John Q movie analysis
John Q. Archibald was a factory worker facing financial hardship. When his son, Michael is struck during a baseball game, John and his wife, Denise, discover that their son is in need of a heart transplant. Although they have health insurance, hospital head, Rebecca Payne tells them that their policy doesn 't cover such an expensive operation. John convinces the hospital 's cardiac surgeon, Dr. Raymond Turner, to overlook his fee, but still has too much of a financial burden to bear. When he is left with no choice but to take his son home to die, John holds the staff and patients of the hospital hostage at gunpoint, demanding that his son be put on the list to be given the first available heart. Hostage negotiator Frank Grimes and chief of police Gus Monroe try to resolve the problem using mainly dialogue. John Q is successful in saving Michael’s life but ends up serving jail time nonetheless.
Persuasion is a concept evident in both scenes, and it has to do with one party causing another party to do something that it wants through reasoning or argument. Persuasion can be used to balance power in a negotiation. The hardball tactics of aggression and intimidation are evident in both scenes as well. Aggression is the relentless push for more concessions, while intimidation is the attempt to force the other party to agree by means of emotional play. There is also evidence of power play in the scenes, namely legitimate power and coercive power. Legitimate power is derived from ones position and Coercive power derived from the ability to punish others. (Lewicki, 2004)
The first negotiation scene was a telephone conversation between Frank and John. Frank introduced himself and asked john for some time and to let some of the hostages go, because in his own words, “I do for you, you do for me; show some good faith.” Frank tried to reason with him, but John remarked that he would only let some of the hostages go if his son was put on the heart transplant list. Franks
Persuasion is a concept evident in both scenes, and it has to do with one party causing another party to do something that it wants through reasoning or argument. Persuasion can be used to balance power in a negotiation. The hardball tactics of aggression and intimidation are evident in both scenes as well. Aggression is the relentless push for more concessions, while intimidation is the attempt to force the other party to agree by means of emotional play. There is also evidence of power play in the scenes, namely legitimate power and coercive power. Legitimate power is derived from ones position and Coercive power derived from the ability to punish others. (Lewicki, 2004)
The first negotiation scene was a telephone conversation between Frank and John. Frank introduced himself and asked john for some time and to let some of the hostages go, because in his own words, “I do for you, you do for me; show some good faith.” Frank tried to reason with him, but John remarked that he would only let some of the hostages go if his son was put on the heart transplant list. Franks
Bibliography: Cassavetes, N. (Director). (2002). John Q [Motion Picture]. Lewicki, R. (2004). Essentials of Negotiation. New York: McGraw-Hill.