Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah (1985) was a gut-wrenching, heartfelt film that documents the experiences of the Holocaust. The whole film relies exclusively on interviews, and narratives by victims, Nazi perpetrators and bystanders with no regard to the archival footage that was previously shown in Night and Fog (1955). This new take on the Holocaust is in itself unique and unconventional due to the fact it was not shot in the traditional documentary approach that is always used for this kind of issues. Lanzmann’s film intrigued audiences during its release in 1985 and showed a more “present” rather than the historical experience of the Holocaust. Lanzmann’s objective of teaching the Holocaust as something more present than a historical event achieves
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His aim was to blur the lines between he past and present and show the Holocaust as an event that has just occurred right at the moment of the victim’s narratives. He wanted the idea that something atrocious has just happened just now to resonate with the viewers. It gives it a very fresh quality that has not been achieved by any other Holocaust film. The problem with Lanzmann's approach, however, is his aggressive approach. Such a sensitive issue should be handled delicately as the memories of the Holocaust are hard to deal with and the aggression in the way he approaches some of the victims in “forcing” them to recall horrendous events is off-putting as was the in case of Jan Karski. The victims are initially hesitant to recall the horrific events but eventually agree to be interviewed due to the persistence of Claude. This draws ethical issues and raises the question as to whether this kind of behavior with the interview can affect his recollection of memory because the whole basis of the film is based on the recollection of repressed memory. With the interviewee emotional and hesitant, one can suggest that this would affect the accuracy of his memory because they are projected in an almost hostile way where they are put on the spot to share their views. …show more content…
The Holocaust film Schindler's List (1993) depicts many typical stereotypes associated with American films such as eroticization of the female body, good vs. evil, and the patriarchal hero. These themes cloud the real events with themes that the audience can readily associate with whereas the actual events that took place might have been entirely different. Adorno might have also thought that there are many different representations of the Holocaust, so this will give rise to counter narratives leading to Holocaust denial, rejection of many execution techniques and leads to dilution of actual events. With many repetitive Holocaust narrative patterns, they have become formulaic, as shown in Shoah. Each person in the film discloses similar events, feelings and emotions, which leads to a repetitive quality towards viewers and dampens the events that took place. The advantage of Shoah’s and Schindler's List handheld cinematography is that it allows the viewers to experience the events at the victim or perpetrator level, which may still not satisfy Adorno’s position with showing the holocaust but it is the most closest and realistic one can get to experiencing actual events. The stylization of various scenes in
His aim was to blur the lines between he past and present and show the Holocaust as an event that has just occurred right at the moment of the victim’s narratives. He wanted the idea that something atrocious has just happened just now to resonate with the viewers. It gives it a very fresh quality that has not been achieved by any other Holocaust film. The problem with Lanzmann's approach, however, is his aggressive approach. Such a sensitive issue should be handled delicately as the memories of the Holocaust are hard to deal with and the aggression in the way he approaches some of the victims in “forcing” them to recall horrendous events is off-putting as was the in case of Jan Karski. The victims are initially hesitant to recall the horrific events but eventually agree to be interviewed due to the persistence of Claude. This draws ethical issues and raises the question as to whether this kind of behavior with the interview can affect his recollection of memory because the whole basis of the film is based on the recollection of repressed memory. With the interviewee emotional and hesitant, one can suggest that this would affect the accuracy of his memory because they are projected in an almost hostile way where they are put on the spot to share their views. …show more content…
The Holocaust film Schindler's List (1993) depicts many typical stereotypes associated with American films such as eroticization of the female body, good vs. evil, and the patriarchal hero. These themes cloud the real events with themes that the audience can readily associate with whereas the actual events that took place might have been entirely different. Adorno might have also thought that there are many different representations of the Holocaust, so this will give rise to counter narratives leading to Holocaust denial, rejection of many execution techniques and leads to dilution of actual events. With many repetitive Holocaust narrative patterns, they have become formulaic, as shown in Shoah. Each person in the film discloses similar events, feelings and emotions, which leads to a repetitive quality towards viewers and dampens the events that took place. The advantage of Shoah’s and Schindler's List handheld cinematography is that it allows the viewers to experience the events at the victim or perpetrator level, which may still not satisfy Adorno’s position with showing the holocaust but it is the most closest and realistic one can get to experiencing actual events. The stylization of various scenes in