Absence Of Malice Sparknotes

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Absence of Malice is a 1981 romantic drama and thriller, which was directed by Sydney Pollack. The film stars some famous actors of the time such as, Paul Newman who plays Michael Gallagher, and Sally Field who plays Megan Carter. The meaning of Absence of Malice is a legal term where you have to prove malice in order to win a defamation suit with malice generally requiring intent to harm. The film begins with Michael Gallagher, who is the son of a dead mobster. While his father was alive, he made sure that his son stayed away from the family business and made sure he had a legitimate business. Meanwhile, a Miami reporter Megan carter who works for the Miami Standard newspaper is manipulated into making Michael the prime suspect in the story she wrote in the newspaper. Elliot, the man who manipulated her is the editor for the paper. Megan is in the clear of legal trouble because of the Absence of Malice. After this story was written …show more content…

It shows in the scene where Carter gets manipulated into writing the story about how Michael was involved in a serious murder case. They tried to make him the prime suspect, when really he was not even involved in the case. This is an example of invasion of privacy in which we talked about in class. It means to the intrusion into the personal life of another without just cause. We also talked about how editors were powerful decision makers and that was portrayed in Absence of Malice. The editor in the film makes Megan Carter write the non-true story about Michael Gallagher. Libel is published defamation of character, which is slander. An example of libel in the film would be Gallagher. His reputation got tarnished, and it affected his occupation. The film portrayed woman in a negative way by making them easy to manipulate. In the film, one of the main characters Megan Carter is forced write slander about Gallagher which shows how woman were thought of back

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