“Fierce Creatures” by John Cleese Essay

Introduction

Fierce Creatures is a comedy movie by John Cleese. The film is about a zoo in Britain acquired by a businessman. The company which owned the zoo expected profits and had fixed the return expected. As a result, the manager had to ensure that the zoo attracted more visitors to meet the profit margin. However, it appears that the stakeholders of the zoo have different values and interests in the zoo. This happens to be the greatest problem with the whole situation. During a meeting, all these differences emerge. This paper is about the comedy film Fierce Creatures, but priority in the discussion will be given to the differences of value and agenda of the various stakeholders. The challenges that the leaders face will also be discussed.

Discussion

The various stakeholders of the zoo have different interests and value it. All these values and interests manifest at the meeting (Gorman, 2005). It is at this point that it emerges that they are divided in their perception and approach towards matters of the zoo. The entire octopus company which has acquired the zoo is interested in revenue and profits alone. As a result, the company has no interest in the welfare of the animals as well as the good management of the zoo. The new manager of the zoo is corrupt and uses donation money to profit himself. His values are selfish and he has no constructive vision for the zoo (Johnstone, 1997). The employees in the zoo are in opposition to the policies of the manager. However, they are rigid, complacent, and uncooperative. Their values are inverted; all they want is to be in the job without doing anything constructive. The leaders of the zoo face a lot of challenges in their profession. First is the manager of the zoo Rollo Lee, who has the task of meeting the targets of the company. The company requires a profit margin of 20%. To make this happen, Lee resorts to a policy of fierce creatures (Smith & Hoena 2004). However, this results in conflicts between him and the employees of the zoo and finally costs him his job. The CEO of the company also has his challenges; first, he has to ensure that the management of the zoo achieves the profit margin set by the company. Second, he has to contend with the disagreements of the management of the zoo and its employees. No wonder he thinks of closing the zoo. The new manager is given the tough task of trying to bring harmony to the zoo after the exit of Rollo Lee (Vandome et al, 2010). Rollo Lee has been at the helm of the zoo for some time has a lot of potentials and opportunities to be creative. His fierce creature’s policy was creative in a way and I believe he can perform better.

Conclusion

The comedy film Fierce Creatures is set in a British zoo. It involves a company that acquired the zoo and the management of the zoo. Throughout the film, the challenges and troubles of the zoo are explored. It is revealed that the various stakeholders of the zoo do not share the same agenda and values. This comes to the surface during a meeting of the stakeholders. Apart from that, the leaders experienced a lot of challenges in their role of managing the zoo. The paper has analyzed the film in detail. More focus has been given to the conflict of value and agenda among the different shareholders. At the same time, the challenges of the leaders have also been discussed.

References

1. Gorman, J. (2005). The Zoo. Washington: Gareth Stevens.
2. Johnstone, J. (1997). Fierce Creatures: A Novel. London: Berkley Pub Group (Mm).
3. Smith, G. & Hoena, B. (2004). The Zoo. New York: Capstone Press.
4. Vandome,et al (2010). London Zoo: Zoo, Science, Species, Animal, Zoological Society of London, Regent’s Park, Regent’s Canal, Whipsnade Zoo. London: Alphascript Publishing.