The scene in which the little girl dressed in a red coat winds her way through the chaos and terror of the Nazi liquidation of a Jewish ghetto sticks out as one of the most indelible ever filmed. And that says a lot, considering the film confronts audiences with scene after scene of unimaginable violence. Truth be told, no single movie made a more lasting impact on my high-school brain than Schindler's List.
Generally speaking, I knew about World War II and Adolf Hitler's crusade to rid Europe of its Jews. History books and classes had offered introductions to the topics as early as elementary school. But not until I watched Schindler's List in 1993 did I start to realize the extent and horror of the Holocaust. Like everyone else I knew who experienced the film, I found what I saw on screen heart-breaking and unbelievable. But it also raised several questions. How could people commit such atrocities against one another? Why didn't the German people stop the Nazis? What did the rest of the world know about Hitler's Final Solution? What took the Allies so long to intervene? How did and do Germans and Germany overcome this part of their history? Recognizing that films about the past--even those based on actual events--should not be confused with history itself, the questions prompted by Schindler's List served to further pique my interest in history and deepen my fascination with Germany, the Holocaust, and World War II. And though the answers may seem obvious at first glance, they proved much more complex and typically led to an entirely new set of questions. So much so that Schindler's List and the questions it posed laid the foundation for my eventual pursuit of a graduate degree in history and for informing the research topic of my grad school thesis paper, in which I examine the confluence of popular film, victimization, cultural memory, and history. It's no wonder Schindler's List made my list of most influential elements of popular culture. A common slogan in the aftermath of World War II has been "Never Again," usually plastered over images not unlike ones seen in Schindler's List. Yet victory over Hitler failed to prevent genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, and Rwanda, among others. In today's current political atmosphere, with demagogues and nativists rising to positions of power the world over, remembering the Holocaust and other genocides as well as acknowledging the xenophobic and authoritarian rhetoric that compelled almost entire societies to commit genocide against themselves seems timely and important. When facts, science, the arts, compassion for humankind, and the freedoms of speech, religion, and press come under attack, films like Schindler's List remind us what can happen when humanity lets fear, apathy, and anger rule the day, thereby not only justifying hate crimes and intolerance but condoning them, too. And therein lies the danger.
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I am a self-proclaimed pop culture geek and list enthusiast who is celebrating the big four-zero by counting down the most important, influential, and favorite music, movies, television shows, books, and video games of my life so far. Categories
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