This is a clip from the Zack Snyder’s 2007 film, 300. In this clip, Queen Gorgo is attempting to convince the Spartan counsel to send the army to war and assist her husband, King Leonidas, in his fight against the Persian army. She does all that is in her power to convince the counsel that it is a necessary act. Unfortunately most of the counsel partakes in groupthink.
After viewing this clip one can see that the group would have a tendency to succumb to groupthink. First and foremost, the counsel is made up of very similar individuals. The counsel is made up of a small group of men from the same city who dress, talk, and act alike. Besides this, the fact that they all have the same goal, to prosper in
Then comes the fact that this is an extremely important decision and is most likely causing a good deal of stress on the counsel. Also, the fact that this is a decision that must be made nearly immediately also likely leads to increased levels of stress. When stress is higher and the decision is rushed, the counsel is more likely to make a rash decision favoring the one they had in the first place (not to go to war).
The two overestimations of the group also contribute to the groupthink. First of all the group has the illusion of invulnerability. They believed that since they were technically in control of the army that they had all the power. They also believed that not sending the army to war was doing the moral action. This belief in the inherent morality of the group is a symptom of groupthink.
Finally, the group’s closed-mindedness can be seen as a symptom of groupthink. First of all, the counsel’s out-group stereotypes can be seen. Since the queen is not part of the counsel, she is a woman, etc, they see her as an outsider and they do not wish to listen to her reasoning. Relating to this is the group’s collective rationalization. The counsel doesn’t believe that they will be going to war either way and so they don’t think it is necessary to send the army out. They ignore the Queen’s warnings which might make them change their decision.
Overall, one can clearly see that the counsel in the film 300 partook in groupthink. There are many ways that it could’ve been avoided. First and foremost they could’ve increased the open-mindedness and diversity of the group. They also could’ve taken steps in the beginning so the decision was not so rushed. Finally, if they made an adequate decision-making procedure groupthink may have been evaded.
2 comments:
This clip is not necessarily an example of groupthink, but more so a showing of how the canons of rhetoric can be used in a mass speech format to persuade people. Queen Gorgo first uses the example that all of the men have wives that they should be thinking about. She is appealing to the public’s emotions in an effort to sympathize with them. Next, she uses pure logic in order to convince the public that it would be irrational to do anything else but what she wants. Finally, she closes with a guilt statement in order to make the counsel feel they are not moral.
Ryan is right. This clip is an example of the Rhetoric, not Groupthink.
The clip didn't show what happened to the group after Queen Gorgo's speech. So we have no idea whether groupthink actually happened or not. My boldest guess from Dan's analysis is that the groupthink had happened BEFORE Queen Gorgo's speech, which is not shown in the clip.
A clip showing more interaction betwen group members will be a better example of Groupthink.
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