The invention of lying and the negative impacts of lying in the film

The Accuracy of The Invention of Lying

In The Invention of Lying, a man discovers the idea of lying, of simply saying anything other than the truth, in a society where that has been inconceivable. The society itself has had a strange way of telling the truth, of simply blurting out everything regardless of its propriety, or lack thereof. I think because of the recklessness of the truth used in The Invention of Lying, the film is inaccurate for a society that could only tell the truth. People have the will to hold back what they want to say, and often lying and not telling the truth are not the same thing. The ability of hold back one’s opinion would not be lying, unless asked. Very often in the movie, there are parts, especially with service workers (waiters and waitresses) that make for useless waste of oxygen, understandably added to the film for humor. Thus, The Invention of Lying is does not accurately depict what the world would be like if everyone told the truth. However, the parts of The Invention of Lying that could be used to represent the reality of a society that cannot lie accurately would offer no objection of deontology, because there is no loss to telling the truth, as exemplified by the movie.

Overall, the truths told in The Invention of Lying do not show societal harm. There are parts where the individual may have their feelings hurt or may have a lower quality of life, like the main character’s neighbor. That is why I believe there should be a rule on optimism if there were to be a rule for truth. Both would be based on the perceptions of the person who will act upon these rules For example, the neighbor would never have to be so depressed and suicidal if he still followed the rule of optimism. At the same time, there would be less chance of rejection and complete despair and disappointment if both laws for truth and optimism were enacted. In the world where lies are permitted, there is chance for chaos and havoc, although there is chance for happiness, which even then is concluded by unhappiness that cancels out the happiness that is caused by the lie, for example, the couple that decide to fight about heaven instead of their real world issues. In conclusion, I think that the film does not accurately represent what the world would be like if we could only tell the truth, and that the film does make an objection in favor of Deontology.