The Tobacco Industry In Michael Mann's Film The Insider
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In Michael Mann’s film The Insider, Jeffrey Wigand becomes a whistleblower, a term coined to mean a person who releases confidential information on an organization to the public. Wigand, a Ph.D. scientist and a former vice president of research and development at Brown & Williamson, exposes critical information on the show “60 Minutes” about the tobacco industry’s lies. He has the willpower to challenge the tobacco industry because he is motivated by his duty as a scientist to contribute to the progress of society and his own ethical responsibility and sense of justice to inform the true effects and tactics of tobacco for the greater health of the American population, who consume cigarettes without knowing it contains toxic and addictive substances as a result of the Big…show more content… The first situations that needed to occur for Wigand to testify was the threats on not just him but his family as well. Richard Scruggs sums up Wigand’s circumstance very well: “You're assaulted financially, which is its own special kind of violence because it's directed at your kids. What school can you afford? How will that affect their lives? You're asking yourself, "Will that limit what they may become?” Wigand knows that B&W is attempting to suppress him by threatening him and his family, because he has critical information about the company which could drive it out of business if he released them. The act of indirect violence and hostility upon Wigand’s children by removing their medical care and the financial support they need to success and death threats drove Wigand over the edge to appear on “60 Minutes” because he was enraged at Big Tobacco for jeopardizing his family’s lives in a matter unrelated to