Thinking Outside the Box Office

Billy Wood
Leadership and Ethical Decision Making
Spring 2011
Mid Term

Mid term
What was the movie about/story

Columbia Pictures 1962 Lawrence of Arabia is the story of T.E. Lawrence and his role in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. The film is set in 1916 during World War One. The film depicts real life characters and events as well as some fictionalized characters. Each of the main characters displays different leadership styles and behaviors. There are also underlying struggles and dilemmas that the main characters must cope with as they struggle to support one another.

Main Characters, struggles, dilemmas, leadership styles

For the purpose of this paper, attention will be focused on five main characters. Most of these characters are factual and some are fictitious amalgamations of real persons or organizations that they represent.
Colonel Brighton
First there is Colonel Brighton. Brighton was Lawrence’s predecessor as liaison between the British Empire and Prince Faisal, leader of the Hejaz Arabs. Brighton represents an ineffective leader who is not achieving the goals of his organization, The British Empire. Lawrence becomes assigned to Brighton to assist with encouraging cooperation from the Arabs in achieving Britain’s egocentric objectives in Arabia.
T.E. Lawrence
Lawrence was a well educated British officer who had a passion for all things Arabic. When first introduced to the audience, T.E. Lawrence is serving as a cartographer working in Cairo, Egypt. The British political wing depicted through a character named Dryden assigns Lawrence to assist Brighton based on Lawrence’s expert and resource power. Lawrence is quick to accept his new assignment.
Lawrence is depicted as a supportive listener who quickly gains favor with Prince Faisal. Faisal persuades Brighton to allow Lawrence to lead a group of Arab fighters on a mission to unite other Arab tribes and take the seaport of Aqaba from the Turks. Lawrence is almost overconfident with the notion that they will be successful. Faisal appoints Sherif Ali, a fictional representation of leaders from several tribes, to assist Lawrence with this task. The only way to take Aqaba is to travel the vast desolate stretch of desert in Jordan and attack it from the desert side. This journey through the dessert is thought to be impossible by Sherif Ali. Lawrence encourages Ali by stating that Moses had traveled this route. This epic reference and Lawrence’s charismatic demeanor, moves Ali and his followers to trust in Lawrence.
Prince Faisal
Prince Faisal has been credited as leading the Arab revolt. At the time of the film, Faisal’s vision of a free and united Arabia has become stalled due to being outgunned and out financed by the Turks. Although Faisal has legitimate power, he is lacking in resource power and expert power in regards to achieving his vision. Faisal sees both of these in Lawrence. Faisal leads his followers in a directive way. This behavior is due to his feudal position. Part of Faisal’s plan involves the taking of Damascus and to incorporate it into his kingdom. The British military, led by General Allenby, prefer that the Arabians not control Damascus for fear that Arabia will become too powerful. This will be a point of contention later in the film.
General Allenby
General Allenby is portrayed as a participative and supportive leader when we first meet him. Allenby is in charge of the British military forces station at the Palestinian front. After Lawrence returns from his victory at Aqaba, Allenby promises to deliver guns and money to the Arab fighters who now control Aqaba under the leadership of Auda ibu Tayi. This show of support is encouraging to Lawrence who sets off to rejoin Ali. We soon learn, however, that Dryden and other military consultants persuade Allenby to renege on his promise. This decision appears to an improper ethically; however Allenby knows that empowering the Arabs with too much autonomy will undermine the perceived greater goodness of the people of the British Empire.
Auda ibu Tayi
Back at Aqaba, the lead from the front, Auda ibu Tayi, awaits his money and guns. Soon after Lawrence returns to Aqaba, Auda ibu Tayi realizes that the British will not be sending any direct support but that they will assist in fighting the Turks indirectly. Although broken by this betrayal, Tayi realizes that the best thing to do for his people and for the Arabs as a whole is to continue to fight for freedom from the Turks. Under strategic input from Lawrence, Tayi retrains his men to adapt guerilla style fighting tactics. Ali and Lawrence join Tayi in his operation of slowly driving towards Damascus.
Conclusion and Summary
At the end of the film the united Arab tribes take Damascus just prior to aid arriving from Britain. With charismatic guidance from Lawrence, Ali and Tayi achieve Faisal’s goal of creating a new Arab Nation. This new Arab Nation is reluctant to concede any power to the British, who also occupy Damascus. After a series of talks, debates, and debriefings the two powers agree to a resolution. In reality power was transferred to the French and the real Faisal traveled to Paris to lobby for his Arab followers. Eventually Faisal took Damascus and was crowned the King of Syria. The French were able to expel Faisal and the British offered the Kingdom of Iraq to Faisal. Faisal accepted (PBS, 0000). After the events at Damascus Lawrence returned to England and later died in a motorcycle crash. Before his death, in real life, Lawrence wrote and published his Seven Pillars of Wisdom in which he recounted his involvement in the Arab Revolt.
William M. Wood Jr.
Bibliography
PBS. Lawrence of Arabia Home. Retrieved 1, 31, 2010, from PBS.org: http://www.pbs.org/lawrenceofarabia/index.html