Cawley State of Play

One would think that our privacy is the one thing we have to ourselves. Unfortunately now a day, this is no longer the case. Every year there are new technologies, some we do not even know about that are impeding on our privacy in ways we cannot even fathom. Discussing the film, State of Play, nearly every character’s privacy is invaded in some way, and every one of them is guilty for it. The argument is whether a democracy necessitates privacy in order to keep itself together. We all believe the answer to be yes, however it seems as though it is becoming somewhat of an impossibility. There are countless scenes throughout the film that describe this hypothesis, one of them being the moment the writers for the Washington Globe (mostly Cal) realize that Stephen Collins was responsible for Robert Bingham’s following and eventually killing Sonia. The scene is hectic juxtaposing Cal’s rush to a place of mystery (the audience then does not realize he is heading for Collins), Collins driving to his office, and Bingham reaching out to an unknown source on the phone speaking of “finishing the job he started”. The separate sequences chop in and out of each other giving a sense of urgency before Cal appears inside the office of Collins. The situation describes a cluster of privacy invasiveness. Sonia was hired by Point Corp. to spy on Collins, while Collins hired Bingham to spy on Sonia. After the fact, the globe writers invaded the privacy of many others in order to gather information for their story. In other words, everyone is a bit guilty of impeding on someone’s privacy in this hectic tale. There is no flourishing democracy for the characters have nothing for themselves. Privacy is the only thing we as humans have to ourselves. Therefore, if it is gone, what democracy exists? There is nothing else we can call our own.