The protagonists of the films Kinsey by Bill Condon and Thank You for Smoking by Jason Reitman are two men cut from very different styles of fabric. In Kinsey, the main character uses logical speech and gathers statistics to attempt to remove the shackles of moral prudery from the subject of human sexuality for the good of humanity. On the other hand, the central character of Thank You for Smoking is a tobacco industry lobbyist who uses logical fallacies and rhetoric to obscure the health risks of tobacco use, because he is extraordinarily good at it. domain and, what's more, he is paid handsomely. However divergent their intentions, these two men both demonstrate a passionate skill in asserting their demands in the face of fierce opposition. Additionally, the two characters' argumentative styles reveal their mutual apprehension of the power that morality and rhetoric hold in shaping public opinion. Certainly, Alfred Kinsey and Nick Naylor are different men with different intentions, but they both possess, albeit for different reasons, a driving passion to work towards realizing their ambitions. In an early scene of the film Kinsey, we glimpse some of the reasons for Professor Kinsey's passion. We see a young Kinsey attending one of his tyrannical father's sermons on the evils of lust. Her father exaggerates the connection between mundane objects and sexual deviance, even going so far as to condemn the zipper because it allows “quick access to moral oblivion” (Kinsey). Alfred Kinsey wants to make the sexual world a less shameful place for people. On the contrary, the foundations of Nick Naylor's passion are not so noble or so complex, as he unapologetically tells us in the first 10 minutes of the film. Naylor works in the middle of paper......and bureaucracy, I have applauded their victories and been saddened by their setbacks despite their personality or career choices. I believe that supporting the oppressed is part of my American cultural heritage. There is something delicious about seeing a person fight against the opposition to change the minds and hearts of the masses, even if I don't believe in their cause. I think as a culture we love it because by looking at figures like Alfred Kinsey and Nick Naylor, we are reminded that with passion, skill, and a deep knowledge of what we face, we can change the world, or at least talk about it. to agree with us. Works Cited Kinsey. Real. Bill Condon. Perf. Liam Neeson and Laura Linney. Fox Searchlight, 2004. Online. Thanks for smoking. Real. Jason Reitman. Perf. Aaron Eckhart and Maria BelloRoom 9 Entertainment, 2006. Online