Jubelle Angeli C.

Maturan
MWF 12:25-1:25
Moral Philosophy

Non-stop and Utilitarianism

The movie Nonstop was about an alcoholic federal air marshal, Bill Marks, who kept
on receiving terrorizing messages while on duty as an air police of a non-stop New York-to
London flight. The messages were about killing a passenger every 20 minutes, until such time
when Bill Marks will be able to send a whopping $150 million into a specific bank account.
What he did was really contrary to what happens in real life, from the mere use of mobile phones
while on board to the point of using violence among passengers. This was done all for the
purpose of catching the hideous culprit, who happens to be a fellow passenger of that
transatlantic flight.
At face value, majority of what Bill Marks did on board was really bad. However, if we
look at the lens of utilitarianism, as described by Bentham, those violent acts would be justified.
Utilitarianism emphasizes the rightness or the wrongness of a certain act depending on the result
or the outcome produced by a certain act. In addition, there is no moral qualification when
judging a human action just by its very nature.
In the case of Nonstop, Bill Marks thought of the lives at stake. Added to that would be
the time constraints embedded in the threat of the secret killer. As a result, he waged violence to
find the culprit. With three dead bodies, 150 endangered and terrified passengers and a secret
killer, he thought he has to do something to cease the killings. As someone with considerable
power during that time, he used violence.
The focus of utilitarianism is to produce an action that will benefit the welfare of the
majority, much known as the greatest happiness principle. In judging the plot of Nonstop, the air
marshal preferred to prioritize the lives of the 150 passengers rather than his own reputation and
airport rules. We can see that he disregarded his own circumstances just to save the majority.
Through this act, the act produced more pleasure (saved lives) rather than pain (killed people
from the possible bombing). In addition, he was hailed as a hero upon landing and majority of
the passengers were able to survive the hideous airplane killings.
Therefore, the character of Bill Marks in Nonstop exemplified the principles of
utilitarianism, as described by Bentham. Pleasure must be maximized and vice versa. The
welfare of the majority must be prioritized. All of these were seen in the course of the story.
Despite the violence his character has shown, it produced a favorable action, wherein lives are
saved despite the intelligent and cunning ways of the hideous culprit.