Maybe Christian is right: showing this movie to 6th graders (not that he said 6th graders) would make all of them think, oh, 147 times before they would ever consider taking drugs. For example:
Yet the film itself has a deeply ambiguous take on drugs, as we talked about in class (not that it is espousing taking them). It is also ambiguous about its protagonists Jim and Kristen in their roles as undercover police. They can walk away from this job anytime, but they don't: and I don't get the idea that they are moral crusaders against narcotics, like their captain. Something else is at play here. So write about one of the following questions in a couple hundred words.
1. Why is the film called "Rush"?
2. Can Jim and Kristen conceivably do their job without getting snared in a morally complicated position?
3. How do you feel about these two? How much responsibility do they need to take or should take concerning their ever more problematic actions?
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I really think Jim and Kristen could have done their job without scoring some serious moral issues. The way they two of them wanted to handle it would half been clean and clear; get the drugs and give them to Dodd. The minute Jim and hooked on the drugs and Walker became involved everything went to hell. The planting of false evidence on Gaines was just the icing on the cake (And Kristen knew it was completly unfair and unjust, doing it made her feel sick). Even though I believe being an undercover cop in this situtation can work out morally doesn't mean I think keeping it moral would be easy. As I said a lot of events would have not have to happen. From the very beginning of the movie you could tell Jim and Kristen undercover cop relationship would come before the drugs. And their whole business blurred some lines between right and wrong. But you could tell that Jim and Kristen were smart caring people who really wanted to do the right thing.
ReplyDeleteI’m answering question 2. I don’t think that Jim and Kristen could do their job without things getting messed up morally. As the main part of their job is buying drugs, their job makes the drug dealers do even more crime than they already had. I know this is a granted and that it’s necessary, but still, it shows how morally complicated the very basis of their job is. They also have to use drugs to gain credibility so that they can get their evidence. When the police use drugs, they’re going against what they are trying to work for. That’s very morally complicated. Jim and Kristen also have to become part of a culture and make friends, and then arrest their friends and destroy pieces of that culture. After they know these people, and they know who are good people and who are bad people, and they know which people have sold a lot of drugs and which people have only sold a little, it’s harsh that they have to arrest all of them. It seems very bad, morally, to do so, but it also would be questionable to break the law to choose who gets away. I don’t think that Jim and Kristen could have effectively done their jobs without doing morally questionable things.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Film is called Rush a couple of reasons. I think it is obviously called Rush because of the rush that a person gets out of doing drugs. This feeling when doing drugs is what keeps Jim addicted he is addicted to the high and the rush. I think it is also called Rush because some cops in the movies and TV get a rush of adrenaline. In Rush Jim and Kristen have one of the most fast paced jobs in the realm of law enforcement. I think that Jim was also addicted to both the natural rush from police work and the unnatural rush from drugs. He becomes dependent on this which leads to why the film is called Rush.
ReplyDeleteI do not think Jim and Kristen can do their job without being snared in a morally questionable position. Their whole job is based on them lying, which may, as we said in class be for the "greater good", but is intrinsically immoral. The point of their job is to decieve people and manipulate them in order to gain their trust, then arrest them. Besides lying about their entire identity, I think uncercover cops inevitably face morally questionable sitiuations, because they have to get close to the people they are trying to arrest. To uphold their lie, which is crucial to their job, they will almost certainly face circumstances when they have to compromise themselves and their own morals. Should a situation arise, like for Jim and Kristen to convincingly play the part of drug addicts, moral complications will arise.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think they could have done the job without immersing themselves with the drugs and the culture. If they did not do the drugs and become junkies, the drug dealers would never believe that they needed the drugs and suspect something. I am sure they could have stopped after they got enough evidence.
ReplyDeleteThe drugs consumed Jim and Kristen’s minds before they could do anything about it. I agree with Jocelyn in that they should have stopped after they got their evidence and could make a case out of it. I do believe that they couldn’t have gotten the job done without at least getting in the minds of the junkies and dealers.
Like we were talking about in class, these police officers are bending the rules and doing drugs for “the greater good.” They do the drugs to get to the bad guys. Even when they are trying to do “the greater good,” they get lost in it and fail at their mission.
Jim and Kristen make me angry. They seem just as bad or worse than the drug dealers. They seem to continue the cycle of what is happening. Even if Jim and Kristen are supposed to be turning the drugs in and getting the dealers caught what happens when are the dealers are caught? Jim and Kristen need the drug dealers just as much as the drug dealers need them. Jim and Kristen need them for the drugs, and the drug dealers need them for money. Jim and Kristen don’t seem to be helping the problem. At one point in the movie Jim uses all the drugs/evidence that they have. I think they need to take responsibility for their actions. At a part in the movie Jim says don’t like it too much. He means don’t like doing drugs. He later says he does like it too much so in this situation he takes responsibility for his actions. I think even though Jim and Kristen are cops and should be seen as “good guys” they are just as guilty as the dealers.
ReplyDeleteI am answering question number two: Going in to the movie, when I learned they were going under cover deep into junkie territory, I knew that things were not going to go well. They were going into a very dangerous and dark situation, were the risk of getting addicted is very high. Jim does get addicted and he suffers because of it. I think that if you do become addicted then chances are you are going to screw up. You will do anything to get high even if it means using evidence, as Jim does, but then again what if you don’t get addicted. Well things can still happen. For example, you could befriend one of the people that you are trying to incriminate. Then the sop might not turn in evidence to protect their friend. It is hard to avoid these situations, and once they take one wrong step it seems that they spiral down out of control. I think that these people did everything they could to do the right thing, but sadly the were to week, and Jim sucumbed to addiction wich tore him apart. In the end they got so desperate to get out that they planted evidencce. I dont think there was anything they could do.
ReplyDeleteI am doing the first question. Why is it called rush? I think it is called Rush one, because of the sensation you get when you take drugs and two, because of the thrill of being an undercover cop, risking your life to get drugs off the street. When you are doing drugs it is supposed to make you feel euphoric. Literally rushes of not just energy but happiness and like you are floating. In the scene above they showed Kristen taking her first shot of drugs, and first she did puke, but then her eyes rolled back into her head. She looked so disoriented, but at the same time you could tell she had a rush of something. It might not have been euphoric but it was something.
ReplyDeleteI also think it is the rush of being an undercover cop in the midst of tons of drug deals. This sensation of always being on the edge, always being in the middle of danger, never knowing if this is your last day on the job or alive. Knowing that you have the opportunity to put hundreds of drug dealers in jail, but if you make one wrong move you could blow the whole thing. Having that pressure on you gives you this rush of fear.
Both Jim and Kristen want to fulfill their jobs without becoming ensnared in tricky moral decisions. When Kristen takes the job, she’s a somewhat innocent young girl who still thinks that she’ll always make the “right” decision. However, Jim and Dodd both warn her that if anything will change after the assignment, it will be her. It proves to be true: whether it’s the strain of being undercover, the influence of the drug culture, or both, Kristen and Jim both become morally compromised against their initial will. As they go deeper undercover, they become powerless against the world around them. I’m sure that Kristen tried as hard as she possibly could to stay true to herself on the inside, always making the “right” decision. In the end, however, she did the exact opposite and only came clean when it was advantageous to her (giving her the opportunity to revenge Jim’s death). Jim was the more experienced cop and yet, ironically, he was the easier target for the drug world to corrupt. Even from the beginning, he knew that he “liked it too much.” He tries to resist and keep a clear head about the assignment but in the end, he simply can’t resist the temptation. Even the best were corrupted. Though they tried to do everything the “right” way, they couldn’t finish the job without being snared in morally tricky situations.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that Kristen and Jim could do this job without getting snared into a morally complicated position. This job will test their morals, not only as a cop, but as the criminal they have to pretend to be, or become, in order to do this job. They have to abandon the lines put their by the law in order to catch the criminals, but if they forget the lines put their by their own moral beliefs then they will become the criminal, which you see Jim start to do. It is difficult to not become morally compromised when you have one foot on either side of the line. They have to be both extremes; cop and criminal. Doing that, erases the rules of the legal system, which can put a cop, or anybody, in a confusing position ethically. But the stronger you stick to your ethical beliefs, your morals, the stronger they stick to you. I think if Jim and Kristen would have done that, things would have ended differently.
ReplyDeleteIt's almost impossible for Jim and Kristen to do their job without coming across moral issues. When they went undercover they were getting themselves involved into a very dangerous world. They would encounter violence, addiction, and illegal crimes. In a way, Kristen went against her morals by injecting the illegal drugs into her body. Earlier before that incident, she told Jim that she does not take part in illegal drugs. However, if she would have not been injected with the drugs in front of the drug dealer, he woul have assumed that she was a cop. Kristen had two choices. She could have said no to the drugs and risked getting busted, or she could've went along with using the drugs and risked becoming addicted. Because Kristen chose to put her job before her morals, unfortunately, she became addicted to the drugs. This movie definetly shows how some cops take risks or go against their morals to effectively do their job.
ReplyDeleteI also think the moral dilemmas that Jim and Kristen faced were inevitable. The whole point of being undercover is acting the part so convincingly that nobody could ever know. In order to do that, they really do have to become their disguises. And then it is impossible to not be emotionally and sometimes physically involved. I think it's a very important part of the movie that viewers and the main characters become so sympathetic towards Walker, yet so repelled by Gaines. Even though we know Walker is guilty, but have no tangible evidence against Gaines, as we get to know him along with Jim and Kristen, the lines between good and bad get fuzzy. It's a very real dilemma, and not just in an undercover situation. These inevitable questions of loyalty and morality extend to our lives too. Maybe not as dramatically, but we all have to question ourselves similarly.
ReplyDeleteI'm answering the first question. I think the movie is called Rush for several reasons. The most obvious (in my opinion) is the rush that one receives from doing the drugs. Now, this "rush" is not necessarily positive, as seen with Kristen when she nearly passes out as seen in the clip, and when she actually does in the phone booth. She felt the effects first, and then she began to like them. Another reason this movie is called Rush is because of the "rush" of being an undercover cop dealing and doing drugs. Jim and Kristen feel the rush and the danger every second they are breaking the law, to "get to the greater good" as we discussed in class today. Also, another Rush seen in the film would be the negative rush of the deceit. Walker is arguably the only honest person in the entire movie. Everyone lies (Jim, Kristen,Dodd,and the drug dealers). There are numerous "Rushes" in the film, each one different from the last, yet tied together.
ReplyDeleteI am going to answer number two. I do not believe that Jim and Kristen can do their job with out coming across moral complications. This is because their whole job is based around buying drugs to catch dealers. In order to do this they had to gain the trust of the dealers, which meant doing drugs. I think especially for Kristen doing drugs was going against her morals. At the beginning of the movie, she said that she only had smoked twice in her life and she looked very uncomfortable when she first did drugs on the job. Also, police are the people that are supposed to enforce the law and arrest those that do not follow the law it seems like doing illegal drugs would be going against their morals. That gets them in a difficult situation because in order to arrest lawbreakers Jim and Kristen had to break the law themselves. I do not agree that once they got the evidence they could have stopped though. This is because there was no evidence against Gaines; the main person they were trying to catch. Therefore, they never enough evidence to stop because they needed the evidence for Gaines which they could not find either because Gaines was smart enough to figure out they were cops or he actually was not a drug dealer.
ReplyDeleteLike everyone else said, the movie is called rush for two distinct reasons. Hard drugs give a sensation that users describe as a "rush". This rush is a euphoric feeling of joy and excitement. The other meaning used is the rush of excitement and danger. The two undercover officers are in danger all the time and this rush is a reason for them being where they are. They depend on both the drugs and the thrill of danger to keep them going, and eventually they depend rushes too much, leading to their downfall.
ReplyDeleteTwo main parts in the movie are drugs and police undercover work. The movie could be called "Drugs and Undercover Cops", but would lack the literary sting of rush. Rush combines the two parts into one simple but powerful word.
I think questions two and three have a lot to do with each other. There are a few different responsibilities that seem apparent to me, the first of which is their responsibilities as undercover cops. I am in no way an expert, but it seems that to be a successful undercover cop one must immerse themselves in their project, in this case making a respectable name for themselves with the drug dealers in town. To do this, as we saw in the scene John attached, they must actually do the drugs. And to look like experts, they must practice, which is why Jim shows Kristen how to do everything in the beginning. They must also be somewhat used to drugs in order to make it seem like they aren't cops. This is where it gets tricky. In a way, they're doing their job. And there is a fine line between strictly doing their job and it becoming their life for their own pleasure or need. Jim definitely crossed that line at the end, but I don't know if I can say he's fully responsible for that. Jim was very good at doing his job, and because he was so good at doing his job, he became addicted to drugs. It became so frequent to him that he began to enjoy it too much as I think he said. This is where I think the question of morality comes in. In order to be fully successful at their job, they have to take drugs. They have to break the law, even though they’re just doing it to catch the bad guys. Their responsibilities to themselves and each other to not enjoy the drugs too much are tainted because they’re trying to do their job and they end up getting caught up in the drugs. In a way, Jim especially is responsible for letting himself become addicted to drugs, but that may be something he could not control. I don’t think he made the decision to be addicted that came over time and from doing too many drugs. The thing I think they’re definitely responsible for is writing up a fake case against Gaines. That is not acceptable, they made the choice to lie, where as Jim didn’t make the choice to be addicted.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that Jim and Kristen could do their job without getting snared into a morally complicated position. I think both Jim and Kristen started out in their job wanting to catch the drug dealers and thinking about the “greater good” (in this case getting rid of drug dealers). I believe that any cop who was doing this job would start out this way. After Jim and Karen got started doing drugs it became difficult to stop. Both of them became addicted at some point and it would have been hard not to considering they were constantly around drugs. By the time they became addicted they were no longer trying to stop the drug dealers, instead they were trying to feed their addiction; they were already against their morals. Then Jim and Kristen were placed in a tough position, they had to create a case on someone in which they had no evidence. Since their job was on the line it was difficult for them to avoid lying in that situation. This further skewed them from their morals. Overall, I do not think they could have done their job without getting snared into a morally complicated position unless they had a huge amount of self-restraint. What I mean by that is: I think that they started straying from their morals when they became addicted, if they had enough self-restraint they would not have become addicted and in the tough position they ended up in. I think this shows everyone something; drugs are powerful substances that prevent you from thinking straight, and potentially prevent you from following your morals.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it would be possible to do their jobs without doing some of the immoral things they were "forced" to do. For their cover to be believable they have to completely immerse themselves in the culture of the drug trading business. If they don't, the dealers will realize in a second that they're cops. I think Kristen tried to stay away from the immoral parts of the job, but was smart enough to realize that she had to do those parts. Jim didn't really care though. I think Jim forgot why he was buying all of the drugs in the first place. He stopped caring about the police work they were doing and only cared about doing drugs.
ReplyDeleteI think they could have been more moral in their decisions, but that's hard to say. There's no real way to tell where that line is. I also have no idea what it's like when you're really under cover and in those dangerous situations. Jim definitely crossed the line though. He actually helped the dealers by destroying a large amount of evidence they had been collecting.
-Nick
I agree with Emma, I don’t think that they could have done their job without being immoral. Being undercover plainly means a job that acquires lying for the “greater good”. Lying is immoral but it is accepted in certain situations. Kristen and Jim had to be immoral to do their job but, they crossed the line when they got addicted to the drugs they were trying to use for evidence. I also think no one really gives narcotics credit for their undercover job. They have to lie and keep secrets and I think they should get credit for that. If I was a undercover cop I would probably blow my cover just out of nervousness. I also agree with Nicole on how they cops got lost in their job and failed. I think that if they were more careful with their mission that would have not happened. No one is perfect so it’s not expected that no one would get in over their heads when dealing with drugs like that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone that the movie is called “Rush,” because of the rush one gets from using drugs and the rush of being an undercover cop. When one uses drugs, they experience a rush of many things, including energy, happiness and pleasure. They are hit with a sensation of euphoria. But along with that, can come feelings of sickness and disorientation, which we see happen with Kristen when she first uses drugs, and then again in the telephone booth. This could be considered more of a negative rush.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of a rush also applies to the thrill of being an undercover cop. There is that feeling of always being on the edge, the sense of danger and rush of adrenaline that comes with the job. I also agree with NCISfan that in the midst of violent drug dealers, Jim and Kristen never know when it will be there last day on the street. Also, the knowledge that you are so close to putting so many drug dealers in jail, but if you make a wrong move you blow your cover, also puts a great amount of pressure on the cops, which provides them with a rush of fear.
I also agree with what David said. In the film, the cops become very dependent on the unnatural rush of drugs, as well as the natural rush of adrenaline from their undercover work. The idea that the cops are dependent on different types of rushes that in the end all tie together, adds significant meaning to the film’s title.
I honestly do not think Jim and Kristen could have effectively navigated the drug world without completely immersing themselves in the lifestyle. However, by living the life of a drug addict they in turn went against their morals and became drug addicts themselves. I believe it would have been virtually impossible to retrieve drugs if drug dealers were skeptical about their intentions. Jim and Kristen had to look like legitimate drug addicts and this forced Kristen to have to take drugs which compromised her morals. Their lives were in danger every day if someone found out they were cops so they had to be able to convince people that they weren't. I believe that Jim and Kristen could not have done their job successfully without compromising their morals.
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