Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will Propaganda
I am going to discuss whether Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will
(1934) was propaganda, or a representational recording of an event.
Riefenstahl was considered “an intricate part of the Third Reich's
propaganda machine[1]”, yet she claimed that:
"If you see this film again today you ascertain that it doesn't
contain a single reconstructed scene. Everything in it is true. And it
contains no tendentious commentary at all. It is history. A pure
historical film... it is film-vérité. It reflects the truth that was
then in 1934, history. It is therefore a documentary[2]”
It is clear that there are two very different parts to this story,
with general consensus being that Hitler wanted it to be propaganda,
and with his influence on Riefenstahl he could get what he wanted, but
with Riefenstahl’s wish that there would be no political agenda, she
insisted that she created it to be a record of the events at the
rally.
Riefenstahl had been making films for 10 years, and Hitler approached
her to make an artistic film about the Nuremberg Rally, after he had
been impressed by her previous work, which included Victory of Faith
(1933), a short film about the 1933 Nuremberg rally. Triumph of the
Will was to be an extravaganza, with “an unlimited budget, crew of 120
and between 30 and 40 cameras[3]”. Hitler didn’t want anything to
stand in the way of Riefenstahl, and although he gave orders that she
should have unlimited access in Nuremberg, she was not aided by the SS
men in any way. “Once some SS men pushed our sound van into a ditch;
our tracks were dismantled, and I was not allowed into...
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[1] Leonard Maltin, “Biography for Leni Riefenstahl”
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0726166/bio, (1994)
[2] David Thomson, “A Biographical Dictionary Of The Cinema”, Secker &
Warburg, (1964)
[3] Ellen Cheshire, “Leni Riefenstahl: Documentary Film-Maker or
Propagandist?” http://www.kamera.co.uk/features/leniriefenstahl.html,
(2000)
[4] Leni Riefenstahl, “The Sieve Of Time”, Quartet books ltd, (1992)
p160
[5] Alexander Kimel , “Hitler’s Popularity”
http://www.kimel.net/popularity.html (No date available)
[6] Riefenstahl, op. cit p158
[7] ibid p162
[8] Ellen Cheshire, op. cit
[9] ibid
[10] Adolf Hitler, “Mein Kampf” Volume One, Chapter Six: “War
Propaganda"(1924) Germany. Translated by Ralph Manheim (1943),
Houghton-Mifflin.
[11] Riefenstahl Op Cit p158
Simon Wiesenthal: The Nazi Hunter. There are many heroic individuals in history that have shown greatness during a time of suffering, as well as remorse when greatness is needed, but one individual stood out to me above them all. He served as a hero among all he knew and all who knew him. This individual, Simon Wiesenthal, deserves praise for his dedication to his heroic work tracking and prosecuting Nazi war criminals that caused thousands of Jews, Gypsies, Poles and other victims of the Holocaust to suffer and perish. The Life of a Holocaust Victim The effect the Holocaust had on Wiesenthal played a major role in the person he made himself to be.
Words and images were silent weapons used by all governments involved during World War II. Wars are generally fought between soldiers, but the different ideologies often meet on the battlefield as well. The support of the people is crucial during these times since it general knowledge that strength relies on numbers. Propaganda targets people’s emotions and feelings and changes people’s perception about a particular idea, people or situation. Propaganda goes hand in hand with the art of persuasion and convincing; these tools can control and manipulate the collective minds of massive amount of its audience. During World War II, for instance, the elements of war were taken from the location of the military fights and brought to the households of millions of families. Advertising has the power to sell ideas, to give or take away hope, and to boosts people´s morale; the ideas that were presented to the public through propaganda are immortal, they linger in the nation’s memory. Images often displayed in posters and pamphlets during war time, were an essential factor to gain peoples support and trust, images attract people’s attention with more efficiency than word. It is an effective mean to attract attention; it I said that images speak louder than words and this case is not the exception. Media, during World War II, was the catalyst which increased the magnitude of the issue that was being confronted. This event left a mark in our history since its objective was to generate hatred between ethnics. It is in our nature, the human nature, to take our own culture as a point of reference to judge others, this is a phenomenon called ethnocentrism and it is fuelled bye prejudice and stereotyping. Throughout history whenever technologically...
According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a Mass of people is a large body of persons in a group. In Chapter 10 of Hannah Arendt’s novel, The Origins of Totalitarianism, Arendt broadly defines the term masses, as well as the mass individual. Before doing this, Arendt clearly distinguishes masses from classes and citizens. As Arendt notes, classes and citizens are part of a nation-state, which essentially represent themselves. Arendt claims that Totalitarianism movements are mass organizations of atomized isolated individuals. In this claim, there are many key features that define Totalitarianism as a political system.
With the spread of the Nazi’s “national community” or Volksgemeinschaft ideology in the 1930s, came strict definitions from the Nazi party of what it meant to be German. Opposing the independent “new women” promoted in the 1920s by the Weimar Republic, the Nazi’s idea of womanhood was centered around creating a strong nation by pushing women to be mothers and maintain the household. In this way, those mothers could raise strong soldiers that could serve and protect Nazi Germany. While in contrast, Elsa Herrmann description of a “new woman” in a 1929 book, describes a woman focused on the present and actions such as entering the workforce. Most importantly, and the main reason the Nazis rejected the image of the “new woman,” is that the “new
It imposes a consciousness that timidity is not a characteristic that men should have. In order to prove themselves, men usually attempt unhealthy and destructive acts to perform their courages and fearless, but these actions prone to suicidal and various other types of out of control or untouchable behaviors. Michael Kimmel states that, “ Men ages nineteen to twenty-nine are three times less likely to wear seat belts than women the same age”(Kimmel 468). Mr.Kimmel quoted a data to claim that young men assume safe driving as emasculation. As long as men are driving a car, using a seat bell means that they are afraid of injure or death. Beside those, it also represents this man cannot completely control his car; on the other hand, he is not masculine. Moreover, men have proclivity to violence. In “From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos” by Joan Morgan, she specifically argus machismo behaviors among Africa Americans. She wrote that “When brothers can talk so cavalierly about killing each other and then reveal that they have no expectation to see their twenty-first birthday, that is straight-up depression masquerading as machismo”(Morgan 456). As a consequence of overflowing reckless and brutal actions, black men are more easily motivated to perform their machismo by murdering each other. It obviously states a situation that due to the suggestion and guidance from man box, the concept of intrepidity and brave has been distorted. Masculinity in these men’s mind represents a willing to die as long as they have manifested no
The Forms of Propaganda Used by the State in Nazi Germany One of the purposes of dictatorship was to give the Nazis control of people's lives. The more control they had, the more easily they could put their aims into effect. The job of controlling people thus became one of the main tasks of the Nazi state. Party propaganda was evident throughout German society and served as a means by which the state could effectively reach every German and summon absolute loyalty to the Nazi party. Following the Nazi party's rise to power in 1933, Hitler established the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph
In the times of darkness where women used to be worthy enough just to take care of the housework, kids, and husband; accordingly, women were categorized as housewives while men were the ones who work for the livelihood. It is important to highlight the women role in World War II because besides the war, deaths, ambition and misfortune; women during the World War II where for first time in the history; women were valued and they free themselves from the stereotype role they had. The time of labor inequality in the World War II between women and men was staring to break down; however, women were still stigmatized to just be able to work in jobs such as nurse and the textile industry. The timing of the initial advance
During World War II propaganda was ubiquitous. It consisted of a wide range of carriers including leaflets, radio, television, and most importantly posters. Posters were used based on their appeal: they were colorful, creative, concise, and mentally stimulating. Posters often portrayed the artist's views on the war. They demonstrated the artist concern for the war, their hopes for the war, and reflected the way enemies were envisioned. Posters also show a nations political status: they reflect a nations allies and enemies, how the nation saw itself, and its greatest hopes and fears of the war.
Rubenstein and Herzl viewed religion in very similar ways. Their major works, After Auschwitz and The Jewish State described their view of a place where Jews from around the world could gather and call home. They believed this society should be fundamentally based in secular law rather than religious doctrine. It was more important for them to live freely as a culturally Jewish society, rather than living as a religiously Jewish society. I would suggest that the definition of religion would be the belief of a God, or once God, and the worship of Him through religious practices. The distinction between this definition and a more standard definition, “the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods” (Webster), is that they believed societal matters and personal freedom should be in the hands of the people rather than predetermined by an all powerful God.
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Segregated coffee stations, bathrooms, libraries, underestimated by men and so on.
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The "others" do not want to demonize men, yet are not taking an active role in eliminating the occasional poison that masculine expectations inhibit. Hamblin 's opinion, as well as several respected experts in psychology, criminology, and sociology, believes that toxic masculinity is an accurate term that can further both discussion and action on how to stop the aggressive and destructive notions of
LARSON, THOMAS. "'In Spite of Everything': The Definitive Indefinite Anne Frank." The Antioch Review Winter 2000: 40. Student Edition. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
Men and women were not seen as equal human beings; instead it has been obvious that men were more likely to be on the upper hand. In 1987, it has been recorded that