Help a fangirl out?

[rivkat]

I'm looking for pop culture examples (TV, movies) of professionals doing their jobs because they're professionals, even though they know -- or strongly believe -- that there's no point to it. An example would be the final episode of Angel. (That might be an example of "the point is that this is all there is," but I hope you get the idea -- you treat the patient because that's your job, not because you think it will help or because you think it makes you especially noble. You investigate the crime not because you're doing justice or because you have a personal stake but because that's what it means to be a cop. Greg House and L&OL's Jack McCoy are, therefore, counterexamples.)

Specific episodes/arcs, please! The point is to have some examples to show students, so the more specific, the better.

Comments

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

That sounds perfect! If you do figure out specific episodes, please let me know, because it's just what I'm looking for. Thanks!

[chase820.livejournal.com]

McNulty is a good example of the House dynamic--doing a dirty job because he has a passion for it and has nothing else in his life. I'd say his former partner Bunk, a longtime homicide detective, is a better demonstration of the "doing a job because we have to do a job" mentality. At one point in the first couple of episodes of Season 1, he chides McNulty for taking on a case when he's not up for a case. (Apparently, the homicide detectives on the show take turns on the cases, rather like a batting line-up on a baseball team.) When the case goes sour, he tells McNulty "That what you get for giving a fuck when it's not your turn to give a fuck."

There's also the case of Nicky Sobotka in Season 2. His Uncle wastes his life desperately trying to save the Baltimore docks, and in the end it's all in vain. Nicky goes back to work at the end of the season, knowing it's a dying way of life but not knowing any other.

I'd highly recommend the first couple of seasons of The Wire, which are out on DVD. In terms of richness of character and plotting, it's the closest thing to a visual novel I've ever seen.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that helps a lot.

[chase820.livejournal.com]

I just thought of this--more than the ending of "Not Fade Away," there's the great moment when Gunn goes to see Anne at the homeless shelter, and asks her what she'd do if the world were ending tonight. And she shrugs and says "I'd finish unloading this truck [of donated furniture]."

I always thought they could have done more with her. She was a great character.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Ooh, good one!

[very-improbable.livejournal.com]

Here's the exchange in case you don't have it:

Gunn: What if I told you it doesn't help? What would you do if you found out none of it matters? That it's all controlled by forces more powerful and uncaring than we can conceive, and they will never let it get better down here. What would you do?
Annie: I'd get this truck packed before this new stuff gets here. Wanna give me a hand?
Gunn: I do.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's perfect. Thanks.