Director of the Boy in the Striped

¶ … director of the Boy in the Striped Pajamas about conformity and the development of prejudice

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) details the adventures of a young German boy named Bruno during World War II. The movie uses the naive perspective of a child to critique the prejudice and discrimination practiced by the Nazis during the war and also to critique prejudiced attitudes in general. The novel suggests that Bruno's pure, childish perspective is free of hatred, compared with those of adults and his older sister Greta. It advocates the point-of-view that human beings are essentially 'the same' and that perceived differences of race, religion, and class are socially-constructed and not innate to humanity.

The beginning of the film details the move of Bruno's family to a concentration camp to live, where his father will work as an officer. To underline the childishness of Bruno's perspective, the film stresses Bruno's irritation at the move using simple details only a child would notice, like how small the house is, the frustrations of losing contact with his old friends, and the lack of good banisters to slide down. His father will not permit him to enter his study in which he is engaged in SS business, piquing the boy's natural curiosity about adult secrecy. The childish exasperation Bruno manifests about the move, and his normal sadness would, in another cinematic context, be quickly counteracted by positive things he finds in his new environment, in support of the change. But the fim instead takes another turn.

Bruno witnesses the strange sight of incarcerated Jewish prisoners. To him, they look like people in striped pajamas, hence the name of the film. Bruno's perspective is without prejudice and judgment. He cannot understand why some people are forced to wear these articles of clothing and he is not. He asks what the difference is between the two groups of people: the men in uniforms and the people in pajamas. On one hand, the viewer knows that the difference is that one group is made up of prisoners and the other group is made up of soldiers. But, of course, on a larger and more human level, Bruno is right: the answer is that there is no difference, and the distinctions between different groups of humanity made by the Nazis are entirely arbitrary.

This lack of distinction is further underlined when Bruno befriends a young Jewish boy named Shumel. Bruno does not fully understand why Shumel is considered a 'non-person' in the ideology of the Nazis. As a result, Bruno does not inform his family of the friendship, and eventually decides to masquerade as a prisoner, to be with his friend and to help Shumel find his father. Tragically, Bruno is mistaken for a Jewish boy in the camp and killed. Once again, this underlines the fact that there is no real distinction, other than clothing, between Jews and gentiles, or any other group of human beings. A German boy and a Polish, Jewish boy appear to be the same, when they are wearing the same clothing.