, the greater the acts of corruption becomes because they can use that power to get away with it. This is shown in the book because at the beginning, the acts of corruption were small and were only used for small benefits for the pigs over the rest of the animals. As the pigs gained more and more power, for example acquiring the service of the dogs who act as a military force, the acts of corruption became more serious which involved threats and murder. At the end of the book, the animals on the farm find it impossible to tell the difference between the pigs and the humans. I believe the George Orwell’s message is that there are people who despise people in authority and refuse to be anything like them. However, as they gain access to power, they become corrupted and they commit acts of corruption which cause them to be just like the people in authority. This shows that the influence of power, corrupts.

Film: The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption is a critically acclaimed film about prison life the different types of corruption that occur in the prison system. The film follows the story of Andy Dufresne, a man who was falsely convicted for murder and sent to prison. He befriends another inmate called Red (as well as other characters), and attempts to survive the hostile prison life at Shawshank Prison and gain protection and benefits from the corrupted officers in charge. Many different characters commit these acts and the people with more power, do greater and worse acts.

Red, who is serving a life sentnce, is a black marketeer who is known for getting whatever items he wants by bribing the guards. He then sells these items (usually cigarettes) to other inmates. This is an example of corruption because the guards are taking bribes by prisoners and getting them goods illegally from outside the prison, therefore breaking laws for personal gain.

Andy, whose occupation was a banker before he was arrested and charged, earned protection from the guards by helping the guard captain, Hadley, sort out his money problems with the bank and his wife. In a later scene, Andy was almost beaten to death by another inmate called Bogs, consequently resulting in Bogs being excessively beaten by Hadley as punishment and getting crippled for life. This shows two forms of corruption: Firstly, the guard captain used illegal and unnecessary force to punish a prisoner yet he got away with it; The other was that he was showing favouritism for Andy over the other inmates because he had previously been helped by Andy. It may also be that he decided to severely punish Bogs for almost killing a ‘valuable’ prisoner who he can get more services from. Hadley used his power as a high ranked officer to get away with this crime which shows that power allows people to be corrupt because they think they can get away with it.

The Warden of Shawshank Prison is the main antagonist in the film. Being in charge of the prison, the Warden is the key figure in the story for demonstrating the corrupting of power. His main act of corruption is using Andy to aid him in laundering money from his scams. The warden uses his power to protect Andy from harm in the prison so he can keep laundering money. The warden also takes bribes from a number of people who are caught in his scam so that they can get out of it. These actions are caused by the warden’s recognition of his own power and what he is capable of, and that he has the power to cover it up and get away unpunished.

At one point, there’s hope for Andy being released from Shawshank as the arrival of a young thief, Tommy, has information that could prove Andy’s innocence. When Andy tells the Warden about this, the Warden, in fear of losing his money cleaner, has Tommy killed, preventing him from being able to give evidence to prove Andy’s innocence. He then threatens to take away everything away from Andy if he decides to stop helping him. This shows how the warden uses his power in ways of corruption, such as having someone murdered in order to keep the truth from coming out, and to deny a man his rightful freedom just so he can carry on illegally recieving money.

By the end of the film, Andy escapes and, using a false name, reveals the Warden’s corruption to the outside world, resulting in the Warden’s arrest. However, the Warden decides to take his own life before he could be taken off to prison. Power has influenced the Warden into thinking he could commit these acts of corruption and get away with it. He was enjoying his rule over the lives of others in prison and giving out harsh and unfair punishments, but when the tables turn on him and he is the one facing conviction, he would rather take his own life than be on the receiving end of punishments himself. This film shows how people with power become corrupt and that the different levels of power cause different levels of corruption.