Power play essay

Powerplay can be defined as an action, or manoeuvre as in politics or business, by which

power is concentrated or manipulated in order to subdue a rival or gain control of a situation.
Simply Powerplay results when 2 or more entities try to gain control over the situation by
manipulating their power to be superior over the other. This results in complex interplay of
power. As John Dalberg had said power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely,
Power bringscorruption at an individual or group level due to the power that somebody have
and it intensifies this corruption when the entity is trying to seize more power. The movie the
insider directed by Michael Mann and the allegorical novel Animal Farm written by George
Orwell displays powerplay in series of events and how it effects the entities within it. It also
shows how corruption is brought in different entities due to the power they have. The
Powerplay is displayed using many language devices along with visual devices in these text.
This essay will reflect to the how and where powerplay is portrayed in these texts and how it
is portrayed.
The insider directed by Michael Mann is a moviebased on how power is manipulated by
different entities and the interplay that results and ultimate repercussions of their actions.
Powerplay is happening among number of entities in the movie all intended to either allow or
prevent Wigand to give interview. In the first half of the movie powerplay is happening
between Jeffery Wigand and Brown & Williamson. Jeffery Wigand has power of information and
B&W has legislative, financial, social and political power. Both of the entities are trying to gain
control over the situation with the aid of their power. The result is powerplay.One scene where
powerplay is evident is whereThomas Sandefur threatens Wigand of potential loss of his
severance pay and medical coverage if he decides to violate his confidentiality agreement.
This scene also shows the corruption happeningwithin B&W.In the second half of the movie
powerplay is evident between B&W and CBS Corporation and Lowell Bergman. B&W uses their
legislative power to threaten CBS of multibillion dollar lawsuit to gain control over CBS forcing
them to not air the interview. Powerplay is also seen between CBS and Lowell Bergmann
where CBS decides not to air interview because it will jeopardise their sell to Westinghouse
which will make certain executive rich. When Bergman goes against CBS, CBS uses their
legislative power to suspend Bergmann and eventually Bergman uses his media power to get
the interview to the public.
Confidentiality agreement is a major symbol conveying ideas of powerplay, Confidentiallity
agreement is B&W major power to hinder Wigand from going to public. All these powerplay
brings unwanted repercussions as Bergman says what got broken here doesnt go back
together, a short list includes Wigand loses his family, Bergmann quits CBS and B&W faces
penalties. There are certain techniques which makes a movie very meaning and attentive to
audience. To intensify suspense and capture audiences attention Camera techniques such as
handheld shots and over the shoulder shots are used. In one scene camera is slowly zooming
to Wigands face which implies that something bad is approaching him.Use of music also
creates the environment of terror and tension. It can be seen that every event without
dialogues are accomplished by music which involves the audience within movie and also
displays meaning more affectively. Facial expression is another major techniques evident in
The Insider. Sometimes facial expressions convey tone without the need of dialogue. There
when mixed together makes insider more meaningful and affective to the audience.

Animal farm is an allegorical novel written by George Orwell based on the ideas of
communism. As in the insider Animal farm comprises powerplay among number of entities. In
the first half powerplay is happening between Animals and Mr Jones. Jones is using his
physical power to seize the control over the animals and animals want to rebel and gain

absolute power over themselves. Animal are trying to unify and use their power as a whole to
rebel and drive John away. In the second half powerplay is happening among the animals
where Napolean wants control over the animals and Snowball wants to maintain his control.
There are number of symbols which display powerplay. One major one is windmill. Windmill
symbolises Animals power as being superior than the humans and their ability. Well moulded
language by Squealer symbolises how power of speech can be effective. Seven
commandments symbolises animals unity and ideas, but it later becomes symbol for
corruption where Napolean deliberately changes them justify his evil actions. There is
corruption happening at individual and group level in animal farm, where John uses his
physical power to dominate animals and Napoleon uses his physical and persuasive power to
become superior than the others. Corruption in Napolean wasnt present before but once he
got power he started to corrupt. This shows parallelism with John Dalbergs quote power
tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Animal farm is allegory based in
historical event Russian Revolution. So it is not only the story trying to entertain the
audience but it is also criticising political systems.
The insider and animal farm shows how power is sought and maintained which is simply
Powerplay. Some events also justifies John Dalbergs quote Power corrupts and absolute
power corrupts absolutely.