Historical media, most specifically film, has existed since history began. The recounting of prior events to a new audience to portray the feelings and the emotions of the time typically is transferred through conversation, but modern technology allows for the mass-production of not only the recounting of historical events on large screens, but also the possible re-creation of those events. When something is re-created, the new product simply, by definition, could not put into perspective the overall effects of historical events properly. To captivate and to understand the death of one man for another on a movie screen hurts my head to even contemplate. One of the first American films, The Birth of A Nation, by D.W. Griffith, pioneers groundbreaking techniques in filming and in narrative, but also pioneers historical representation; horrifically portraying Black Americans while positively looking up to the Ku Klux Klan. Griffith attempted to reshape the collective memory of America, and more directly, the history itself, by portraying 19th century America in that fashion. Slavery and the Civil War are stains on the proverbial American flag, just as the Holocaust is to German identity. Alain Resnais, Claude Lanzmann, and Wim Wenders, through the use of film, delineate what it truly means to represent, both historically and personally, while also reframing their respective portrayals towards fully understanding the scope of an event in regards to those who were active participants.
Night and Fog, directed by Alain Resnais, is a historical documentary on the Holocaust that provides a distinct underlying message, questioning representation. The film begins as would a typical investigation with the narrator attempting to come...
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...mes human, he begins to experience life from the participatory perspective. Wenders use of black and white sepia tone contrasted with the living angel’s perspective that occurs in color signifies a literal and figurative awakening from bystander, to participant.
History is possessive. It is impossible to truly represent prior experiences to a new audience both out of the context in which it was first experienced, and under different circumstances. The three films mentioned, Night and Fog, Shoah, and Wings of Desire, all demonstrate how hard and complex historical representation can be. In the case of Night and Fog, Alain Resnais raises the question of how to bring about representation while in Shoah and Wings of Desire, by Claude Lanzmann and Wim Wenders respectively, show that the represented have alternate viewpoints and perspectives that have yet to be seen.
In today's day and age, it's rare to see famous historical events and societal disasters not be picked apart by film directors and then transformed into a box office hit. What these films do is put a visual perspective on these events, sometimes leaving viewers speculating if whatever was depicted is in fact entirely true. I have never felt that feeling more than after I finished watching Oliver Stone’s JFK.
At first glance, Night, by Eliezer Wiesel does not seem to be an example of deep or emotionally complex literature. It is a tiny book, one hundred pages at the most with a lot of dialogue and short choppy sentences. But in this memoir, Wiesel strings along the events that took him through the Holocaust until they form one of the most riveting, shocking, and grimly realistic tales ever told of history’s most famous horror story. In Night, Wiesel reveals the intense impact that concentration camps had on his life, not through grisly details but in correlation with his lost faith in God and the human conscience.
Most historical events, whether beneficial or detrimental to society, bear witnesses. Regardless of how many total were affected by the event, each person owns a personal account of what they endured during the event. Elie Wiesel, author of Night, expresses the personal account of Elizer, a Jewish teenager, who fought to stay alive during the holocaust, and shows the importance of witness accounts, the will to survive, and the remembrance of past historical events. Night encompasses the idea of “Literature of Witness” by simultaneously showing how millions of people were affected by the holocaust and how each person, principally Elizer, has their own personal story to tell to understand and remember that horrendous time.
Night is a nonfictional account of the Holocaust that was written in the 1950’s and published in 1960 in the United States of America. The book’s story is occurring in the middle of the Holocaust when the Jewish people were being persecuted and forced to live, work, and in most cases die in the forced labor concentration camps. Night is an autobiography of Elie Wiesel expressing the feelings of a young man experiencing the horrors of the concentration camps. Autobiographical style includes events that the author has gone through with their feelings, emotions, and major defining moments marking the way. It is a narrative road map of a hist...
Krantz, Charles (1985) ‘Teaching Night and Fog: History and Historiography’ Film and history, 15:1, pp 2-15
Although many people, when looking back at the Holocaust, immediately think of the Nazis terrorizing the Jews, what some people do not realize is that there may have been other factors that influenced this atrocity, which stripped the Jews of their basic human needs, their families, and their faith. Several survivors narrate just these things when asked to recount their time during the Holocaust, but many never really talk about the ambience being felt. However, one survivor focuses on this very fact. Written by Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, Night recounts his time spent from before the concentration camps up to the time when he was liberated by the Americans. This memoir, which is depressing at best and disheartening at worst, may not seem particularly exciting to read, but it will certainly not be forgotten anytime soon. This fact can be supported by the book’s very title, Night. Even before reading, night implies darkness, hatred and doom, as well as other negative ideas associated with the
The mood of Night is harder to interpret. Many different responses have occurred in readers after their perusal of this novel. Those that doubt the stories of the holocaust’s reality see Night as lies and propaganda designed to further the myth of the holocaust. Yet, for those people believing in the reality, the feelings proffered by the book are quite different. Many feel outrage at the extent of human maliciousness towards other humans. Others experience pity for the loss of family, friends, and self that is felt by the holocaust victims. Some encounter disgust as the realization occurs that if any one opportunity had been utilized the horror could of been avoided. Those missed moments such as fleeing when first warned by Moshe the Beadle, or unblocking the window when the Hungarian officer had come to warn them, would have saved lives and pain.
At its release, D. W. Griffith’s 1915 film The Birth of a Nation was regarded as a revolutionary and masterful piece of cinema. It was heralded as one of the greatest films ever made for the next fifty years, and is still revered by some for its amazing visuals and ground-breaking cinematic techniques. But these praises, some of which may be well deserved, obscure the film’s blatantly racist and offensive content in the minds of many viewers. Some of the most egregious aspects of The Birth of a Nation’s deeply rooted racism are expressed through the contrasting characters of Silas Lynch and Ben Cameron.
...e. Cinema can create new or old perceptions of reality through their depictions of ideas or images. Martyrs of the Alamo is a film that created a new perception of nationalism during a period where there were threats against the United States. D.W. Griffin’s productions of the film perpetuated racial images of Mexicans in order to enhance his central theme. Through out the film we see these racializations through the contrast in characters and how different scenes were created to evoke emotions needed to instill this need to belong.
...s at that time who have come of age. Perhaps no film in recent history has captured more attention and generated more controversial debate. This film resonates the feeling and question that common people had about the JFK assassination in the 60s. As a result, the debate about the validity of JFK extended much further into the war-torn cultural landscape of America in the 1990s than most observers noted. The JFK was a telling incident demonstrating the larger cultural conflict over values and meaning in America and the competition to define national identity. The whole affair demonstrated how effective a motion picture can be as a transmitter of knowledge, history, and culture. As a result, the debate about the validity of JFK extended much further into the war-torn cultural landscape of America in the 1990s than most observers have noted.
The tragedies of the holocaust forever altered history. One of the most detailed accounts of the horrific events from the Nazi regime comes from Elie Wiesel’s Night. He describes his traumatic experiences in German concentration camps, mainly Buchenwald, and engages his readers from a victim’s point of view. He bravely shares the grotesque visions that are permanently ingrained in his mind. His autobiography gives readers vivid, unforgettable, and shocking images of the past. It is beneficial that Wiesel published this, if he had not the world might not have known the extent of the Nazis reign. He exposes the cruelty of man, and the misuse of power. Through a lifetime of tragedy, Elie Wiesel struggled internally to resurrect his religious beliefs as well as his hatred for the human race. He shares these emotions to the world through Night.
D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation was one of the most controversial films of the 20th century. Praised by some and resented by others, it was one of the most popular films around the world for its time because of its chaotic effect on the general public. Set in the Civil War era, Birth of a Nation glorifies the Ku Klux Klan while portraying African Americans as reprobates whom sexually coerce white women. Many historians argue that the racist epic is responsible for the second Ku Klux Klan revival as well as a considerable amount of anti-black sentiment. While D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation glorified the Ku Klux Klan and demonized African Americans, it actually helped African Americans gain support for equality.
A story of a young boy and his father as they are stolen from their home in Transylvania and taken through the most brutal event in human history describes the setting. This boy not only survived the tragedy, but went on to produce literature, in order to better educate society on the truth of the Holocaust. In Night, the author, Elie Wiesel, uses imagery, diction, and foreshadowing to describe and define the inhumanity he experienced during the Holocaust.
Director Mark Herman presents a narrative film that attests to the brutal, thought-provoking Nazi regime, in war-torn Europe. It is obvious that with Herman’s relatively clean representation of this era, he felt it was most important to resonate with the audience in a profound and philosophical manner rather than in a ruthlessness infuriating way. Despite scenes that are more graphic than others, the films objective was not to recap on the awful brutality that took place in camps such as the one in the movie. The audience’s focus was meant to be on the experience and life of a fun-loving German boy named Bruno. Surrounding this eight-year-old boy was conspicuous Nazi influences. Bruno is just an example of a young child among many others oblivious of buildings draped in flags, and Jewis...
The Birth of a Nation (1915) is one of the most controversial movies ever made in Hollywood, some people even consider it the most controversial movie in the long history of Hollywood. Birth of a Nation focuses on the Stoneman family and their friendship with the Cameron’s which is put into question due to the Civil War, and both families being on different sides. The whole dysfunction between the families is carried out through important political events such as: Lincoln’s assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Kan. D.W. Griffith is the director of the movie, and him being born into a confederate family in the South, the movie portrays the South as noble and righteous men, who are fighting against the evil Yankees from the North, who have black union soldiers among them, whom overtake the town of Piedmont, which leads the KKK to take action and according to the movie become the savior of white supremacy. During this essay, I would focus on the themes of racial inequality, racism, and the archetypical portrayal of black people in the movie, which are significant especially during the era when the film was released.