The Rippling Effect in Spielberg’s Film “Saving Private Ryan”

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Role Fixation
The Ripple Effect
Information Underload
Synergy
Personal Experience
A Rippling Effect in the University and the World

Introduction

World War II. A time of upheavals, when lives were wasted like any ordinary creation. This was also the time when men’s feelings and emotions were tested when even love could be defined like it was the most sacred thing. World War II occurred when there were no helicopters yet, no internet or emails, and high technology that could have given easy access to information.

It is easy to conclude that if the setting of Saving Private Ryan occurred at a later time – like today – it would have been so easy to locate the man who was the cause of all the trouble of Captain John Miller and his team. But it happened when information gathering was to be accompanied with endangering the lives of men in war; it was that hard to get valuable information.

The story starts with a simple plot – a mother losing three of his sons in the war. But the ensuing subplots create a rippling effect that a viewer is really on the loose as to where it’s going to end.

Before we start with the theories of communication, we have to bear in mind that we are watching a film. And this film is the story of World War II, a complex of stories and interconnecting plots that point to one man – Private Ryan.

Since they are interconnecting, theories of communicating also start to emerge, like they are there with a purpose. The choice of this film, Saving Private Ryan, in the formulation of this paper also points to the fact that this form of communication, film, has some theories attached to it.

Let’s start with a summary of Saving Private Ryan.

General George Marshall and his staff are troubled that a family of three brothers is killed in the war, and a fourth brother’s fate is still unknown. Feeling this grief, the general read from a long-kept letter which told of the same experience where a mother was informed of the loss of her five sons in a previous war. The letter was written by a US President – Abraham Lincoln, and it was addressed to the mother of five soldiers killed during the American civil war.

The general and the entire command of the US Army did not want this experience to happen again. They have experienced the realities of war and the grief over the loss of loved ones in battle. The ordinary clerk who first learned of the Ryan brothers’ fate informed her immediate superior and eventually, it reached the general.

A search for the remaining brother is formed. Private James Francis Ryan later identified as a member of the 101st Airborne who hailed from Iowa, might still be alive somewhere in the war front. The team organized to search for Private Ryan is led by Captain John Miller of the Second Ranger Battalion who just survived in the Normandy landing.

The search is filled with stories of the human experience of men in war, and Captain John Miller and his team. It tells of grief, loss, fear, anger, frustration, pity, and even friendship towards the enemy. They captured one German who asked for pity or to be spared from execution by Miller’s men who wanted revenge for the death of their comrades.

Captain Miller is in a situation that he cannot control his men and even himself. He succumbs to extreme stress, telling his men to do what they wanted to do. He narrates that he is a teacher from his hometown who cannot think of any reason why he was there on the battlefront. One of his men threatens desertion, or to abandon their mission. Miller also wants to get out, to be free of their mission. What does he care about Ryan? Why do they have to spare their lives for the sake of one man?

But they have to do this – it is their mission. In the course of searching for the man in the different sites of war, they meet several Ryans. The man has namesakes. Finally, after all that they have gone through, they meet the real Private Ryan who refuses to go along with them.

Ryan refuses to abandon his post – there is no way he is leaving his unit. This is being true to himself. In war, there can not be such thing as “plastic” – comrades in arms have to be true to one another to go on fighting. This is earned through long hours of bonding and direct contact. In life and death, they see themselves as more than brothers, not just soldiers. Their collective experience makes them united, and teaches them the art of fighting, how to win and take control of the situation and the enemy.

Miller’s team finds Ryan’s team in a compromising situation. This is their mission – a bridge they are guarding, a strategic position where the enemy would soon pass through. But they are a skeleton force, meaning they are just a handful of men against a bigger force fully equipped with tanks and other armored vehicles.

Role Fixation

Ryan can not leave his companions behind who need him to accomplish their mission. This can be the turning point in the war. An ensuing exchange of arguments occurs. Miller’s men argue that they have lost two of their companions just to reach him. But Ryan says he cannot just abandon his post and his comrades. He has to be with them, even if as a result, it would give more heartache to his waiting mother.

Private Ryan’s role is fixated as a soldier and as part of a team in the war. He can not even play his role as a son to his grieving mother, or as a member of the family. Instead, he chooses to be with his team in the war to defend the bridge where the Germans are planning to take hold. His mind is focused on the war. He is fixated on a soldier. To him, there is nothing to go home for. His brothers are gone; now it’s time he focuses on himself as a soldier.

In this compromising situation, Private Ryan faces a dilemma which is to go with Captain Miller’s group or to remain with his group, a question of role status. It is a question of his role as a son who has a mother waiting for him at home, or as a soldier who is needed by his comrades who are in grave danger of being annihilated by the enemy without his support. And he chooses to be his comrades instead of his mother and a family waiting for his homecoming.

“Role fixation in decision-making groups can occur when an individual moves from one group to another, or it can happen within a single group.” (p. 192, para 4)

In like manner, Captain Miller also faces role conflict. He has to choose which way to follow – his mission or his destiny. He is an English teacher from his hometown. He has a family waiting for him, too. He can choose to abandon the mission of saving Private Ryan, who doesn’t want to go with them anyway. He wants out, free of any responsibility.

“Leave him alone!” he says of one of his men who wanted to desert their mission. There was even division among the group, a division whether to follow Miller or to abandon him and their mission.

“When individuals felt role conflict within organizations, they exhibited an increased tendency to leave an organization. They also showed decreases in commitment to the organization, involvement in the job, satisfaction with the job, and participation in decision making.” (p. 186, 4th paragraph)

The Ripple Effect

The Ripple Effect is also known as the interconnectedness of parts. It is a “chain reaction that spreads across the entire system much like a pebble tossed into a pond disturbs the water and forces adjustments.” (Textbook, p. 85)

The strategic position of Private Ryan’s team could create a ripple effect on the organization or the position of the Allied Forces fighting against the German forces. It was such a strategic position that Ryan and his team had to die for it. It was their mission. They had fought for it; it was like a treasure for them that they had to guard it with their lives. And now here comes Captain Miller and his men who want to bring him along with them to present him to his mother.

That is absurd, Ryan reasoned out. Since his brothers were all dead, he had to remain in his post. He might as well fight to the last breath and serve more his country by fighting for this bridge. And he was proven right. Captain Miller had to sympathize with him and the small force defending the bridge. Even if it would cause their lives, they had to fight for Private Ryan. After that, when they would have won over the enemy in fighting for the bridge and for that strategic position, they could force Private Ryan to go along with them. There would be no reason for him to deny them of their mission.

But this situation created what to Captain Miller was unexpected – a ripple effect. A small force of Private Ryan’s, reinforced by Captain Miller and his men, helped in defending a line of defense, which also was a line of attack, that helped much in turning the tide of war. A little later, reinforcements came and the Germans were annihilated.

“A small part of a huge system can generate an enormous ripple effect.” (86)

It was only a small part, just a fraction of the Allied Forces. But with that position in the bridge, Captain Miller and his men fought valiantly to the last drop of their blood. They held on until reinforcement came, and the Germans could not anymore make use of that bridge. It could be the turning point of the war. It made them win the war. With just a small force, the war was won.

Information Underload

D-day. The troops have just landed, bodies are scattered all over. Captain Miller and his men experience fierce resistance. The assault pays a big price – heavy casualties. When they finally overrun the enemy position, they have to regroup, some units are gone, other troops are to dissolve and to be mixed with the other units. In one word, there was disarray. Information – correct information – was not that easy to collect. An information underload can describe this situation in Saving Private Ryan.

“Information underload refers to an insufficient amount of information (inadequate input) available to a group for decision-making purposes.” (223)

Captain Miller’s team has to gather enough information to find Private Ryan. From headquarters to the low rank in the field, they could not find clear information about the man. There was inadequate input because they had to find this valuable information to fulfill their mission right on the war front.

“The problem of unshared information in small groups is serious. Groups that pool information have an advantage over individual decision-makers. This potential advantage of pooling information in groups, however, often goes unrealized because group members who have unique information fall to share that information with other members.” (Schittekatte & Van Hiel, 1996, cited in the textbook, p. 224)

In a big organization such as the Allied Forces, sharing information was a big and serious problem. They had to rely on such “primitive” technology in relaying volumes and loads of information. In those times, there was no satellite imaging, no computers, or internet. They had to be content with simple walkie-talkies, the Morse Code, and simple technology tools. And they had to use every possible secret code that they could imagine in order not to be “hacked” or “jammed” by the enemy who was as clever as they were.

Synergy

“The whole is not necessarily equal to the sum of its parts. It may be greater than the sum of its parts. Synergy occurs when group performance from the joint action of members exceeds expectations based on perceived abilities and skills of individual members.” (Salazar 1995, cited in the textbook, p. 87)

We already know the result of the war. Yes, the one that wrought so many lives, the one that forced us to form the United Nations, after the League of Nations was changed; the one that forced us not to use our imagination in searching for the past, because we don’t need to imagine the horrible scenes of bodies being piled up like they are garbage, we don’t need to realize again what man can possibly do to his fellow man or man’s inhumanity to man.

But we also saw the triumph of good over evil. We saw that God hasn’t left us all along and that the unity of good men could triumph.

Men in war, frustrated over the loss of their comrades and loved ones, could prove that they could do more than they could. The individual units fighting for freedom fought to the last drop of their blood, and they were triumphant, though they had to suffer hard enough.

This was shown in Saving Private Ryan. They became united for one cause – to fight evil. But they had to fight force with force.

“Synergy is produced only when group members work in a cooperative, interconnected way.” (87)

All the different forces in that war fought in a cooperative, interconnected way. They were victorious. In that particular setting in Saving Private Ryan, in France and Europe, the forces were separated, but they were working as one. The lack of radio equipment and communication could have discouraged and divided them. As we can see, their equipment and means of communication were crude, so to speak, although at the very least, they were able to communicate with each other.

In the end, they were able to defeat the enemy because they worked as one. Their purpose was focused toward that end. They were working interconnected. We can see this in that last stand where Captain Miller’s team and those of Ryan’s comrades fought side by side to fight a common enemy. And even though they were outnumbered, they were not outfought.

Captain John Miller died in that last stand. His body was riddled with bullets, but he knew in his heart that his mission was accomplished. Their mission was not only to save Private Ryan and bring him to his family. But their mission was just like any other’s mission – to have peace in their heart after the killing, the hardship, and the suffering. Captain Miller smiled and whispered something before he breathed his last. And we could just imagine what that smile was for, and what were the words he whispered.

In the last part of the film, the parents and relatives of “somebody” came to visit his grave. A father saluted, wanting to hug him. Nevertheless, it was a salute.

Personal Experience

I can relate to a personal experience. Not too long ago, I was in a dilemma of making the right choice of school or university for me. My parents’ choice was not in my list of possible schools where I could start a new student life, and, probably, a suited educational environment. My choice was affected by some friends’ preference which – we agreed – was far from home and a bit expensive. My friends and I discussed among ourselves that the particular university was the best institution that could give us the education we needed. I was fixated on my friends and the former camaraderie and family-like atmosphere that we once had had. I could not get out of the group.

I did not know what to say to my friends and my parents. It was a choice and a decision to make. First, I decided to tell my parents that in as much as I wanted to follow their decision – because, well, they were the ones to follow – I wanted my group with me in a new environment. A new series of arguments ensued. I went to the extent of consulting some relatives, and even third-party neighbors. The dilemma affected my choice for the future, and to where I am now.

In my writing this piece, I had difficulties of choice too. It’s an experience that troubles my sense of duty and responsibility towards my studies or to answer to my “lust” for seeing movies or DVDs, one of my favorite past times. I get so carried away by war films that I forget that I’m doing it to get the message, analyze the contents, and write something about it. And when I’m into my senses, I have to withdraw the pleasure of just seeing the film, and work on my assignment. Seeing and admiring a film is different from understanding its meaning and writing an essay about it. Writing is more work than just relaxing and enjoying the movie.

A Rippling Effect in the University and the World

“Recognizing the significance of the ripple effect means paying close attention to your impact on groups. Your level of communication proficiency or deficiency can mean the success or failure of the entire group. “The power of one” should not be underestimated.” (87)

I belong to an organization that promotes love and protection of the environment. We are a concerned group of environmentalists inside the campus but our concerns extend far beyond the university campus. Not too long ago, our group of environmentalists initiated a campus-wide information campaign regarding environmental abuse and the people’s disregard for the love of dear Mother Earth. We asked the authorities concerned and everyone to be helpful and to make environmental care and protection a part of our daily lives. We promoted fighting climate change and global warming through the different programs we have endorsed and practiced.

The students are not aware and informed of the environmental abuse and imminent danger looming around us. This is a reality shared by many and an observation reached after I’ve conducted my surveys, along with organizations and concerned individuals. People are not well informed and aware of this threat of global warming. Businesses continue to work for business and profit. And the world will continue to fall to its knees until we all meltdown with the chemicals and other hazardous materials.

We proposed a comprehensive method of fighting climate change and global warming. These are environmental activities that shall include the 3 Rs: recycle, reuse, and reduce. School activities should be geared towards greening and environmental awareness, making use of organizations, reaching out to countries and governments, and sponsoring seminars and fora on the hazards of environmental abuse.

With our activities from the organization, then to the university, and the world, away from the classrooms and the confines of the school, we were able to produce a ripple effect. It was a positive effect. Not only were our efforts rewarded, we saw that other organizations and universities were also doing and emulating what we have started. And we know that this undertaking will not only benefit a part of our country but the entire world where we live in.

Before this, we heard the voice of one man:

“Now comes the threat of climate crisis – a threat that is real, rising, imminent, and universal. Once again it is the 11th hour. The penalties for ignoring this are intense and growing and, at some near point, would be unsustainable and unrecoverable.”

It was said by none other than the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, the former Vice President of the United States – Albert Gore. His voice was like the one coming “from the wilderness”, and we heeded his call.

His voice is like a ripple effect, like a pebble thrown in the silent water. We liked the voice, it affected us, and so we made our move of calling for environmental awareness in our schools and universities and throughout the world. Not only did we make our call, but we also put them into action.

After this ripple effect, synergy is not far behind. Individuals and groups will join hand in hand to fight climate change and global warming.

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