The Actual Illusion
“It calls for the unity of all Frenchmen across class barriers,” claims Raymond Durgnat in his book Jean Renoir, about the film The Grand Illusion (149). It’s a war movie without a single battle scene, where only one soldier is killed, and there’s not one character which could be portrayed as the villain. Just by the death toll, we get the sense that the film is more than about WWI, but how people are different from each other. The story examines soldiers from different classes and nationalities in an effort to show their common humanity despite these divisions.
The film begins with pilots de Boieldieu and Marechal deciding to investigate an area to plan a military attack. While on their mission, their plane is shot down by the noble German officer Von Rauffenstein. After celebrating his win, Von Rauffenstein orders his German soldiers to seek the fallen pilots and invite them over for lunch before being sent to a prisoners of war camp. Even though they share different allegiances, the moneyed de Boieldieu inevitably strikes up a friendship with Von Rauffenstein since they hail from the same upper social class unlike his fellow countrymen Marechal; who is just a French middle class worker. A German soldier helps Marechal cut his steak and even sparks up a conversation. The dignified Von Rauffenstein Von Rauffenstein apologizes for the death of one of their men.
From the beginning of the movie, social division is displayed by seeing people from the same social class uniting like Marechel did with the German and de Boieldieu with Von Rauffenstein. As aristocratic officers, both men are witnessing the gradual erosion of their inherited privilege and the resulting power shift to the working class and try to stay together.
When they arrive at the camp, both Boieldieu and Marechal, are befriended by their fellow countrymen. The prisoners devise a plan that consists of digging a hole through the ground that ends in the gardens on the other side of the wall. They are forced to switch camps before being able to finish their plan. While in the camp, many examples of closed composition as stated by Gollin in his book A Viewer’s Guide to Film “The world in a closed framed but always seems to some extend self defined and self contained” are used (59). Throughout most scenes the soldiers are filmed either enclosed in a door or window frame which added to the feeling of them being trapped in the POW camp.
Though there was not much difference in the sizes of three of the classes, there were still large differences in the incomes of these classes. From the class breakdown, you can see how the Nazi party could be so successful. With the classes set, you then begin to see the emergence of the political parties.
Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel All Quiet on the Western Front is based on World War I; it portrays themes involving suffering, comradeship, chance and dehumanization. The novel is narrated by Paul, a young soldier in the German military, who fights on the western front during The Great War. Like many German soldiers, Paul and his fellow friends join the war after listening to the patriotic language of the older generation and particularly Kantorek, a high school history teacher. After being exposed to unbelievable scenes on the front, Paul and his fellow friends realize that war is not as glorifying and heroic as the older generation has made it sound. Paul and his co-soldiers continuously see horrors of war leading them to become hardened, robot-like objects with one goal: the will to survive.
In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul, the main character is a nineteen-year-old man who voluntarily joins the German army to fight in World War I against the French. Paul went into the war full of nationalism and ready to fight for his country. Soon after entering training, Paul began to realize that there is way more to war than just fighting for his country. Because it contains evidence of dehumanization and disconnectedness with the world, Erich Maria Remarque’s novel All Quiet on the Western Front reveals soldiers who are blindsided by the effects war has on them.
Have you ever thought about what it was like to live during World War 1, or what it was like to fight at war? At first glance of any war piece, you might think the author would try to portray the soldiers as mentally tough and have a smashing conscience. Many would think that fighting in a war shows how devoted you are to your country, however, that is not true. According to All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, the reality of a soldier's life is despondency, carnage and eradication at every bombardment. Living every day is not knowing if they will eat, see their families, or even if they will awaken the next day. Demeaning themselves from heroes to barely men without their military garment or identity. Remarque conveyed how
Struggle between the two opposing classes of labor was the embodiment of the argument for national identity according to Trachtenberg. His attention to detail of the divide between the lower class workers and the rich upper crust industrialists, serves to illustrate the varying changes which occurred across the country.
In our current society, we witness series of immorality practiced by adherents of religious virtues. Religious crisis, stealing and several other vices are perpetrated by religious adherents. We currently witness religious crisis by several religious sects like Islam and Christians. The current terrorist acts perpetrated by sects like Boko Haram, Al Qaeda and several other terrorist sects all proclaim religion as their foundation. These are extreme levels of immorality conducted by religious sects and do not go down well with the dictates of religious teachings (Anderson,
Through the characters of Lionel, Friday from Robinson Crusoe, as well as Eli’s link to the symbolism of the cabin, Thomas King clarifies upon the discrimination that still exists in Native communities and their appreciation of nature. King incorporates the idolization of materialistic objects which are dematerialized due to the irritable ungratefulness of the Whites, in the novel. King concludes his story the same way that it commenced, recapitulating the idea of water and its link to purity and the degradation of racial borders over the
Throughout their lives, people must deal with the horrific and violent side of humanity. The side of humanity is shown through the act of war. This is shown in Erich Remarque’s novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front”. War is by far the most horrible thing that the human race has to go through. The participants in the war suffer irreversible damage by the atrocities they witness and the things they go through.
Bourdieu’s approach to class embodies his agitatedly relational conception of social life. Other theorist for example Marx believes the reality of social life is based on heterogeneity and inequality relations between the upper class and the middle class in a broad...
As mention earlier Starbucks has many opportunities of which it can take advantage. These include a joint venture with McDonald’s, where the restaurant giant would supply its customers with Starbucks coffee. Another is the bottled Frappuccino product that Pepsi and Starbucks have created. This has had a very positive response in the test markets and posses to be a lucrative option. Starbucks could also look at the vertical integration possibility of producing its own beans. This could prove to be very successful if they can capture a significant amount of the production they could become a price setter in the coffee commodities. Also because small coffee retail outlets are so trendy it is possible for them to set ...
All throughout the movie social class is a problem. Social class is the division of classes based on social, economic, and achieved status. All of the events on the ship are broken down based on which social class each person falls under. The upper class were those who were on a luxury trip, and
Rome is thought of as one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen. And the greatest ruler of the greatest empire, possibly the entire world, is Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar is known today to be a trustworthy, fair and brave leader, but you don’t become the greatest leader to ever live by not succeeding. He understood this and he was successful beyond measure.
The Industrial Revolution of the 18th century changed Europe forever. At the front of this change was Great Britain, which used some natural advantages and tremendous thinking and innovation to become the leader of the Industrial Revolution.
Throughout this novel the characters get themselves caught in webs of betrayal and corruption so that, at the end of the war, they may prevail and gain total world domination. Through the experiences of the characters it is learned that nobody can get ahead without causing someone else’s downfalls. Most importantly, this novel illustrates the selfishness of individuals and shows how people are willing to do whatever they need to ensure that they are solely benefited. This is clearly shown in the novel. Although the Duke, von Ribbentrop and Mussolini employed different schemes and methods, they each tried to achieve the same thing: total world domination. As a result, many peoples’ lives were lost or changed forever.
The belief that morality requires God remains a widely held moral maxim. In particular, it serves as the basic assumption of the Christian fundamentalist's social theory. Fundamentalists claim that all of society's troubles - everything from AIDS to out-of-wedlock pregnancies - are the result of a breakdown in morality and that this breakdown is due to a decline in the belief of God. This paper will look at different examples of how a god could be a bad thing and show that humans can create rules and morals all on their own. It will also touch upon the fact that doing good for the wrong reasons can also be a bad thing for the person.