But the facts tell us that as long as social injustice, disparity between rich and poor, inflation and extreme nationalism persist, the “fanatics”, who are the majority of the disillusioned, will come out from time to time to wreak havoc and revel in any era.
Teacher: “You don’t think that dictatorship will be repeated in Germany, do you?” Student: “Yes, we are a civilized society now.”
The “Die Welle” event, which was comparable to the “Nazi” event, was initiated by the teacher for educational purposes, mainly to let the students experience for themselves how they can live their lives when they are dominated by the power of “dictatorship”. When life is dominated by the power of “dictatorship,” can they rationally reject it, or are they domesticated and submissive? However, the result was horrific: a group of young students who always screamed about “freedom of individuality” turned into extremist, fanatical elements who supported the Wave in just three days, recruiting members and eliminating dissidents at the same time. In the end, this out-of-control teaching experiment turned into a bloody disaster. The teacher was not the only one at fault for the success of “Die Welle” – the students, because they were single-minded and lacked the ability to distinguish between good and bad, were driven by curiosity and desire, and eventually indulged in the cult of “power. They are driven by curiosity and desire, and eventually indulge in the worship of “power”.
The movie is adapted from the work of the same name by author Todd Strasser, and the work is also based on real events: in 1967, an American high school teacher Ben Rose, who wanted to let his students experience for themselves what it meant to be a German Nazi through an experimental class, but the experiment eventually had serious consequences. However, what impressed me most about “Die Welle” was not the “dictatorship” experiment, but the extreme and frenzied emotions of the students, who were so easily incited, often by a slogan or a gesture.
But in just three days, the students have coalesced into a highly exuberant and radical group – how exactly did this evolve?
01, the teacher’s mistake: underestimating the impact of the “wave” experiment on students
As soon as the film opens, Wenger, driving his car, enters our sight with loud, deafening rock music. The camera switches back and forth, one moment inside the car and the next outside. Through the car window, we can see that the pedestrians outside the car are slow and leisurely, even on bicycles, and on the green lawn, sunbathing people are also leisurely and relaxed; while inside the car, Wenger is obviously a rock music fan, he drives while tapping the rhythm on the steering wheel, shaking his head to sing fierce songs.
This contrast between stillness and movement gives us an insight into part of Wenger’s personality traits. So before we chastise him, we should figure out what kind of person he is. Rock music is simple and impactful, with lyrics so straightforward that it is everyday life, paired with a strong rhythm and a noisy, good-natured performance format, unrestrained it symbolizes the philosophy of living freely and unrestrainedly, as one wishes, while also doubling as a rebellious mentality.
It is thus clear that Wenger, who is a teacher, has an active and unrestrained soul. Moreover, when the course he wanted to teach was taken away from him by another teacher, he was discontented but had to accept it; therefore, when his course was welcomed by the students, he immediately raised his eyebrows in front of that teacher, and his complacent pride of successful “revenge” was written on his face, showing us his aggressive and competitive side.
Wenger’s nature is not bad, but the bad thing is that when the “wave” was promoted by the students, vanity blinded his eyes.
Why is he vain? In the episode where he is shown to be less educated than his wife, his inferiority complex and ambition to impress can be seen.
However, his obtuse sense of crisis allows the “wave” to ferment. Secondly, he also ignores the nature of the students’ “mental immaturity” – the confusion between the experience of the course and reality, and the complete substitution of their initial curiosity and fun into their thoughts and lives.
Although Wenger had a rebellious side, he was able to keep his rebellious thoughts to his private time and not interfere with his work; but when the same problem fell on the students, the rebellion was magnified, forming an extreme, frenzied momentum that spread rapidly.
And the most terrible thing is that in the time after school, which he could not look after, the students have spontaneously propagated the “wave” and formed a gang to make this club ferment at the speed of light, so Wenger also overestimated the students’ self-control and the ability to distinguish right from wrong.
02、Students’ blind obedience: from raising the banner of “freedom” to voluntarily entering the siege of “confinement
What is it about “Die Welle” that fascinates students? It is essentially a parody of Nazi authoritarianism, but why do students, knowing its cruel and horrific methods of rule, hate it with a passion one minute, but submit to it the next, and even become the spiritual support they rely on? Let’s take a look at another contrasting episode in the movie: the group rehearsal. At the first rehearsal, a male student disobeyed the director and liked to play freely, and the lines he said did not follow the script at all, delaying progress and making everyone grumble. Here illustrates a problem, “if everyone is according to their own nature, it simply does not work”, but self-pride, love bar love dislike is one of the characteristics of these hot-blooded young people, so in the end, everyone did not happy. So how about the second rehearsal? At this time is the “wave” to the heyday of development, the rehearsal results are very different from the previous. When the director forcefully asked male colleagues not to change their lines, male students actually readily accepted. Everyone showed a high degree of cohesion and cooperation, playing at a super level, so that the rehearsal was completed perfectly – after removing personalization, the efficiency was immediately apparent.
At first glance, it was clear that the results of the second rehearsal were better than the first, thanks to the “wave”; however, the results were extremely frightening to contemplate – because they showed that the students had been “brainwashed” by the dictatorship. The initial success of the “brainwashing” of the students.
It was only the third day of the experiment, so why would the students give up their “freedom” so quickly and be willing to be disciplined and restrained?
In fact, the final question we need to consider is what kind of people are easily captured by the authoritarian spirit of the Wave?
The writer Eric Hoffer mentions in “Fanatics” that those who are passionate about mass movements (the students in the film) are often disillusioned people who find life uninteresting or stagnant and long to escape from their “selves” and be reborn again, entrusting their lives to some great cause that can soothe their souls that have nowhere to rest.
The students in “Die Welle” are the disillusioned, the inferior, the oppressed, the self-loathing, etc., mentioned by Eric Hoffer.
And when a “dictatorship” is formed, individuals are sharpened and unified in their thinking and behavior, and everyone’s faith is symbiotically born to a single leader, whose every command is the convergence of everyone’s power and play, no matter right or wrong, they all “live to die” in the orgy. “.
The frenzy not only dispels their inner incompetence, inferiority, cowardice, negativity and hesitation, but also turns all the “I can’t” into “I can”, and at this point, the psychology of vanity and pride gives birth to a sense of glory that is invincible and unbeatable.
When students say “we are a member of the wave”, they have a proud look on their faces, as if they have achieved something big, and gradually form an enigmatic sense of superiority.
When the students’ admiration for the “wave” reached the extreme and they called for the execution of the “traitors,” it was a reflection of their abandonment of freedom, individuality and civilized society and their voluntary capture by the dictatorship.
03. The power of fanaticism: thought control under dictatorship, amplifying glamour and concealing darkness
“Discipline makes power; collective makes power; action makes power” is the dictatorial model that constitutes “The Wave”.
As students and teachers worked together to develop discipline, unity, control, uniforms, slogans and emblems, step by step, they made a group of people into “one person”, and those who were “not of our kind” could not even live together in the same room.
However, the authorities are confused, and after they unified their clothing “white shirt and jeans”, greeted with a fixed wave gesture, standardized the classroom order, etc., all this seems to be as scary as a cult to the onlookers.
“Die Welle” has been symbolized and the dictatorship has conquered them, but the heckling students are not aware of it and continue to enjoy it.
The most extreme example is Tim, who is the most radical and aggressive of the “Wave” – he has gone from being a humble and ingratiating underdog to a strong and egotistical fanatic.
Although Tim is from a privileged family, he was ignored by his parents at home and looked down upon by his classmates at school, all of which made him feel inferior and withdrawn, and then “The Wave” appeared – it became a “substitute” for him to divert his mind. “By doing a “sacred” business to gain self-esteem and confidence, hope and value.
And Tim, who has tasted the sweetness of it, can’t help himself, and even takes the guardianship of the leader (Wenger), and runs outside Wenger’s house as a bodyguard.
As it is said in “The Fanatic”: the fanatic always feels incomplete and insecure, and can only gain confidence from the divine organization he happens to meet and passionately cling to, which is the root of his blind devotion and faith.
Finally, when Wenger spoke passionately in the auditorium, infecting the students with such radical words as “the government has cheated us,” “politicians are puppets of the economy,” and “the poor get poorer, the rich get richer. When the students were infected with such radical words as “the government cheats us,” “politicians are economic puppets,” and “the poor get poorer and the rich get richer,” they were overwhelmed with excitement.
Even when Wenger added: “‘The wave’ is the only way to solve the problem, and we are making history here and now.”
Unfortunately, none of the students could perceive the vagueness of his words; what exactly is the “wave” that will make history? Wenger didn’t give any concrete matters, but only a bunch of magnificent words; but he woke up Wenger, the dreamer, and at that moment he saw how thoroughly the students had been brainwashed under the influence of “The Wave”.
So Wenger came to his senses, he announced the dissolution of the “wave”; but Tim still indulged in it, can not accept this broken situation.
So how deep into the drama, out of the drama is how broken.
When the fantasy was shattered in reality, Tim’s spirit was destroyed, feeling like he was tricked, self-loathing and despair reached a bursting point, so he shot a classmate, and then he also died with a bullet.
In conclusion: “Can dictatorship still happen today?” The students in “Die Welle” tell us the answer in blood.
We always think that modern society is civilized, that ignorance and blind worship are far away, that cult-like “dictatorship” has dissipated.
But the fact tells us that as long as social injustice, wealth disparity, inflation and extreme national consciousness still exist, the “fanatics” turned by the majority of the disillusioned will come out from time to time to wreak havoc and revelry, no matter what age.
On the surface of society, we do not see organizations like the “wave”, but hidden in the shadows of society, the “wave” and fanatics are more frightening than the movies; they will use unimaginable malice and extreme means to destroy social stability and life beliefs. On the other hand, experiments have proven that
On the other hand, the experiment also proves that a dictatorship cannot succeed without the support of extreme and active “fanatics”.
In particular, fanatics cannot be persuaded, they can only be incited, so their birth is the result of the situation.