The boy in the striped pajamas is a movie set during world war II where Bruno an eight old boy who is the son of the commandant at a German Concentration camp, who forms a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy name Shmuel on the other side of the fence.
The sociological perspective that is present throughout the movie is Conflict theory. Conflict theory is states that society is in a perpetual conflict because of competition for limited resources. It holds that social order is maintained by domination and power, rather than consensus and conformity. According to conflict theory, those with wealth and power try to hold on to it by any means possible, chiefly by suppressing the poor and powerless.
From the begging of the movie you notice the power play. Where Bruno’s family (upper class) is busy preparing for the party to celebrate his father promotion at the same time Nazi soldiers (bourgeois) are taking Jewish family (lower class) out of their home forcing them in the back of a truck to take them to the Concentration camp.
The first scene where oppression is present is where Shmuel is cleaning the glass in the house and Bruno give him food when Kotler sees he shout at Shmuel and treated to punish him. Terrified of punishment, Shmuel explains to Kotler that he and Bruno are friends and that he gave him the food. Bruno who is also scared of Kotler denies giving Shmuel the food or even knowing him, because of this Shmuel is punished as you see later in the movie with his swollen eye.
Another part of the movie where oppression happens is where the Jews men along with Bruno and Shmuel are forces into the gas chambers by the Nazi soldiers, they are then told to take off their clothing after you see a Nazi soldiers pouring Zyklon B pellets into the chambers killing everyone inside.
Two theories of prejudice that was displayed in the movie are Scapegoat and convergence.
Scapegoat theory refers to the tendency to blame someone else for one’s problems, a process that often results in feelings of prejudice toward the person or group that one is blaming.
When Kotler is being question by Ralf Bruno’s father as to why he did not report that his father did not support their belief (had disagreement with the government) with action there toward Jews, unfortunately at the same time Pavel spills the wine and Kotler shout the word … Jew and the beat Pavel to death. Depending on how you look at it, there are two ways I saw Kotler using Pavel as a scapegoat. One he beat on Pavel as a distraction so that Ralf would stop questioning him about his father because it was obvious that he did not want to answer the question. 2 to show Ralf that even thought his father did not agree with what they are doing he full support them, so he beat up Pavel to show his locality to the cause.
Convergence theory states that crowd behavior is a composite of the individuals who join, and that people join a certain crowd because they want to behave in a certain way.
Convergence is show with Gretel who as the movie goes on you see her just following and believing whatever she sees and is taught. You see this in all the poster she has in her room, by here telling her brother that the Jews belong in the camp because they are the reason they lost the war, that they are vermin and evil people.
Gretel learn prejudice in the movie mainly from her teach Herr who teach her Nazi ideologies, the other person is her father who actually hire Herr but also encourage the teaching telling her mother that it what children her age should be learning. She learns by witnessing the inhumane way Kotler spoke to Pavel when Bruno asked if he could get a tire to build a swing. After see and learning all theses she went a step farther and started to tech herself with Hitler poster that she put all over her bedroom wall and in keeping up with the war with newspapers.
Bruno did not readily learn prejudice as his older sister because he gets conflicted and don’t know what to believe the teach form his father, teach and sister or what his new friend Shmuel tell him about the way the solder treat him and what happen in the camp. You can see the conflict when his sister is reading for Herr about all the wrong Jews have done he asks Herr if Jews really cause all the problems, if there is any good Jews he and Herr respond by telling him that if he found any good Jews that he would be the best explorer ever. Bruno then think back to Shmuel and the friendship they have form. Looking at when Shmuel tell him that he does not like solders because they treat them bad he defends solders and say that not all are bad but he asked his sister if his dad is a good solder. Children tend to only see the good in the world so he is conflict when he is being told two different story about the people in his life and for that reason I believe he did not readily learn prejudice like his sister.
When watching the movie there are times Bruno’s father presented a racism mind. The first scene that comes to mind is when Bruno is asking him about the farmers (Jews in the death camp) he tells him they are not really people. When his wife confront him about the camp being a death camp and not labor camp he explains to her that the only way to make the world a better place and win the war could not be achieve without work such as this to basically kill all Jews.
Genocide -It is the mass extermination of a whole group of people, an attempt to wipe them out of existence.
In the movie I can think about two very clear times that the Nazi accomplished genocide in the movie. The first one is brought up by Bruno who innocently asked about the odor he smells but no one pays him any attention, later on Bruno’s mom Sara smell one thing bad and is searching for it and Kotler make the comment about them smelling worst burning than they do alive. It’s then Sara realize that the camp is a death camp and not a labor camp. The other time is when Bruno, Shmuel and the Jewish men where force in the gas chambers and killed.
All the adults compartmentalize one point or the other in the movie, Sara is ok with the Jews being in a labor camp put can’t deal with the fact that it’s a death camp. A decent person would not be ok with forcing other people into a working camp. Ralf compartmentalize his action by stating he is a solder and the action he is doing is to make the world a better place.
Sara is unable to compartmentalize anymore because she is face with Jews in her everyday life. First we see her when she thanks Pavel for bandaging Bruno’s knee, or when she sees her daughter starting to change. The part where she really can’t do it anymore is when she finds out that the camp is not labor camp but in its actuality a death camp.
This movie has open my mind more as to how we need to take responsibility for what our children learn. it shows so our kid don’t see color or race, they see the world for the beauty it has until us as adults put thing in their heads to make them see color and race. it also remind me that if i see a wrong and don’t stand up and say something about it or do something about it i am just as bad as the person doing the bad thing
Reference:
Kenton, Will. “Conflict Theory.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 12 Mar. 2019, http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/conflict-theory.asp.
“5 Important Theories of Prejudice.” Psychology Discussion – Discuss Anything About Psychology, 4 Mar. 2016, http://www.psychologydiscussion.net/social-psychology-2/prejudice/5-important-theories-of-prejudice/1370.
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