Schindler's List (1993)

Symbolism - The girl in the red coat

There she was - a flash of colour among the black and whites.

The movie was portrayed in black and white to symbolise the bleak tone of the stories of the Jews. However, when the ghetto is being liquidated, Schindler's notices a girl in a red coat, walking by herself and then hiding under her bed from the German soldiers. Later, he notices the same girl, dead, being taken on a wagon filled with corpses. What does this splash of colour mean? It can be perceived that the colour symbolises the conscience of Oskar Schindler. Initially he was a businessman, just wanting to profit from the doings of the war and the ready availability of cheap labour. He does not care for the fate of the Jews. However, after seeing the little girl dead, he starts to realise the atrocities that is being done on the Jews. Schindler starts to see the Jewish people as individuals and not just as a group, or as his workers. He starts to realise that murdering individuals, and even mass killings are wrong.

No one is spared - not even the innocent children

Furthermore, the girl in the red coat also symbolises the loss of innocence during the Holocaust. The death of the little girl highlights that not even innocent children are spared from the horrible actions of the soldiers. Hence, this is when Schindler and assumedly, the audience, starts realising that even young, innocent children are undeserving casualties of a war they are unaware of.

The end justifies the means

 

Pay them all - and get as many Jews as we can

Also means that "anything is acceptable if it leads to a successful result" (Stover, 2005). Though this phrase is always portrayed in a negative way; however, in the movie, Schindler positively portrayed this phrase. His 'ends' were to save as many Jews as possible, and his 'means' of doing so was through corruption, bribery and sweet talk. Though corruption and bribery are essentially wrong but he could not have saved so many Jews if he had not resorted to such actions. Furthermore, his actions are also justified because he used his own money and belongings to ensure the safety of the Jewish individuals. There are certain instances where we have to do whatever we can to achieve an ideal result because humans are easily corrupted. Also, there are times when doing good acts could get you punished, as in the case of the German soldiers. Göth and the rest of the German soldiers allowed Schindler to open a factory and hire Jewish workers because to them, they would not get punished for doing so as they were bribed. Hence, Schindler took advantage of the 'evil' side of human nature and used it to his benefits. 

Therefore, sometimes the end does justify the means, especially if it contributes to saving the lives of many people.

Violence has become a routine

 

His morning activity

Why was Göth able to nonchalantly shoot the Jews without any remorse or without flinching? He senselessly killed anyone and everyone whenever he is able to. He does not need any reason to start shooting at the Jews. In fact, it would seem that shooting Jews is a sport to him. It could be perceived that Göth has been desensitized (Krahé & Möller, 2010) to the barbaric methods of killing the Jews. Day in, day out he witnesses the senseless killing of the Jews, and frequently performs them himself. He is used to the senseless violence so that is why Göth can just pick up his rifle and to randomly shoot (Krahé & Möller, 2010) at the Jews. This barbaric act has become a morning routine to Göth. To him, it was no different and just as normal as urinating or having sex with his girlfriend. 

References

Stoker, S. (2005). The end justifies the means. Retrieved from http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/44/messages/923.html

Krahé, B., & Möller, I. (2010). Desensitization to media violence: Links with habitual media violence exposure, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(4). 630-646.