The contents of culture are a good way to gauge the morals and beliefs of a society. Movies specifically are good indicators. It then comes off as more than a lighthearted issue when few American-made movies characterize Nazi Germany as actual people and instead dehumanize them. The Germans are nearly always shown in a negative light when in reality fewer than 40% of Germans voted for Hitler when he was elected. Furthermore, even fewer Germans knew about the Holocaust during the war. Most films inevitably depict all Germans as a single force hellbent on killing every Jewish person at whatever cost. World War II films such as Inglorious Basterds that dehumanize Germans through guilt by association, making them seem like an evil force, and …show more content…
The Disney movie Mulan depicts them as one-dimensional evil characters that only have a lust for blood. Beliefs that dehumanize like these can affect our interaction with other cultures even today, so it is important that we understand the symptoms so we can eliminate it. The Inglorious Basterds are a group of Jewish-American soldiers that are chosen to fight Germans behind the front lines. Their goal, as stated by the commander Lieutenant Aldo Raine in the beginning of the movie, is “Killin Nazi’s.” He continues to state that “Nazi[s] ain’t got no humanity.” This not only sets the tone for the entirety of the rest of the movie, but also explicitly states that Nazis are going to be dehumanized in the Film. The first standard that a movie has to satisfy is that it tries to associate the actions of the one group of Germans such as the Schutzstaffel (S.S.) or Hitler with the entire German military. By relating the actions of one person to many others it becomes easier to do inhuman things to them such as torture. Inglorious Basterds fits this category well. In the first scene of the movie we see members of the S.S. driving to a Frenchman’s home. Upon his arrival the audience finds out the a Jewish family is missing and the S.S. officer suspects the man of hiding them. The man confesses that they are hidden under the floorboards and the S.S. officer and his soldiers ruthlessly shoots them all but one. By opening with this
The most notorious for the heinous deeds were the Schutzstaffel, or the SS. This paramilitary branch of Nazis, who were highly regarded by Hitler, treated the Jewish race with no respect for their own livelihood, or had any sympathy for what they were going through. As Elie describes his time in the concentration camp of Auschwitz, he mentions one of the SS officers who came into their barracks, “...with crime inscribed upon his brow and in the pupils of his eyes. He looked us over as if we were a pack of leprous dogs hanging onto our lives.” (Wiesel 47). This excerpt from the novel displays the sincere hatred he had for the malnourished and weak Jews who stood before him. These special soldiers slaughtered Jews by the thousands, without making any sort of attempt to stop what was occurring. The SS had one goal during World War II, and that was to exterminate the Jewish race from the Earth. At any moment, someone could be killed, no matter the reason. The Germans didn't care, all they wanted was the Jews
To summarize, the Nazis and Hitler had anti semitic ideas and had crazy ideas of a perfect race, made up of people with blonde hair, blue eyes, and that were tall. Along with that, the people who weren’t part of this “perfect” race, was humiliated and treated horrible, for no
Many things that happen also have a trigger event – the final straw, or the
Just like France, the United States, and Russia, Germany also began to make films, as a way to entertain the working class in an inexpensive way. By 1933 Adolf Hitler came to power, creating very harsh social condition that made several writers, actors, and directors flee Germany because they feared that if they stayed they would have gotten killed. Joseph Goebbels later came to run the UFA, as a government owned production company to make films that were shown to civilians and the military as propaganda on March 13 , 1933, and intended to censor German cinema to make the people believe that they were fascist. Numerous movies in that period of time tried to steer clear of talking about the Holocaust to distract people from what was really happening and to make Hitler seem almost godlike. One film in particular directed by Leni Riefenstahl called The Triumph of the Will became a well known example of propaganda in film history. Throughout the film, you really get to experience a sense of historical context that influenced thousands of people during the time of World War 2. Today, several people view The Triumph of the Will and have a difficult time distinguishing whether or not they can conclude if they view the film as propaganda or an actual piece of art.
there was a sort of cultural dominance taking place by the outsiders. the Old European culture was dying it was being lost and the American culture was infiltrating in. judt acknowledgesthat “ in more ways than most contemporaries could have foreseen, a new Europe was being born. (Judt, 237). he first introduces the German victims which he separates from the German aggressors, so we first get this picture of Germany destroyed and under occupation and then he states that the greedy Americans were coming in and using their cultural imperialism to change Europe. He 's almost trying to challenge all the different assumptions and narratives that people have on such a controversial view. The soviets and the Nazis are no longer the enemy in his narrative but the Americans are.the author comments that “American films flooded into Italy in time for the pivotal 1948 elections; Paramount was encouraged by
The Nazis’ racism often discouraged them from excessive cruelty, we were fated to die as the lesser race, the less we were viewed as humans, the less there was a point in humiliation. However, the process of killing Jews could not escape humiliation. By inflicting pain the Nazis acknowledged our humanity which angered them even further, it was our bitter victory leading to death. The Germans’ process included dehumanizing Jews up to the killing moment, the ideology claimed to torture Jews seeking them to accept their inhumanity, not for humiliation, but to cleanse their souls before being burned alive (5). Convincing Jews to admit to their own inhumanity was to assert the Nazis in what they already believed, and give justification for torment and murder. The Germans’ attitude toward death had the Holocaust combine humiliation and destruction, the Germans saw themselves as the cleansing power, which made their actions even more horrifying. I could not predict their actions, it was their unpredictability that made them terrible in their behavior, the only thing truly predictable was killing Jews which was a direct result of the Nazi ideology. Jews misinterpreted and misunderstood Nazi intentions, such misunderstanding was encouraged because it fed the chaos and horror amongst the prisoners and gave power
Steven Spielberg had planned to produce a movie about the Holocaust for around ten years before he actually became involved in directing Schindler’s List (Perlez, 1993). Much of the movie was filmed in Kraków, Poland, which was the location of Schindler’s factory. Liam Neeson stars as Oskar Schindler, and Ralph Fiennes stars as Amon Göth. The plot takes place in Nazi Germany between 1941-1945. The main character is Oskar Schindler, who originally supports the Nazi party but eventually decides to protect the Jews from the atrocious acts committed by the Nazis. Specific examples from the movie of how it is accurate include the ending scene where the Schindler Jews are liberated. In this scene, every Schindler Jew that was alive is present. In addition to this appearance, Schindler’s List portrays the brutality of the acts that were committed at the concentration camps. In one scene, a group of naked women are herded into a shower room that is actually a gas chamber in disguise. Despite the fact that the emotional response of the women is inaccurate as the women would not have known that the shower room was a gas chamber, the scene illustrates the inhumane method that the Nazis used to annihilate the Jews in many of the concentration camps, specifically Auschwitz (Lobet, 1994). The film was also shot in many of the same locations where the actual events occurred. For
The movie Schindler’s List, is set in Nazi Germany and follows the journey of a group of Jews. Initially being used as cheap labor by the shrewd businessman Oskar Schindler, the Jews are later taken to concentration camps. At these camps the Jews face dire situations. Not only are they provided with barely enough food and water to survive on, but they live with a constant fear of death. One day, Schindler notices the condition of the Jews and sympathizes with them.
Historians have examined many possibilities to the roots of the Holocaust and World War Two, however, another possibility, which is rarely studied, is Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is a theory which was influenced by the works of Charles Darwin, however, truly developed by British philosopher and scientist Herbert Spencer. The heart of his theory was the belief that evolution continued by the survival of the fittest. This theory states that evolution occurs when individuals that possess beneficial features, the fittest, survive and the weaker individuals perish. Moreover, its wide interpretation led others several various conclusions, including new theories such as the notion of racial superiority.
Schindler’s list is an incredibly moving, realistic representation of one of the darkest chapters in human history, the Holocaust. It covers a wide range of themes including Jewish labour, discrimination and massacre, as well as the power each individual possesses and the difference that one individual can make. Moreover, it accurately depicts the suffering and injustice faced by the Jews during World War II, showcasing - in gory detail - the length at which the Nazi regime was prepared to go in order to exterminate Jewish people and culture. The film itself follows enigmatic businessman Oskar Schindler's real life trials and triumphs in his pursuit of saving Jews from Nazi extremism, of which he is quite successful. This success is found through the use of many methods in saving the Jews.
The year was 1941 and World War II had been going on for two years since it started in 1939. Nazi Germany had gained much territory and controlled over three-fourths of Europe. The only countries not conquered controlled or allied with Germany in Europe were Sweden, Switzerland, Russia and England. Both Sweden and Switzerland were neutral during the war, so the two biggest threats to Germany was England and Russia. (Patrick Shrier 08/06/2006)
After the World War II, Germany was divided into 4 powers, Britain, France, USA and Soviet Russia, dividing the country into two parts, namely East and West Germany. The country was reunited again in 1990, unifying the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (kellerbook). The reunification has led to political, economic and social long-lasting changes in the country. Following the reunification, there has been an increase in unemployment rate and severe economic crisis. Since the 1990s, the issue of the fall in the number of union members and collective bargaining in Germany’s employment relationship is not a new matter (Addison et.al). This has been evidently observed, after the reunification of Western
Nazism has been portrayed throughout modern films, such as The Lion King, Cabaret, Sophie Scholl – The Final Days, Schindler’s List and Downfall. The accuracy of the rise and fall of Nazism varies, however the ideas of Nazism are consistent throughout these films. These films accurately portray the rise and fall of Nazism in Germany as well as Hitler’s ideology. Although some of the films are modified to create a more appropriate rating so a wider range of audiences are able to view them, therefore some of the historical accuracy was lost.
Inglourious Basterds argues that the American lens of Jews in World War II is inaccurate by contrasting the traditional American lens with a strong Jewish lens through parallel plots in the story. In Inglourious Basterds, we mentioned the opening scene which starts with the “Jew Hunter” in complete control and using fear tactics to make a French farmer give up the Jews he is harboring. This scene shows the “Jew Hunter” in full control of the situation with all power resting solely in his hands. The Jewish family being harbored is completely helpless as they hide under the floorboards. The Jews in this scene are in line with what the American perspective of Jews in World War II, helpless and at the mercy of the Nazis. However the Basterds violently contradict the American lens of Jew’s role in World War II history. This is done so in the way the film is laid out with alternating five different chapters, which alternate between Jews having power and lacking power. The Basterds reverse the power structure and become the ones inflicting fear. They begin to not only kill Nazis they make the Nazis fear Jews. This can be seen in one scene where the “Bear Jew” walks out of a dark tunnel, bat banging
One last example is, ?gossiping and smoking by the grass.? This suggests that the Nazis are laid back and acting very casual. They don?t pay respect for the dead. They are totally unconcerned or unphased by what is happening.