Mutiny on the Bounty story
Mutiny on the Bounty is a 1935 American historical adventure drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It dramatizes the mutiny of HMS Bounty, and is adapted from the novels Mutiny on the Bounty and Men Against the Sea by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. It stars Charles Laughton as William Bligh, Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian, and Franchot Tone as Roger Byam (based on Peter Heywood).
21 total · 1 choice · 11 major · 9 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| coping with a bad boss | choice | Captain Bligh was a brutal tyrant who routinely prescribed harsh punishment for officers and crew alike. He was also corrupt and had misappropriated supplies that were meant for the welfare of his crew. |
| choosing between conflicting loyalties | major | The midshipman Roger Byam was torn between staying loyal to the cruel Captain Bligh and sticking up for the crewmen under his direct command. The entire crew was split between mutineers and loyalists to Captain Bligh. |
| corporal punishment | major | The story begins with a man condemned to "flogging around the fleet" being flogged to death. After that one gruesome punishment followed many others. For instance, Captain Bligh had one man keelhauled to death. |
| corruption in society | major | It became clear that Captain Bligh had misappropriated the ship's supplies in order to enrich himself. Furthermore, he unabashedly designated scapegoats from the crew and punished them harshly. |
| cruelty | major | The story revolves around the excessively many and excessively cruel punishments meted out by Captain Bligh. |
| discipline in the workplace | major | The story revolves around the excessively many and excessively cruel punishments meted out by Captain Bligh. The question was often left hanging: what sort of discipline would have been appropriate? |
| disciplined leadership vs. flexible leadership | major | The tyrannical Captain Bligh was compared and contrasted with the stern but sympathetic executive officer, Fletcher Christian. |
| life in late modern Britain | major | The story begins in England in 1789. It follows an array of characters as they voyage on the high seas aboard the HMS Bounty. |
| noble savage utopia | major | The Tahitians lived peacefully and in material abundance, all without the need for money. This idyllic lifestyle was juxtaposed with the miserable existences that the crewmen spent aboard the Bounty. |
| perilous voyage at sea | major | The Bounty and its crew sailed the seas for two years and endured much hardship. |