2
THELIVES OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
City,County
Thetwo films, Thewhite ribbonand Good-byeLenin haveelements of similarity as well as differences. This situation is,especially, as it regards to the portrayal that the lives of childrenas well as young people are normally defined by issues that are oftenbeyond their control (Hall& Jefferson 1993). Throughan in-depth analysis of the two films, there emerges elements thatplay a huge role in determining how the lives of these people end upbeing in the long-run. This is despite the fact that differentapproaches are applied for the two films.
TheWhite Ribbonis a German drama film which is directed by Michael Haneke. The filmbasically revolves around a given family and society in a remotevillage in Germany. The setting is placed to be a period just beforethe onset of the World War I. Some of the characters involved in themovie include a pastor, the baron and a doctor who plays hugeinfluence upon the society represented in the film. The rest of thecommunity is majorly made up of children, women and peasant farmers.The pastor seems to have control upon the community and also makesthe young children wear ribbons to show that they are pure. Whensituations go out of hand in the community, marked with deaths anddisappearances, the schoolteacher suspects the pastor and threatensto report him to the police (The White Ribbon 2009).
GoodBye Leninis a movie which features a setting of 1989 East Germany in which aman protests against the current regime. His mother is forced towatch the police picking up his son. The mother, thereby, suffers aheart attack and goes into a comma. When she wakes up from the commaafter eight months, the son does his best to create an East Germanysetting in the home so as to convince the mother that everything isokay. This is despite the fact that some people are against the idea(The White Ribbon 2009).
Thetwo movies have similarities in that they explain the differentforces that shape the actions that children and young people couldtake as a result of the exposure that they have been accorded. In TheWhite Ribbon, Itis established that the son of the pastor is forced to let his handstied on the frame of a bed every night as a result of impurelytouching someone. He is led to live a life of understanding thatpurity is quite crucial and he, therefore, needs to do everything inhis power to ensure that he remains pure at all times. In the GoodBye Lenin, Alexis forced by circumstances to create a setting of East Germany in hishome after his mother had woken up from the coma (TheWhite Ribbon 2009).This was in a bid to convince her that things had actually changedfor the better so as to prevent her from slumping into another caseof coma which would be quite risky in terms of her own survival.
Thedifferences in the two film exist in that in the TheWhite Ribbon, thechildren seem to lack their personal will to choose their wishes, andthus resort to living the way that was defined by the pastor. In theGoodBye Lenin, Alexthe son makes personal decisions and takes up actions that he feelswill be quite vital in helping to ensure that his mother is safe inthe long run (Good Bye Lenin, 2002).As a result, the child is, therefore able to make personal actionsthat are geared towards ensuring the safety of his mother as well asthe reduced chance of her getting into coma another time.
Fromthe analysis of the two films, it is therefore pertinent to indicatethat the livesof children and young people are frequently defined by forces theycannot control and do not understand. This is because they tend toface different situations that go a long way in shaping the kind ofviews that they will have about life as well as the actions that theycould end up taking in the long run. Despite the fact that TheWhite Ribbon seemsto have some element of authoritarianism upon the children, it helpsto achieve this course. The experience faced by Alex in the GoodBye Lenin alsoacts as a significant foundation (Good Bye Lenin,2002).
Inconclusion, the relationship between the two films go a long way attrying to show the different circumstances that could be presentedand help to shape how children and young people will be. Most of thetimes, these situations are usually not within their means. It is,therefore, important that they are presented with situations thatimprove their decision-making processes. They are also bound to makedecisions that go a long way to develop the entire society (Hall& Jefferson 1993).
References
GoodBye Lenin. DVD. 2002. Video. [Accessed 8 May 2016].
Hall,S. and Jefferson, T., 1993. Resistancethrough rituals: Youth subcultures in post-war Britain.Psychology Press.
TheWhite Ribbon. DVD. 2009. Video. [Accessed 8 May 2016].