compromising one's ethical principles vs. self-preservation theme
Someone must choose whether or not to commit unsavory acts in order to save their own skin.
Examples
In blackmirror1x01 "The National Anthem", the Prime minister had to decide whether to copulate with a pig on national television in order to save his political career, as well as the life of beloved Royal Family member Princess Susannah.
19 total · 4 choice · 10 major · 5 minor
| Story | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| blackmirror1x01 | choice | Should the Prime minister copulate with a pig on national television to save his political career and the life of beloved Royal Family member Princess Susannah. |
| blackmirror3x03 | choice | The various protagonists, including Kenny, were forced to choose between unethical actions or risking their reputation, livelihoods, family etc. |
| movie: Scent of a Woman (1992) | choice | Charlie refused to compromise on his ethical principles because he had integrity |
| voy2x14 | choice | Janeway about deciding to form an unholy alliance with Kazon and Trabe |
| ent1x22 | major | Phlox refused to hurt the creature even to save the crew. Hoshi preferred to try to free Archer and other crew members trapped in the creature by communicating with it, while T'Pol and Malcolm preferred using violence. |
| ent3x02 | major | Archer tortured Orgoth to get access codes to the Xindi database that might contain information to help save Earth. |
| movie: Crash of Moons (1954) | major | Trinka struggled over whether to obey an order to destroy the inhabited moon on a collision course with her home world Ophiuchus, but ultimately chose not to do it. |
| movie: The Disappearance of Flight 412 (1974) | major | Should the Flight 412 crewmen formally deny what they plainly saw with their own eyes in order to be set free from their interrogation? |
| movie: The Terror Beneath the Sea (1966) | major | Ken Abe was compelled to decide between writing totalitarian propaganda for the mad scientist and being killed along with Jenny Gleason. |
| nightgallery0x01b | major | Dr. Frank Heatherton was blackmailed into removing the eyesight of one person in order to let Claudia Menlo see. |