Movies As Depicted In Schindler's List

Movies are trying to tell us much more than just what meets the eye, and sometimes we don't even know it. We might watch a movie thinking we are going to enjoy a good story and get our emotions evoked but in reality many people come out of a movie with differently shaped values or perceptions on reality. These messages in movies help shape and identify the values within our society and have a substantial influence on what society deems important. Movies like to tackle issues that are important or big to society and within those are issues of gay rights, the Holocaust and racial inequality. A societal issue that is widely portrayed in movies is the issue of sexuality, the LGBT community, and gay rights, opening the window to let hetereosexual

These movies can help educate people about the horrors that went on and impact society as a whole on the issue at hand. Based on true events, a popular movie that has helped shape our societal values is Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, a movie about a German businessman during the holocaust who becomes a hero when he opens his factory to be a Jewish refuge, ultimately saving about 1,000 jews. This movie became so popular and powerful due to its impactful presentation and use of black, white, and color. Even though the movie was released in 1993, the entire film is in black and white, deepening the impact and allowing audience members to evoke the feelings of the WWII era. The use of black and white also helps highlight the use of red in a little girls coat, the girl that the main character saw alone and helped catalyze his decision to save Jews. Up until this movie, most films concerning the Holocaust focused on the events that happened and summing up the overall gist of what went on during the time, however Schindler’s List focused on the individual and became an important educational tool. By focusing on the individual, the viewer is able to connect with the lone girl in a red coat, and later when the red coat is seen in a pile of bodies, the emotion that is evoked helps the audience, and ultimately society, realize that 6 million

The Shining, a horror movie about a family-Jack, Wendy, and Danny who get snowed in at a hotel while the father becomes crazed, has many hidden messages that could be a nod to the Holocaust while not being directly related to the movie’s context. Throughout the movie there is the recurring number 42, most likely in reference to the year 1942 when Hitler announced the “Final Solution” to exterminate all Jews, homosexuals, disabled, and gypsies. The number is first seen on Danny, the family's little boy, while he is wearing a shirt with 42 on the sleeve, then seen while Danny and his mother Wendy are watching a movie named Summer of ‘42. Another clue in the movie is the father, Jack, writes on a german brand typewriter, an “Alder,” which also happens to mean eagle, the symbol of both America and Germany. The idea of this German typewriting machine parallels the idea of the bureaucratic killing machine of germany. This typewriter also changes color throughout the movie. The last clue is the scene of a group of tourists who fade into the next scene as a huge pile of suitcases, much like what was left of the holocaust victims. Although the movie is not directly about the Holocaust, these subliminal messages help convey to society that this is an issue that needs