An early scene in the film provides a great example of both of their personalities and the conflict brewing between them. Captain Ramsey chooses to initiate a drill which turns dangerous. There is a fire in the galley and Lieutenant Commander Hunter has to fight it. One man looses his life, although it is not due to the drill, or so they say. After the drill, Hunter and Ramsey share a confrontation. Ramsey takes Hunter back into his office to discuss the events. Hunter disagrees with the choice to run the drill, although Ramsey strongly disagrees with him, explaining, “Confusion on the ship is nothing to fear, it should be taken advantage of.” He later goes on to explain to Hunter that “I don’t have any problems with questions or doubts. You got something to say to me, you say it in private ‘n if privacy does not permit itself, you bit your f’n tongue.”
I thought this was a turning point in their relationship. We start to notice some of their conflict rituals and how they respond to each other. We start to notice that Ramsey is going to be very confrontational while Hunter is more reserved. Ramsey’s conflict style is competing. He is not looking to accommodate or back down by any means. He wants to win regardless of the consequences and is not concerned about the effects on his and Hunter’s relationship. The conflict between these two men exists and both are aware of it, holding true to our text. It also occurs because there is not enough power to go around, they both share a strong dependence on one another, and they both feel as if the other is preventing them from reaching their goals. All of these are existent and important concepts from our text and relate strongly to the conflict illustrated here between Hunter and Ramsey.