Good, written by C.P. Taylor, and Bent, directed by Sean Mathias and written by Martin Sherman, each told the story of a man who, during the time of the Holocaust, was affected emotionally, and for one, physically, by the crimes that were being committed against large numbers of outcasts from Nazi Germany, their biggest difference, however, was that one became part of the victimizers while the other became a victim for who he was.
In Good, Halder is a professor who becomes involved in the SS and Nazi Party and eventually heads to a concentration camp where he will give input on how to dispose of the people who are forced into the camps. Throughout Good, Halder appears to be uncomfortable with what is happening to the people who are being sent into the concentration camps and he reluctantly joins the SS in order to be safe, however says that he will back out if he needs to. The sad part about this is that he never gains the courage to leave, he just goes into the camps leaving his wife, children, and lover behind. He considers this to be a horrible event and does not take into account the fact that there are millions begin put into concentration camps where he will decide who to put to death, when, where, and how. Halder wants to believe he is a good person but he ends up doing nothing to stop the violent crimes that are being committed to people like his good friend Maurice.
In Bent, the protagonist Max(Clive Owen) is a homosexual who was caught and is sent to a camp. Officials force him to kill the man he loved while on the train, however Max somewhat recovers and finds friendship and love with another man. Max is able to get a yellow star, signifying that he is a Jew, instead of receiving a pink triangle to prove that he is gay because he hears that this is the lowest form of human life. Max falls in love with a man while they carry rocks back and forth, all the while saying that he would not want to wear the triangle for fear of the consequences. In the end he realizes that he needs to fight for what he wants and wear a pink triangle to show who he really is.
Halder and Max, victimizer and victim, both wanted to be accepted. Halder became the villain, but in his own way also a victim because of what he gave up to do so. Max lied to others and himself that he was not a homosexual because he did not want to be persecuted in the ways that he knew would happen, yet ended up in a concentration camp anyways. Both of these characters relate to Elie Wiesel in his novel Night, in that Max and Wiesel were both regretting being who they were (Wiesel lost his faith in God/Max did not want to be attracted to men) and Halder and Wiesel were both trying to do the right thing by their friends and family. Halder did not succeed, but Wiesel kept his father alive as long as he could.
Pointing a finger at who the victim and victimizer is in a given situation can often be an easy task, however there is much gray area to consider. The emotions of each person and the effects that their actions have on others must be considered.
The concept of victim and victimizer is indeed a very gray area. From Sherman’s “Bent” and Taylor’s “Good,” we see the development of each character from victim to victimizer to victim (in the case of Max in “Bent.”) I appreciate your consideration of one’s feelings and emotions before assigning a “cut-and-dry” label to each character. For Max in “Bent,” he goes through a cycle from victim to victimizer and back to victim again in the brief moment between the time he puts on Horst’s jacket to his committing suicide. Can we explicitly define Max as a victimizer? No. Can we explicitly define him as a victim? No. In the case of victim and victimizer, Max exemplifies both.
ReplyDeleteFor Professor Halder in “Good,” we read evidence of both victim and victimizer, but unlike Max, Halder does not complete the cycle and revert to victim. His cowardice blinds him into thinking that in spite of his involvement with the Third Reich and the killing of countless people, he can still consider himself a “good” man. Halder’s case is just as tragic in the sense that he not only develops into a victimizer, but a deluded one as well.
Please think about using specific examples. Your blog summarizes what happens to Halder, but the play itself actually comments on what is going on in a very interesting way. You should discuss that. What is the significance of Max's choice to be a Jew rather than a homosexual?
ReplyDelete