How far is the world from dictatorship? Dennis Gansel, the 35-year-old German director, in his brilliant film "Die Welle" has an astonishing answer - the world is only five days away from a dictatorship.
1. The Nazi crash course
The car swayed and people came and went, and the film "The Wave" opened with a relaxed and enthusiastic rock music. This is an ordinary German secondary school, where the protagonist Rainer Wenger is a teacher. Unfortunately, today he was told that his favorite "anarchism" class was overtaken by another teacher, and that there was no room for manoeuvre, Wengel could only bite the bullet and focus on the next topic of "state system". The week of events featured a "dictatorship" he didn't like.
This is how the story unfolds over the next week:
Monday. When Wengel came to the classroom, there was a free and undisciplined atmosphere in the classroom. Obviously, Wenger was not comfortable with this class and what he was about to teach. "If I were you, I'd take a class on anarchism instead of listening to this hapless dictatorship," was his opening remarks. When he wrote "Autokratie" (dictatorship) on the blackboard, the students were still reading idle books, texting, and stumbling around, so much so that Wengel had to stop and ask for "some reaction", "Anyway this week. Let it go." However, as everyone chattered and casually discussed dictatorship, Wenger fell into deep thought. Apparently, he didn't believe what the students were saying: "Nazis have left us, we Germans don't have to feel guilty all the time." Or "Dictatorship can't happen today because there is no popular base." After recess , Wengel asked the students to rearrange the desks, chairs and seats. He was going to do an experiment to let the students experience the charm of dictatorship. The main characteristic of a dictatorship, Wengel said, is "discipline." Through oral voting, Wengel finally became the "Führer" of the class. Next, he has to correct everyone's sitting posture, and he must stand when he speaks, and he must be honored as "Mr. Wengel", and those who do not obey can withdraw.
Tuesday. When Wenger entered the classroom again, the students who were sitting front-to-back shouted "Good morning, Mr. Wenger" to him. "Discipline casts strength, unity casts strength." In this class, Wengel asked everyone to stand up and step like a soldier, "feeling that everyone is integrated, this is the strength of the collective." Moreover, another purpose of stepping is to step on the "anarchism class" downstairs together, "let our enemies eat the ashes from the ceiling". Obviously, through this collective action, Wengel tried to give the students of the "dictatorship class" a sense of superiority - "no matter what the performance, our class is better than the 'anarchist class' downstairs". Next, Wengel and the students discussed the need to wear uniforms, and they all agreed on a cheap white top and jeans as their "uniform."
Wednesday. In the class, only the girl Carlo continued to wear her red shirt, and the other students wore white shirts as promised. The uniform left Kahlo isolated in an unprecedented way: she didn't seem to belong to the group. On the way to school, her boyfriend was calling her "selfish", but now Wengel almost ignores her existence, and classmates don't discuss with her, and regard her as an alien and a non-cooperator. Someone suggested to give the class a name, and finally "Tide" stood out from the names of "Terrorist Group", "Dreamers Club", "Tsunami", "Keystone", "White Giant", "Core" and other names, and was successfully elected. The girl in red was left out, and no one responded to her "changemaker". The class also set the "wave" mark. That night, the Tide members started posting their Tide signs all over the city.
Thursday. The creativity of the members who feel a sense of belonging in the "Wave" organization is also stimulated. There was a motion in the class that since each group has its own gesture, the wave should also have a unique gesture of its own. This is a gesture of waving the right hand across the chest. More and more students are joining the "wave" and dividing the line with others whether or not to do this gesture. Even Carlo's young and cynical little brother joined in, willing to hold the door for the "wave", and anyone who couldn't make the wave gesture was not allowed to enter the school. Carol increasingly felt that the situation was not good, and she advised Wenger to immediately stop the game, because he "has lost control of the situation."
Friday. As the course draws to a close, Wengel hopes that everyone will write down their experience of participating in the "wave". Wengel's radical approach to teaching came under increasing pressure from both the school and the family. Marco, who slapped his girlfriend Carlo because of his out-of-control emotions, regretted it, begged Wenger to stop it, and accused the so-called "discipline" of being just a fascist set. Wenger knew that it was time to end. All that is needed now is a beautiful ending on schedule. That night, all Inspur members received a text message from Wengel: It is about the future of "Inspur", and there must be a meeting in the school auditorium at 12 o'clock on Saturday.
Saturday. School Auditorium. Wenger had the students close the auditorium. After reading a few of the students' experiences about the "wave," Wengel gave a rousing speech and incited the students to bring the dissenting Marko to power. Amid the chanting of "Traitor! Traitor!", Marco was lifted to the stage by the scrambling students to accept punishment. This is the end of the matter, and what Wengel wants to tell everyone is, "What we are doing now is what the fascists did back then", and announce the end of the dictatorship experiment, and the "wave" will be dissolved from now on! Unfortunately, however, things did not go the way Wengel intended. Zealot Tim pulled out a pistol he bought online and begged Wengel not to disband Wave. "Tide" is his second life, and he will never allow betrayal, not even Wengel. The movie climaxes from this, when Tim shoots a classmate and swallows himself in desperation, falling heavily.
This is the story of "The Wave," or a "Nazi crash course" story. It's fast and fast, but it all works out.
2. Tim is a metaphor
The Wave is based on a true historical event that happened at Palo Alto Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California. It was in a history class in April 1967, and a student asked teacher Ron Jones a question, "Why do the Germans claim to have no knowledge of the slaughter of Jews? , teachers or doctors claiming that they did not know about the tragedy in the concentration camp?" Jones did not know how to answer this. Then he decided to make a bold experiment. He was going to rebuild Nazi Germany, a miniature Nazi Germany, right in his classroom. He wanted his students to experience fascism first-hand, not only in its horror but also in its charm. And, unsurprisingly, as "The Tide" shows, more and more people joined the experiment in a frenzy and whistleblower. Five days later, when hundreds of students stretched out their arms in the auditorium to greet Jones in a sublime "wave" greeting, perhaps the first thing you would think of was Riefenstahl in Triumph of the Will (1934). ) in which the Germans cheered Hitler. But all was well, and Jones took control of the situation and came to an abrupt end - "We came close to being good Nazis." At the final party, Jones then played a film about the Third Reich to the students. : The Imperial Party Congress, the collective, discipline, obedience, and what this collective does: terror, violence, gas chambers. Jones looked at the bewildered faces. That original question was answered.
Compared with Jones' teaching experiment, the ending of "The Wave" is obviously more dramatic, and you have to think that director Gancel took inspiration from the ending of "Dead Poets Society". Although this violent conflict has drawn some criticism. But in my opinion, the presence of the enthusiast Tim is precisely what distinguishes The Wave from and even surpasses Jones' teaching experiment. I even think that the protagonist of "The Wave" is Tim rather than Wenger from the ideological height that the film aims to achieve.
Tim is introverted, not good at communication, has little sense of achievement, and is often bullied at school, and is called "soft-footed shrimp". Perhaps for this reason, he has always wished to have a few "brothers" around. For this reason, he often gave other boys some small favors, and in the latter's almost contemptuous eyes, he said, "It's for you, we are brothers." However, in fact, no one regarded him as a brother.
Each member has their own reasons for why they joined the "wave". Obviously, for Tim, "wave" means a coveted force, like the pistol he later holds in his hand. Wengel's intervention and the establishment of "Wave" obviously brought a turn for the life of Tim, who has always been at the "bottom of the campus". Moreover, he was so wholehearted and willing to take risks. For the uniform, he burned all the brand-name shirts in the house. The uniform does give Tim a magical sense of power. When he was bullied, he began to try to resist, and the "Wave" members in his uniform came to protect him. Because of the wave, Tim feels like he is no longer a bug, but part of a dragon. He climbed the city government building despite the danger while spraying the "wave" sign. Not only did he use the fake pistol to frighten the provocateurs and fighters, but he even volunteered to be the bodyguard of the "Führer" Wenger, which made Wenger puzzled. Tim sincerely wants to maintain the strength of "The Wave" and to expand its glory. In his view, the "wave" is the empire of his dreams, and Mr. Wengel is the leader who can lead the future for him.
Knowing Tim's almost ecstatic psychology, it's not hard to understand why he ended up drawing a gun. It is not difficult to find from this that in an organization similar to "Wave", the process of joining the organization is actually a process of kidnapping each other. It advocates the elimination of heterogeneity in the name of the organization, but does not allow members to withdraw voluntarily, because voluntary withdrawal is an uncontrollable behavior for the organization. Wenger is no longer himself, but the spokesman for the interests of the tide. When he, like Zhao Kuangyin, was about to be added by his imperial robes, he could only agree, but could not withdraw voluntarily.
Voltaire said, "Everyone holds the holy flag in his heart, and his face is red to sin." Holderlin said, "What always makes a country hell on earth is precisely what people try to make it into heaven. "It is not evil for a person to believe in a utopia, the real evil is that this utopia is enchanted and thus offensive. Obviously, in The Wave, Tim is more of a metaphor, a monster awakened by a revolution, a Frankstein created by a scientist, or something else. "The Wave" gave Tim a "new life" and his growth was far beyond Wengel's control. The growth of the organizational self also means the demise of the individual self.
3. The road to slavery
"Nazi crash course" not only shows the audience a miniature Nazi Germany, but also clearly shows how these students lead the road to slavery. What goes on at the same time is how individuals are collectivized and alienated.
In the first class, when asked "What are the foundations of dictatorship?" the students responded including ideology, control, surveillance, a head of state, and more. Likewise, high unemployment and social injustice, inflation, political credit bankruptcy, nationalism, etc., all contribute to the birth of a dictatorship. However, this is all knowledge learned from books. When all this becomes a daily drizzle, the members of "Tide" seem to lose their vigilance and indulge in their comradeship and common ideals.
In The Wave, the audience can see almost all the typical elements of dictatorship: collectivism without principles, uniforms that eliminate individuality and eliminate differences, the isolation of dissidents and the abolition of freedom of speech, a head of state, a scapegoat, in broad daylight Slang-like gestures, inflammatory anti-government speeches, coercion in the name of altruism, promises of future interests, rituals that flaunt unity, a sense of belonging, and more.
Moreover, the "wave" is not only an equal group, but also a healthy group, standing up to answer questions is first of all "to promote blood circulation". At Saturday's meeting, when Wengel accused Marco of being a "traitor" inspired by his girlfriend, a girl next to him said that Marco was "contaminated." In their view, whoever opposes the tide is the plague. Only those who support the "wave" are healthy. In order to maintain this health, Wengel accused Germany of being a loser in the process of globalization in his speech, and that politicians are fundamentally economic puppets. "While we're pushing our planet to ruin, the rich are gearing up to build space stations and appreciate it from a height. Here and now, we're going to make history. From now on, the wave It will sweep the whole country, and whoever stops it, the tide will swallow it." It is also for this reason that the Awakened Marco is regarded as an enemy to be cleared and swallowed by the tide.
Regarding why he joined and indulged in the "Wave", Wengel selected some of the students' thoughts: "Life is very interesting these days, it doesn't matter who is the most beautiful or who has the best grades, the "Wave" makes us all equal Birthplace, beliefs, family environment are not important, we are all part of a movement, the 'wave' has made our life meaningful again and gave us an ideal to fight for." "In the past, I always It's enough to make trouble, and the 'wave' put me into a meaningful thing." "If we can trust each other and can achieve such great things, I would like to be a new person for it."
However, this kind of Equality, as Tocqueville put it in a speech in 1848: "Democracy expands the limits of individual liberty, while socialism limits it. Democracy gives value to every individual as far as possible, while socialism limits it. Just make everyone a tool, a number. Democracy and socialism have nothing in common except the word 'equality'. But note the difference: Democracy seeks equality in liberty, while socialism constrains and enslaves seek equality among them." Obviously, the process of the tide seeking equality is actually a process leading to the road to slavery.
As Wengel said when he finally opened the mystery: "Do you remember the question I asked, whether dictatorship will come true, and what we are doing now is fascism. We think we are superior to others, better than others, We line up all those who oppose us out of this collective, we hurt them, and we don't know how bad things will happen." "Wave" is a neutral word, and when it becomes a kind of violence, it becomes Evil that devours all.
4. Humanity did not end
When Nazi gangster Adolf Eichmann was brought back to Jerusalem for trial, a question plagued many. "Could it be possible that Eichmann and the millions of other Nazi followers who participated in the Holocaust simply obeyed the orders of their superiors? Can we call them the murderers of the Holocaust?" Famous Study on Totalitarianism Expert Arendt has discovered an evil based on everyday obedience. That is to say, the reason why Eichmann is evil is not because he is inherently evil, but because he "dues his duty" in an evil system, and behind this due diligence is a collective unconsciousness, or even a kind of virtue.
To this end, American psychologist Stanley Milgram (Stanley Milgram) did a famous experiment in 1974: invite a group of experimental volunteers, under the supervision of a group of experiment organizers-psychologists, to investigate Word memory ability of a group of subjects. Each subject's body is connected to an electric shock rod, which is controlled by the volunteers. Every time the subject memorizes a word wrong, the volunteers will shock him once, and the voltage intensity will be increased by 15 volts. Up to 300 volts. During the experiment, many subjects struggled repeatedly under the stimulation of high-voltage current, screamed and asked to stop the experiment. The situation was like a nightmare at that time. Stop the shock and give up the experiment. However, the fact is that only a few of all the volunteers stopped, and the rest completed the experiment, that is to say, the subjects were given electric shocks, up to 450 volts. That is, when the authority is present, people will obey the authority, and even if they do evil, they will not feel any psychological discomfort.
Francis Fukuyama believes that human history "has come to an end" when democratic politics has taken over the world and blossomed. In Fukuyama's view, liberal democracy is "the end point of the development of human ideology" and "the last form of human domination". However, even so, no one can guarantee that human beings can enjoy the achievements of democracy once and for all, because "human nature has no end", because any system is not as old as human nature, and it will die out earlier than human nature. Whether it is dictatorship, democracy, or any other form, it all comes from human nature. Otherwise, we wouldn't be reading the creepy news over and over again today.
For example, on the evening of April 13, 2008, a small incident of missing underwear occurred in a university in Kunming, which intensified into a bad case of campus violence. 10 girls surrounded the other and kept beating. Someone poured leftover instant noodle soup on her head, and someone wrote on her face with an eyebrow pencil. What's worse, even in front of the boy, these people forced the girl to take off her pants and expose her lower body, and used her mobile phone to take pictures and videos of violence and humiliation...
Who can imagine that these evils are regarded as good Woman doing it with a symbol of beauty. I once said that if you gregariously without a bottom line, human beings will go insane. Everyone has a tyrant in their hearts, everyone is the seed of dictatorship, and they also have the potential to irrigate dictatorship. As long as the conditions are ripe, all of this will inevitably combine with a kind of evil collectivism inside and outside, and grow the flower of dictatorial evil.
The world is only five days away from dictatorship. Let's go back to the April 1967 experiment at Kerberley High School. At the end of the experiment, Ron Jones said to his students: "Like the Germans, you have a hard time admitting that you have gone so far, you will not admit to being manipulated, you will not admit that, Participated in this farce."
Xiong Peiyun/Originally published in "Phoenix Weekly"
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