John Q Movie Analysis Essay - 1239 Words | Bartleby
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John Q Movie Analysis Essay

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The movie “John Q” narrates a story of the financially constrained character John Quincy Archibald who ensures that his nine year old son at the brink of death, secures a heart transplant by any means possible. Throughout the movie, there is a compelling display of the love shared by a family and this is seen in the great lengths John went to save his son, however unlawful. The main characters are John, Michael and Denise Archibald, Rebecca Payne, Doctor Turner and Lt. Grimes. In the movie there were two main negotiators who were negotiating on the main driving force of the movie’s story line; they were Lt. Grimes and John Q. John, from the onset of the movie, portrayed very choleric tendencies. He was a leader as shown by how he stood …show more content…

Consequently, he went into negotiations with the police lieutenant to claim value (Lewicki, Barry, & Saunders, 2007) with distributive bargaining techniques. John’s real interest in this negotiation was not to get his son’s name on the donor’s list but to save his son’s life and that was his main goal throughout the movie. This interest was reaffirmed by his option to kill himself so his heart would be used for his son. At this point, his concern was not getting his son’s name on the donor’s list but making sure his son was alive. John Q analyzed the issue at stake very candidly. His son needed a heart transplant or else he was going to die but he did not have enough funds to provide for his son’s transplant. He could either watch his son die or do something drastic to save him. He chose to abduct patients in the hospital to use them as a bait for negotiation therefore he perceived the negotiation as an exchange. Whether or not he acted in whatsoever manner, there was a possibility he would lose his son, so he decided to act in faith in the possibility of saving Michael because this negotiation was a necessity to him. He viewed the negotiation situation through an outcome frame, which was of more importance to him and so he needed an agreement to be reached between him and the police. He knew the situation was a one shot negotiation so he was not interested in building and