“Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of ‘crackpot’ than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost. ” (Thomas J. Watson). Conformity and Propaganda can cause the minds of many to change for the worse over a course of time. The power of words and propaganda have the remarkable power to compel people to commit acts of cruelty.
You are viewed as a threat if you do not conform to society. Conformity also leads a false message in life as it’s pressed into people’s minds as conformity tries to strive to be accurate in judgement and observation even when wrong in life. Conformity is shown as a way of teaching people the incorrect ways of life as it manipulates and controls you making your ideas none the less more of just a controversy than independent thoughts. The power of propaganda, writing, and words have the ability to make people commit heinous acts.
As seen throughout the movie of Swing Kids, The Hitler Youth tries to indoctrinate young children into a into the mindset of their societal beliefs. An example of this is when Emil, the main Swing Kid from the beginning, joins the HJ and in Swing Kids says “I’m not a traitor. I just wised up. You will too. ” (Carter). This quote shows his newfound respect for the HJ and their beliefs and yet he knew that he wasn’t a full HJ at heart. This is shown when he confronts Arvid on the street sidewalk where he is found grinning and dancing to the beat of a swing song in his head.
As Arvid was captured and tortured by an HJ for having swing music Emil walks in on the encounter. He notices Arvid is in trouble and Arvid calls his name in desperation as if he had hope of leaving unscarred. Emil looks around at his fellow HJ as he felt deep down he was still part swing kid and that the connection was still linked inside somewhere. He kicks and batters Arvid to break this connection and to show no weakness to his other HJ comrades and breaks Arvid’s hand and his call for desperation was stomped out by the boot of Emil.
Emil’s violence towards Arvid despite past relations shows how the power of conformity can commit people to do despicable acts. As The Book Thief progresses Liesel reads more and more she notices the propaganda all around her. She soon realizes Hitler’s words and power were the reason for why her mother, father, and brother are dead. When Max becomes a part of her life however, she begins to truly see how Hitler’s use of oratory to brainwash Germany and compel the German people to turn against enemies of the state.
After a rally with the HJ she hears the man at the podium condemning Communists and Jews, and Liesel makes the shocking connection between Nazism and the fate of her family, as her father was a Communist. She ends up retaliating and takes a banned book from the burning at the rally and hiding it in her shirt, (Beneath her shirt, a book was eating her up (Zusak, 122). The Shoulder Shrug, the smoldering book she stole, symbolized her lasting memory of her family in retaliation against Hitler for targeting his family for being Communists as an act of rebellion against his regime.
This moment of realization proves that propaganda can cause people to do awful acts. The dangers of conformity are also seen when looking at how they perceive you as a threat. When you oppose conformity you are viewed as a threat against their beliefs. Those that opposed Hitler and his Third Reich were often viewed as a threat to society whether you were a jew, political enemy, crippled, or mentally handicapped. An example of such a threat to society was Rudy, who may be a kid but admires Jesse Owens as a runner and even ran with charcoal meared over him to be more like him. Hitler does not look kindly at this as blacks are viewed as repulsive to Germany and he even says “I just wish I was like Jesse Owens, Papa” (Zusak, 66) to his father who just says “you should be happy to be blonde haired and blue eyed. ” (Zusak, 66). His dad says that in order to try to teach his son how his looks alone help keep him from being noticed and that he should be glad he was born that way. Rudy is soon noticed by the Nazis for his impeccable sprinting abilities however, his parents are horrified by this.
His father ends up bargaining his life in the military in order to protect Rudy and to keep him safe from the Nazis as they know he is a viable target if he continues to admire Owens. Rudy is walking on eggshells in the end as one made move can mean the death for him especially when later on he follows the example of Hans, giving bread to Jews. These instances of Rudy’s life show how he is viewed as a threat to Hitler and how conformity has a shallow future for someone if you break one eggshell in life. The dangers of conformity silencing those who fight against conformity can also be seen in Swing Kids.
Swing Kids also shows how people are perceived as threat when you fight against conformity. After Peter found out the horrible things the Nazis did, he becomes courageous after reading his father’s letter. As Peter dawns his Swing clothes you can see how he has gained some newfound courage as slow frame cuts, vertical shots, and loud music play showing his attitude in change in character. He goes to a club and dances like he has never danced before as he knows that this rebellion will be his last as he makes a stand against Hitler’s views.
Quick frame cuts shows his vigorous and chaotic dancing as the sweat beaded down from his forehead. The HJ end up shutting down the club and Peter spots Thomas as he enters the club. Thomas had changed completely throughout the film, in the beginning he was a gregarious and friendly person however, after joining the HJ he was completely different. He became a lifeless and dim person which is shown with a long shot depicting him standing in his uniform in line for the ceremony with a straight face and no facial expressions at all.
Thomas had been inaugurated into the HJ and his new change made him attack Peter as he is doing his job as an HJ but ends up channeling all his anger and frustration onto him. Thomas almost ends up choking Peter to death but, his facial expressions showed emotional attachment to him as a friend despite him being a Swing Kid. This shows how conformity can cause people to face their own friends when they don’t conform. Conformity can also cause people to have false judgement and observations of others. Conformity also gets people to strive to be accurate in judgement and observations even when wrong.
This is seen in the Book Thief when Hans Jr. views his father as a coward for not believing in Hitler and not being part of the Nazi Party made him weak for example in The Book Thief. Hans Jr. was angered at his father’s remarks and told him “You’re either for the Fuhrer or against him- and I can see you’re against him. You always have been. ” (Zusak, 105). This shows how Hans Jr. believes that the old Germany is long gone as Zusak’s use of the either/or statement shows how there was no middle ground in Germany, you were for, or against. Hans Jr. aw his father as weak as he didn’t affiliate with the Nazi Party. Hans Jr. storms out of the house in a rage with his last words being “You coward” (Zusak, 105). His main objection had false judgement as he viewed his father as weak for not joining however, he didn’t join the party after Hans looked back at his life and how his life was saved by Max’s father in the last war. Hans knew he owed it to him to respect others and that he viewed Hitler as a polar opposite and did not want to follow under a leader who viewed certain groups as enemies.
His accordion helped symbolized his lasting memory of Erik and how great of a friend he was to him. Hans Sr. knew that in the end that his son wouldn’t understand his reasoning and that he would have to come to terms with his son hating him. The in accurate judgement of Hans showed how conformity can create a false image for Hitler and how other people are viewed. In Swing Kids Thomas and Peter were shown videos of how Jews are hated and how bad they are to society and they begin to look back at past events and how right they may have been as their training continued in the HJ.
As a panning shot shows what the HJ are doing you can see all their reactions and how Thomas and Peter begin to contemplate how Jews affected their society as Thomas’s eyes began to focus on the film to try and understand why the HJ believed that. (Carter). Fading shots were used to show a time-lapse of changes and how they were affected as they begin to grow in the following scene and end up graduating from the program. The films that they were shown while in the HJ were so casual that they were depicted as educational films in order to influence the minds of the young recruits and current Hitler Youth.
The multiple quick camera cuts and snippets show how all the HJ recruits focused on the videos and as time progressed in the scene their facial expressions began to shift from curious into a more angered and dull look towards Jews. The brows of the HJ in the room were now shifted downward symbolizing the hate for Jews when they watch the films in repetition. After multiple doses of film the HJ had gained a new mindset due to the judgement and observations of the Nazis towards their group. This scene showed how the recruits began to grow up and learn more and conform to Hitler’s judgement of Jews.
People conform to society because of the power words and propaganda have on others to commit hate acts on others, how you are viewed as an enemy if you don’t conform, and causes people to voice their judgement on others even when they are wrong. All of these points specify how conformity causes chaos and insecurity in society. As quoted by Zusak “I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right. ” showing how words can be tools of power but those can be used for compassion and love as well.
