“What’s the difference between morals and ethics, anyway?” This is the question posed by devoted teacher Mr. McAllister (Matthew Broderick) at the beginning of Alexander Paynes’ 1999 Election. Not surprisingly young, overachieving Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) is the only student to raise her hand in an attempt to answer the philosophical question that resonates throughout the film. In true nerd like fashion, Tracy begins to answer with her textbook definition, when the camera freezes her with a deformed look on her face, making her almost demonic in nature. Then followed then by the voice over of Mr. McAllister explaining his hatred for Tracy Flick, clearly drawing the battle lines for the film as Mr. McAllister attempts to set up his vision of good and evil.
Mr. McAllister, or Mr. M as his students refer to him, is the teacher of United States history and Civics at this high school located in the heart of the midwestern city of Omaha, Nebraska. The decision to change the state from its original setting of New Jersey (from the novel by Tom Perrotta) provides for a universal experience and cast of cliché characters that most anyone who has attended high school in the US can relate to. This then poses the same question to the audience of what are morals and ethics, and what’s the difference? Who knows the difference, real or fictional? Who practices the difference?
Unlike the traditional structure of narrative films, there is not a clear definition to the audience of good or evil in the film. Neither Tracy Flick nor Mr. M holds a clean moral slate, regardless of how they present themselves to others. Jim not only attempts to sabotage the election of Tracy Flick through overt means like convincing Paul Metzler (Chris Klein) to run against her, but even purposely throwing two ballots cast for Tracy Flick in the trash, declaring Paul the winner by one vote. His actions, though considered to b entirely unethical by the moral majority, but Mr. McAllister felt as though he was doing the right thing, stopping Tracy before she could do more harm. Even though Jim felt he was doing the right thing by sabotaging Tracy Flick, in his private life, Jim McAllister has an affair with his friend’s ex-wife and cheats on his wife, whom he claims to be a source of strength for him. Henceforth the irony of Jim McAllister as the civics teacher at the high school is present, posing the question of morals and ethics; how can the students be expected to know the difference if Jim himself can’t practice the difference? Even when the question is posed to Mr. M, he remains unable to answer. As Mr. McAllister falls continually into his downward spiral of corrupted morality he too becomes deformed, much like the camera freezing Tracy Flick, by a bee sting that transforms him visually into the monstrous figure that he really is.
It seems the only person able to answer this question is Tracy Flick, who attempts to rattle off a textbook definition, but is ultimately cut off by the ringing of the bell signaling the end of class. The inability for Tracy to answer is not due to a lack of knowledge, but rather due to the social constraint of time and the end of class, as if to say even if one knows the difference, there is no time or place in modern society to practice the beliefs. Therefore, it is no surprise that not even perfect little Ms. Flick can practice good morals and ethics. During her campaign she gets so frustrated with her own imperfections, like a falling sign, that she is quickly overtaken by anger that she rips down everyone posters on the wall and then lies about her actions. Even worse, she not only allows for a fellow student to take the blame, but as soon as Tracy finds out that she can get away with it, she even attacks the young girl for it.
In fact, there seems to not be a single main character in the film that is either perfectly god or perfectly bad. The closest a main character comes to having good morals is Paul Metzler who not only cannot define morals or ethics, but can’t understand a simple metaphor of fruit to explain choice. Trying to claim that Paul Metzler consciously practices good morals and ethics in the film is like Tammy Metzler (Jessica Campbell) claiming she is not a lesbian, when she says she is attracted to the person, they just always happen be girls, but in reality she falls in love, at first sight, with an all girls Christian school.
Then the real question comes at the end of the film as not only is Tracy Flick established as student body president, but also the young achiever is seen climbing into the same limo as a Nebraska senator, after she is seen attending prestigious Georgetown University. The civics teacher is fired from his post and is forced into working as a tour guide at a natural history museum, where he is happy, until he runs into Ms. Flick on his trip down to D.C.. Here, despite her unethical practices, Tracy Flick gets exactly what she wants and is now working with high ranking politicians, whereas, a result of Mr. M’s shady morals is a lost job, divorced wife, and shitty apartment in New York. So, when Jim McAllister utters in the final minutes of the film “Who the fuck does she think she is?” it is not as much of an attack on Tracy as a person so much as her ability to achieve what she wants trough questionable morals and ethics; something Mr. McAllister should know better than Tracy, yet still fails at so miserably. Election then leaves the audience wondering, what is the difference between ethics and morals and does it matter?
Election
