Death Race Have you ever wanted something so bad that you would do anything to get it? The movie “Death Race” portrays Warden Hennessey as a self centered woman who basically posses all control of the inmates in her maximum security prison. She has her mind set on only the success of her pay-per-view show and money. Warden Hennessey consciously uses ethical objectivism all throughout the movie by analyzing symbolic objects, her ability to cause havoc, and ultimately her ability to control others. An object in this movie that plays a major role in proving Warden Hennessey’s ethical objectivism is Frankenstein’s mask. The mask is used to disguise Jensen Ames as Frankenstein in order to keep viewers of the show more interested. Without the mask, Warden Hennessey would have been unable to keep the viewers from seeing that there is a new driver and that would have hurt the show’s ratings because Frankenstein was so close to gaining his freedom back with four wins. Without the mask it would have almost been like starting all over and the show would lose interest. The mask is used entirely because of the show. Another object that helps show Warden Hennessey uses absolutism in the movie is a photograph. She gives Ames a picture of his infant daughter being held by her new dad that just adopted her. The Warden only does this to try to guilt Ames to give into more of her selfish orders. Ames holds onto this picture for the remainder of the film and looks at it regularly to remind him of the truly important things in his life. Objects aren’t the only things that Warden Hennessey is able to manipulate; she is capable of much deadlier abilities. Since she is in charge of the death race show, she is also in charge of the design and rules of the race course. The scene that Hennessy creates the most havoc is when she unleashes the truck/machine that she has worked so long on building. This truck/machine runs over everything in its path, has electronically controlled weapons all over it, and also has armed prison guards on it shooting as well. The machine kills a number of racers very quickly only to allow two drivers to survive for the next race. The only logical reason for this is to make the show more exciting and to boost the ratings. Once again, it is very obvious to see that everything the warden is doing is all for the show, all for the money. If you were given the power to kill people, both innocent and guilty, just to make money and justify your own greed what would you do? After all, there is a high likelihood of getting away with everything.
Many people also question Warden Hennessey’s ethical viewpoints during this movie simply because she is given the capability to control the inmates in most ways. One example would be the scene where she sends one of her prisoners to murder Ames wife and set him up as the murderer just so he could drive in her show. She obviously only does this because her successful previous driver Frankenstein is severely injured and needs to find a replacement for him before the death races begin. She clearly lacks the morals of an average person. I highly doubt that the majority of people would take an innocent persons life just to make a profit. Another person that she controls during this movie is Elizabeth Case. The warden does this in the scene where she forces Case to lie to Ames about why the weapons on the car aren’t working during one of the races. Both Ames and Case must comply in order to get their free ride out of prison so they will do nearly anything to comply with Warden Hennessey’s orders. Once again, the Warden’s ethics are questioned. She has the ability to force people to meet her demands without much resistance and she abuses this ability to the peak. Warden Hennessey’s motives are greatly beyond acceptable measures. Every decision she makes is without a doubt directed toward her death race show. She uses different objects, and her overall authority to prove absolutism. Every person should attempt to make reasonable decisions and act in a manner that won’t hurt others just for selfish reasons. Her over the top greed kills any good ethics she may have had. Unfortunately for Warden Hennessey, all of her greedy actions end up coming back to haunt her when she gets out smarted by a couple of prisoners!