Holocaust FILM

by Dr. Sorin ~ November 4th, 2010. Filed under: Uncategorized.

This is a pretty interesting article, by famed philosopher and critic Slavoj Zizek about the genre of holocaust cinema.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/17/

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2 Responses to Holocaust FILM

  1. Mike Murphy
    November 6th, 2010 at 10:24 pm

    I have to agree with Slavoj, the holocaust is a very touchy subject that honeslty had to be treated with respect first in order to through comedic elements. I think comedy films about the holocaust only work becuase previous work on it showed respect. Films like a schindlers list highlight moment for moment the dramatic/tragic elements of the holocaust. Its absolutely a sensitive subject that cant be joked around with right away.
    This is parallel to the world trade center incident. The tragedy of that time had to be respected in its raw felling first in order to treat it as comedy later on. Saturday Night Live (SNL) waited for the perfect time to throw some humor in there. The films and documenteries may have not been a success but the people involved and the situation had to be respected.
    I agree with slavij in the idea that the comedic side to such horrors that occur are more succesful but only because the material before it represented the actual and raw feeling.

  2. adam.sherman
    November 9th, 2010 at 12:52 am

    This was an interesting article. I’ve never watched Schindler’s List or seen the comedic films such as “Life is Beautiful” but I can definitely say that comedy is definitely an effective route to creating a successful film about a horrific event of the past. Watching the film, “Inglorious Bastards” which had comedic moments and wasn’t even historically accurate was a great film and was effective. The craziness of the time makes it hard to create a film that can remake that experience. It is better and more creative to choose the humorous route. Additionally, I strongly agree that similar atrocities around the world are not mentioned in film or in the media as much as they should. Given the rhetoric that followed World War II, such as “never again”, genocide has taken place around the world and even more disturbing is that people do not seem to take an interest.