1.It is not easy to watch a Holocaust film. It is disturbing, even traumatic, to see so many people endure the tortures of the ghettos and the concentration camps. And even though the pain of the victims and the grief of the survivors are not really happening to us, it is not enough to say “it’s only a movie.” It is a movie, but a movie can mean so much.
By Mkrobb
From Bronx, NY
2.Having a "Jewish" background pertaining to the study of the Holocaust affects the manner in which I am further influenced by Holocaust literature, and more notably, by Holocaust films. I remember trying to watch Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List at the age of nine when it first came out on video. I went into my parents’ bedroom where they were watching it and sat in between my mother and father as a young child does to attract attention. I do not remember much from this first viewing experience because after no more than 10 minutes of watching, I left the room. Something about the film, or most likely the film’s content and setting, made me incredibly uncomfortable and forced me to leave the room.
However, the power films, in comparison to other forms of education about the Holocaust, in its method of affecting human emotions such as pain, regret, memory and knowledge, is one of demanding influence over personal perceptions.
Often, films are used to educate their audience. They can distinguish an important event, serious of events, and/or historic situation in the mass mind. It is by these means that culture, traditions, and often history are taught. In this sense, the media is seen as a "substitute educator" and the theater as the "classroom" (Goldschlager cited in Daly 149). Using films as educational tools for learning and informing about Holocaust history have become instrumental in ensuring the memory of the horrifying mass brutality and destruction of the Jewish people.
By Joanna Katz
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