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The noise alerts the neighbor woman who demands his identity papers and threatens to call the police. Her hatred for the man is based solely on the fact he is Jewish.
There is a famous experiment done by Jane Elliot (1970), an elementary school teacher, which demonstrates how quickly people will adopt a belief in their own superiority. In the experiment Elliot tells the children that blue eyed people are superior to brown eyed people. She makes the brown eyed children wear a collar so others can more readily recognize them. This is analogous to the Jewish people of Warsaw having to wear a Star of David on their sleeve. A video of the experiment shows how easily a herd mentality spread throughout the class. One group adopted the peer influenced behavior associated with the belief in their superior status, regardless of that statuses' tenuous basis in fact, while the oppressed group adopted behavior that was submissive and reinforced the behavior of the superior group. Elliot's video is a vivid demonstration of the effect of racial and ethnic expectations. In the film we see Jewish men acting as guards, aiding the Germans. It is apparent that they want to identify with the group that, in their mind, has superior status.
The Anti-hero
The film also demonstrates the better qualities of the human spirit. In the end Szpilman is aided by a German officer, Wilhelm Hosenfeld, who gives him food during the last months of the war. Hosenfeld is a true...
While he serves the Nazis, he is aware of what is right and what is wrong, and unlike the people who Christopher Isherwood observed looking the other way at the atrocity before them, he did something at great risk to his own safety. Hosenfeld's actions in the midst of all this violent senseless chaos gives one hope that people are better than mere animals struggling to get by.
In the movie Hosenfeld is moved by the beauty of Szpilman's piano playing. Szpilman's artistic talent connects them in a manner that transcends the reality of their situation. When Hosenfeld looks at Szpilman he does not see a Jew, he sees a human being. It is ironic that this German officer would help Szpilman while his own countrymen and woman would turn their back. It is also ironic that Hosenfeld would die in a Soviet prison camp, presumably the type of place he saved Szpilman from going.
References
Delwiche, a. (2011, February 28). Fear. Propaganda. Retrieved June 7, 2012, from http://www.propagandacritic.com/articles/ct.sa.fear.html
Elliott, J. (1970) Brown Eyes and Blues Eyes. [Video] YouTube. Retrieved June 7, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bWlTZZN3DY
Polanski, R. (Director). (2002). The pianist. [Motion picture]. United States: Focus Features.
Trueman, C. (2000). Jews in Nazi Germany. History learning site. Retrieved June 7, 2012, from http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Jews_Nazi_Germany.htm
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