Nazism Exposed In Cabaret

735 Words3 Pages

During the civil unrest of the 1960s, white supremacy was becoming increasingly visible and violent in response to the Civil Rights Movement. Director Harold Prince felt that if people continued to be indifferent toward the violence, it would only escalate exponentially, and that the public did not understand the gravity of the situation. So, he decided "to transform some stories of life in Berlin around 1930 into a cautionary tale for the United States in the 1960s" (Bush Jones 241). Although Cabaret is not explicitly about Nazism, and instead revolves around the personal lives of a select few, Nazism is always on the outskirts of the plot and so, ultimately, Cabaret is about how Nazism affects all the characters ' lives whether they realize it or not, it is scarily easy to misunderstand the extremity of the situation, and it is morally irresponsible to pretend it is not important. Not only did people accidentally let the Nazi party get too far in the 1930s, but now, in the 1960s, the American public was getting dangerously close to the same thing: it is hard to realize until afterward. The message becomes more evident as the musical continues, and is perfectly embodied by Cliff 's outburst, "If you 're not …show more content…

When Sally and other characters declare they are not involved with or concerned about "politics" when Nazism comes up, the audience realizes that situations of such importance that have people 's wellbeing and lives at stake are not mere "politics:" the situations are concerning morals and humanity. When the audience is tricked into liking certain songs or people who end up being involved with Nazism, they are confronted with the harsh reality that it is scarily easy to let violence and oppression slip by unnoticed and unstopped, or, even worse, accidentally