abuse of authority theme

Vested authority is used by someone to illegitimately pursuit their own private goals.

26 total · 2 choice · 14 major · 10 minor

StoryLevelMotivation
ahp4x04 choice The Adams' were stopped and harassed by a rural police officer. In his monologue, Alfred Hitchcock was accosted by the police.
bbf1x16 choice Colonel Ari Ben Zayn used his authority to pursue a witch hunt against Sinclair.
ahp7x33 major Paul abused his authority as department store manager by blackmailing a caught-red-handed shoplifter not into sleeping with him, as the viewer is urged to believe, but rather to play a part in his scheme to make his wife consent to a divorce.
ds96x18 major Luther Sloan abused his authority as a Starfleet officer to pursue a personal vendetta against Julian
ic1976e06 major Tiberius and Sejanus persecuted their political opponents by leveling trumped up treason charges.
ic1976e07 major Tiberius and Sejanus persecuted their political opponents by leveling trumped up treason charges.
movie: Ben-Hur (1959) major Filled with resentment, Messala jumped on the opportunity to persecute the innocent Ben-Hur and his family gruesomely. He did so both out of anger and out of political convenience because people would see how he treated an old friend, and fear him.
movie: The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972) major One of the main messages of the film was something about Tuxan abusing his authority by the way of using any means to justify his end of exposing a treasonous senator.
movie: The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) major the secular powers of England sought to disgrace Joan (thus to score a point against France) and pressured pliant members of the Church to excommunicate Joan for that purpose
tftc1989e2x15 major Dr. Trask clearly abused his position as head of the sanatorium in order to silence a woman who had witnessed him murder his wife.