The film My Sister’s Keeper (2009), directed by Nick Cassavetes, presents the story of Anna Fitzgerald, a girl who sues for medical emancipation to prevent her parents from using her body. Anna was conceived to become a donor for her sister, who has a rare medical condition – acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Therefore, the movie discusses the ethical dilemma of organ and blood donation and medical emancipation.
The moral relativism ethical theory should be applied to the film since it allows for a closer analysis of the ethical controversies. Moral relativism implies that no system of moral beliefs is greater than others. It also has the normative position that people should tolerate those with whom they disagree (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d). In Ancient Greece, moral relativism existed but was generally dominated by moral skepticism implying that there is no moral knowledge at all.
Therefore, according to moral relativism, Anna should have tolerated the ideas of her mother, which, however, does not imply that she should have acted on her accord. The Kantian ethics and its categorical imperative that suggests that one should act in a way one perceives would be great for all the other people to act are also applicable to the film analysis. Anna’s mother, Sara should have analyzed her decisions, as she did not consider the situation in which someone obliged her to go through all the hell she made her daughter face.
Moral values present in the film include justice – since Anna wins the case and proves her rightness to Sara. The moral value of truthfulness is also present since Sara eventually discovers the truth that Kate decided to refuse the kidney Anna otherwise would have donated to her. The moral conflict between Sara, Kate, and Anna features the request for the daughters to act according to Sara’s decision, which she was probably justifying in terms of moral skepticism. However, the moral values of justice and truthfulness allowed the girls to enlist the support of other people who helped them break out of the vicious circle.
Reference
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (n.d.). Moral relativism.