Representations of Genocide Victims and Perpetrators in the History of Cinema Molly Lidgerwood CW: Genocide, the Holocaust, Death Cinematic
representations
of
genocide
have
recently
emerged
as
a
cultural
phenomenon that encourage people to inform themselves of these historical atrocities, but can also become sites of genocidal justice, remembrance, and memorialisation. While some films, such as the popular Schindler’s List, use a melodramatic framework to analyse the role of actors of genocide, other films such as Jojo Rabbit explore other avenues
of
memorialising
genocide
and
representing
actors,
for
example
through
satirising the genocidal governments. Through examination of several films as case studies, I will argue that cinema has been largely successful in portraying the varying roles of actors in genocide, including the often-blurred binary between victims and perpetrators, such as witnesses and other ordinary citizens.
Cinema has played a significant role in representing a spectrum of victim experiences of genocide. While films such as Schindler’s List achieved commercial success and have been praised for their representations of victim survival and parallel trauma, I want to emphasise that cinema is only a reconstruction of history and genocidal memory, and thus can only represent a limited scope of victim experiences. Scholars Brown and Rafter have proposed a distinction between two different types of genocidal films: the melodramatic documentary
and style,
commercially such
as
successful
Shoah,
which
film is
(akin
more
to
Schindler’s
archival
based.
List) I
will
and
the
use
this
framework in my analysis of actor experiences of genocide as it will illuminate the purposes of the genocidal films, and their roles in memorialising the individual and collective memories of genocide.
Schindler’s List is largely successful in highlighting both the trauma and agency of Holocaust victims in resisting the Nazi’s ‘Final Solution’. In the early moments of the 3hour long film, the Krakow Jewish population is seen trying to evade being escorted away
by
the
Nazis.
To
avoid
transportation
to
a
concentration
camp,
Jews
are
encouraged to hide. While most of the Jewish characters are willing to hide to aid their safety, one Jewish lady proclaims she does not want to “hide like an animal”. Here, director Steven Spielberg reminds the audience that not all Jewish experiences of resistance were homogeneous. Schindler’s List also highlights labour as a mechanism of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. For example, one scene shows a Jewish woman in Oskar Schindler’s office, begging him to employ her elderly Jewish parents, claiming
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