Looking at everyone's comments, some people say that human nature is inherently evil, and some people say that power breeds evil, but, I think, this is not the final answer. If human nature is inherently evil, then there will be no guard who wants to tell the truth to the heroine; if power is the source of evil, but there is no previous suspicion between volunteers who have never known each other, and the guard has no reason to abuse his power. The situation in the film cannot be determined by a single factor, nor can it be explained by an absolute judgment.
In order to see all the influencing factors, I think, first of all, we should find out the initial signs of evil, and the reasons for its formation, and then the struggle between the two opposing groups of guards and prisoners is actually easier to sort out.
The first time the guard actually punished the prisoner was on the first night. The actor was asked to do push-ups because he spoke after the lights were turned off, but at first the guard just said one sentence. But later, a guard first proposed to the guard to be like a guard, and then discussed the pain point of the guard, the guard went back to the cell and asked the male protagonist to do push-ups. The actor was dissatisfied with the guard's attitude and was unwilling to do it. The guard called out the actor's roommate and punished him together. And there is one detail worth noting. The male protagonist fell down after both roommates were lying on the ground ready to do push-ups.
Of course, before this incident, there was no friction between the two groups. These small frictions were one of the triggers for this incident. Although the issue of milk during mealtimes did not cause any trouble, it could be seen that some guards were dissatisfied with the prisoner's behavior of not obeying orders, and the previous guard playing basketball with the prisoner also attracted warning glances from other guards. However, the prisoners did not seem to take the rules seriously, and still regarded the guards as experimental volunteers equal to themselves, and joked with the guards from time to time, which seemed to make the guards dissatisfied.
Another fuse was that the guards talked about personal issues in the management room. The guards had no interaction before the experiment, and they were free to talk about their children. One of the guards, who was gay, was sorely touched by this topic that he vented his negative emotions by punishing the prisoners.
In addition, there are some more important incentives, that is, the arrangement of the experiment itself. At the beginning of the experiment, the moderator of the experiment solemnly emphasized the importance of their work to the guards group and asked them to play this role; the prisoners only knew the rules by the guards reading the rules. This difference is very important. The guard group quickly entered the role because an authoritative figure emphasized the importance of their role, but the prisoners group faced guards who were not authoritative and had an equal status with themselves not long ago. Naturally, some people were reluctant to take it seriously. Playing the role of a prisoner, unwilling to obey the rules, is bound to conflict with the guard who has entered the role. The seeds of conflict are sown from the beginning. At the same time, the rules of the experiment were ambiguous and not specific enough: the guards were tasked with "maintaining order and ensuring that orders were carried out", while all the prisoners heard was "the guard's orders must be unconditionally obeyed" and "those who do not follow the rules will be punished Punishment”, did not provide further explanations, such as how to ensure that the order is carried out, what the means of punishing those who do not follow the rules are, and whether others are allowed to be punished on their behalf. If it was stated at the outset whether the food could be eaten by others, the milk issue would probably not have been one of the triggers; if the penalty rule for speaking after lights out had been expressly stipulated from the beginning as 20 push-ups, then the male The protagonist may not be so dissatisfied with the guards, and the conflict will not occur. It can be said that the loopholes in these regulations provide a lot of room for the escalation of conflicts.
So how did the conflict escalate?
After the first punishment, the guards were very happy to find that the prisoners would listen to them, but the next day, the hero locked two guards in the cell, and all the prisoners were excited and noisy. The guards decided to build credibility in the way of humiliating prisoners, spraying unclothed prisoners with fire extinguishers, denying them beds, and handcuffing the male protagonist who caused the incident to a railing, naked. After this incident, the male protagonist was even more unconvinced, and the guards imposed even more frantic suppression and revenge.
What makes the madness spread? What makes a good ordinary person do such an inhumane thing?
Because the two groups have been completely opposed, this is less like an experiment, more like a war, a brutal war that begins with the guards trying to gain power. Most of the guards became soldiers of absolute obedience, obedience to the majesty of the "Guards" group that did not exist in the first place. They are cruel, ruthless, and dehumanizing, because they have deeply identified with the identity of "guardian", regard themselves as a member of this group, and maintain its supreme glory. They tried to use brutal means to make the prisoners fear, shrink, submit, and they had almost absolute power; they dared not let the administrators of the experiment see the truth, so they did not allow anyone to withdraw; later they did not even allow the experiment to be terminated because that It is also a symbol of the failure of the group's mission, so they don't even let the scientific researchers go; of course, once the outside world knows the truth, it also means the failure of the group, so when a guard tries to "leak the secret", they cast the "traitor" as well. in jail. The male protagonist's resistance again and again brought them the anxiety that they could not completely control the prisoners with high pressure, so they intensified and fell deeper into the abyss of sin, until they were all over the place. But throughout, they perfectly defended what the "guardian" group was meant to be: upholding rules, carrying out orders, continuing experiments, taking themselves seriously, not acting as guards, but being guards. Most of the evil in them is the benefit of this newly formed group. The alienation of them, only the initial push-up, is half of the negative emotions stagnant in the guards' hearts, and the negative emotions are generated by the discrimination and ridicule in the crowd.
This is the first evil.
But evil will spread. If the initial evil didn't work, then use even greater evil to suppress it, and then even bigger, bigger and bigger...until the object being suppressed falls down, or becomes angry. But what is against the previous evil is the new evil, and the evil is the evil, because the negative emotions of being humiliated by others have nowhere to go. Even the coolest Air Force major came close to killing a guard in the end.
Therefore, what the audience sees is a group of dark and sinister souls, and even the male protagonist in the film is no exception. His resistance to the guards is full of ugly and malicious abuse from the very beginning. This is an indisputable fact, and it is also the deterioration of the previous events. one of the incentives.
Let's go back to the beginning of the movie.
If the organizers of the experiment also asked the prisoners to take their roles seriously...
If detailed rules were made at the beginning...
If the guard was not hurt by the eyes of the world before participating in the experiment...
If the male protagonist didn't speak very little The sentence starts to curse...
if...
there are too many ifs, it will change the results of the experiment.
Too powerful power and evil in ordinary people are the reasons, but they are not enough to detonate this evil eruption. The difference in the role identities of guards and prisoners, the alienation of the individual from the formed group consciousness, and the undisguised hostility of both sides are the cradle of sin. Among them, the most worthy of pondering and learning is the need for groups to safeguard their own interests, which has a profound impact on individuals. If such a small, ad hoc group can so sway people's behavior when each individual is fully committed, what about a larger, more lasting group? Will people give up their personal judgments and recklessly safeguard the interests of the group, or even a meaningless group purpose, because the interests of the group are closely related to their own interests, or, more purely, because of the long-term exposure to it to generate psychological identity? Going a step further, what if this group was not formed naturally, but by someone with ulterior motives? For example, cults and pyramid schemes, like the guard groups in the film, are such groups, and they are also very scary. If it is a country, World War II is enough for all mankind to remember forever.
To put too much trust in a group and give up your own judgment, give up your own reason, I think, this is the real source of evil.
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