Spielberg and the 6 Million

[davemarc]

At 11:18 AM 6/11/96 -0700, Steelhead wrote:
>>
>>Jean at the Tribune chastizes me:
>>
>>>  So, would it have been better if Schindler had been a flawless man who
>>>  chose not to utilize slave labor, and all those people had died?  This is
>>>  not a black & white issue.  Do not judge it as such.
>>
>>Pardon the pun, but it was Spielberg who made Schindler and S's List a black-
>>and-white issue. And Schindler _is_ portrayed as a nearly flawless man, indeed
>>the film is almost a hagiography of the good German, the humane capitalist
>>with a conscience, the great father figure who has redeemed himself for
>>previous infanticidal fantasies.
>>
>>Bullshit.
>>
>>This is fairy tale theater and (now that Steve has done everything in his
>>considerable power to make sure his film is considered the definitive
>>statement on the Holocaust) does a grave disservice to those he said he sought
>>to honor. A great con artist like Spielberg could never be caught critizing
>>the links between capitalism and genocide, could he?

Who exactly considers the film the definitive statement on the Holocaust???
I don't think anybody does.  But anyone on this list who does should feel
free to let everyone else know.  

As for *Schindler's List* and the links between capitalism and genocide,
Spielberg (and Keneally) were concerned with critiquing the link between
fascism and genocide.  Capitalism (of a very marginal sort) does come across
favorably in the context of this particular movie, is all.  If you look at
other Spielberg films--say, Jaws--you might find that it does criticize
capitalism (though I would never argue that Spielberg is anti-capitalist).
>>
>>Go to the Spielberg wing of the Holocaust museum, where there are interactive
>>computer games on the Holocaust, its like a virtual theme park of the Weimar
>>and Third Reich. Just pick up the mouse and you too can try to sneak past the
>>drunken SS officer and over the fence at Mauthausen. If you succeed, it's on
>>to Sobibor and then Bergen-Belsen. C'mon, learning about genocide can be FUN!

Was it that much fun for you, Steelhead?  Everyone I know who's been there
(including survivors) found the entire experience very moving and
educational, certainly not worthy of the utter derision you're doling out.
>>
>>Jonas Goldhagen's new book Hitler's Willing Executioner's: Ordinary Germans
>>and the Holocaust destroys all of these myths. Of course, how many people will
>>read it or Hannah Arendt's Eichmann In Jerusalem? No. Schindler's List will
>>now replace Night and Fog in the classrooms of America and we will all feel
>>much
>>better about helping to rebuild Germany as a titan of international capitalism
>>after the war, rescuing the good Nazi's Dornberger and Von Braun to assist us
>>in fighting the mad Russians and our all-important moon shots.
>>
Oh, so the short, well-made film Night and Fog has been seen all over the
classrooms of America?  No way.  Neither have the other well-made Holocaust
documentaries that meet with Steelhead's stamp of approval.  The single
Holocaust work that *has* entered the syllabus (and the one which likely to
remain there) is *The Diary of Anne Frank*, which has also received some of
the same kind of unfair criticism (i.e., that it's not the definitive work
on the Holocaust, that because it's not the whole truth it's completely
invalid) that has been levelled at the movie *Schindler's List*.   

The fact is that no single work of non-fiction or fiction (and certainly not
Night and Fog--how often are Jews mentioned in it?) can even come close to
being a definitive work on the entire Holocaust.  Not even Goldhagen's
purportedly factual book, which is hardly above the kind of harsh criticism
Steelhead seems to reserve for an admittedly fictional work like Schindler's
List.  Incidentally, that book received a fair share of intelligent scrutiny
at a recent event hosted by the Holocaust Museum and broadcast over C-SPAN.
Goldhagen didn't seem to mind being there.

And, thankfully, we already have countless books and articles (as well as
Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove) to remind us of the kindness ladled out by the US
government to folks like Mr. von Braun. 

davemarc