Experimenter - Disobeying Ethics

"You could say we are puppets. But I believe that we are puppets with perception, with awareness. Sometimes we can see the strings. And perhaps our awareness is the first step in our liberation." 

- Stanley Milgram

This film offered an interesting peek into the world of research and the struggles faced by academicians who engineer breakthroughs. Centralised on the classic Milgram's Obedience to Authority experiment,  it explored the ethical dilemma that has been controversial in his study as well as his personal struggle with his discoveries.

Although though we get to see how his experiments were conducted back in the 60's and the actual backlash from his participants themselves, this biopic did not feel like one particularly because there was not much emphasis or focus on Milgram as an individual. We get short glimpses of a man who has been denied tenure from the most prestigious university in the world and denounced on the sidewalk. However, it was difficult to empathise with this man as it felt literally like reading an experiment than experiencing a researcher's journey. That being said, I also realise that those moments were his driving force to design experiments in natural settings. This gives a sense of reality to research questions as it showed how much real life situations motivated Milgram in his studies.

Personally, I did not like the 'breaking of the fourth wall' technique used in this film. It took away the sense of connectedness that I initially had with the film. Since, this movie slightly swinged in between being a biopic and a documentary, foregoing the technique would have probably helped the story telling. 

Struggle in Academia

Readers who've heard of only one psychology experiment in their lives probably know Milgram's: In 1961's "obedience study," he found that the majority of subjects would give fellow volunteers horrible electric shocks if instructed to do so by an authority figure. The shocks weren't real, but the subjects didn't know that; the increasing discomfort of his obedient participants led many to call Milgram's ethics into question, and the experiment remains a psychology debate-starter today.

Milgram's real struggle was to convince people that his study was of value and there was nothing unethical about it as no one was harmed. However, people chose to harp on that one point and forgot to actually evaluate his study for what it was, a testimony of human behavior under the pressure of authority.

It was also somehow enlightening to watch how even the world of academia dissed Milgram's work. Despite, being a researcher in one of the most prestigious institutions in the world, his credibility was hugely at stake due to office politics.