MovieChat Forums > The Ides of March (2011) Discussion > Morris didn't do anything wrong

Morris didn't do anything wrong


Really, he had sex with a 20 years old woman, a very mature woman who knew what was going on. Worst case scenario he betrayed his wife and he needs to get straight with her, but he didn't do anything wrong to the country, the sexual relationships of politicians shouldn't have be taken out of the personal context, even if the guy is a cheating bastard. The movie is amazing to expose the hipocrisy, the lines of Stephen saying to him something like "you can start wars, you can invade another countries and you can take soldiers to get killed, you just can't have sex with the intern" were amazing.

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He committed adultery against his wife. That by definition was doing something wrong. It's not a detail you can just skim over then ignore op.

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I'd be hear arguments that this is an ordinary case or your typical guy who can't keep it in his pants--but for three things. He's a hypocrite, espousing all kinds of moral high ground while committing adultery with a girl who, after claiming she's twenty, asks Gosling's character how it feels to have, uh, slept with a teenager. Write that off as normal and excusable behavior if you want, but it isn't. (Or, if it is, I can't live in a world where it's normal without speaking up about it.) Then, Morris is a man who admits in a TV interview that he'd commit murder if someone killed--or was it raped--his wife, and he'd serve his time. How noble to claim he'd take the consequences for a capital crime. But he tries to weasel out of an illicit sexual encounter. Again, a hypocrite. Finally, he is seeking the most powerful position in the world and would likely get it if the movie continued, but he abuses power in the most callous way. The movie makes a great deal about taking responsibility for choices. Steve loses his job because he made a choice to listen to the enemy's proposal. According to Molly's account, after a lengthy conversation with Morris, he reached over and closed the door. He made a choice to seduce her. It's about hypocrisy and the misuse of powejr.

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By "can't" he meant if you do so, you lose the American voter...and unfortunately, that's a fact. A politician can do a lot of stuff and not lose (many) votes, but have sex with an intern (and the 20 year old daughter of the head of the DNC, at that), and that gets out? Your political career is essentially over.

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You're right, he didn't do anything wrong for the country with respect to his relationship with the girl but he should as hell was wrong to not do the right thing when he knew she killed herself because of what they all did. Now Stephen had the benefit of the doubt in the last scene before getting interviewed. Will he tell what his conscience is asking him to tell or will he remain silent and become something that goes against his principles?

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