Nazis in the following films: ‘Triumph of the Will’, ‘Cabaret’, ‘Schindler's List' 'The Lion King' - page 1
Keywords: Explore the presentation of Nazis in the following films: ‘Triumph of the Will’, ‘Cabaret’, ‘Schindler’s List’, and ‘The Lion King’ English Coursework GCSE
By slashwk on 23/11/2006 17:31:43
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 1 of 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
There are many ways in which the Nazis are portrayed in the feature films ‘Triumph of the Will’, ‘Cabaret’, ‘Schindler’s List’ and ‘The Lion King’. They each have a different way of showing the various Nazi views, and how people thought and felt about them. This essay aims to present to you an analysis, and comparison between the four films, with a main focus on the way Nazis are presented to the audience.
The first point of analysis is the use of imagery and the use of camera angles in the films to portray the Nazis. In the first film, ‘Triumph of the Will’, Nazis are very obviously shown as being glorious, moral, and honourable. The use of high angle shots in the first scene to show the audience pictures of the clouds from inside Hitler’s plane, suggests that Hitler is something of a God coming from the clouds down to the people below. Also, low angle shots upwards at Hitler (from his hotel window) from the perspective of the crowds below suggest that he is supernatural and supreme. This type of portrayal of a character is mirrored in ‘The Lion King’ where the low angle shots looking up at Scar are obviously inspired by the shots of Hitler in ‘Triumph of the Will’. This is a good example of intertextuality between the two films and I can make more links between the two films later in the analysis.
I noticed a very effective use of camera panning in ‘Cabaret’. We were firstly shown an image of what we assume is a boy scout, who was singing. As the camera pans down, we notice that he is actually a Nazi with the reverse-swastika on his arm, and we notice the fact that he had blonde hair and blue eyes in the first place. This is a clever use of camera shots to show the audience that people aren’t always what they seem, and that Nazis looked like ordinary people, however extreme their views were.
Schindler’s List interestingly shows almost all of its imagery in black and white (except for a few symbolic uses of colour). This is extremely effective as it made me feel much more differently than how I would have felt viewing the film in colour. It put me in a different mindset that what was happening on screen actually happened in real life, rather than it being another violent Hollywood
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