The Grand Illusion and Social Identity

struggle leads to the massive loss of life, the non-recognition of human rights and dignity. But then, amidst its horrors, great acts of humanity atomic number 18 committed by people of various brotherly backgrounds. Violence and conditions of scruple transform sociable identities with regards to paganity and contour, enabling men to aid others for the very discernment that they are comrade humans. This paper expounds on this idea through insights from a film gradeic, a sociological theory as well as green know conductge history.Background of the FilmThe 1937 film The railyard Illusion was one of the masterpieces of French director Jean Renoir. Having served in the First humanity War himself, Renoir witnessed front hand the gruesome experiences of being powerless in the face of an heavy situation. He sought to express his anti-war sen eonnts through film. Although he used World War I as the setting, the film came at a time when the world was once again at the brink of an other(prenominal).The film underscores the basis that war is not the answer to confederations problems but quite an exacerbates them. It shows how the elite or the aristocracy resorted to war in order to incur and expand economical and political interests. Prior to World War II, the Jews began to harness Germanys economy with the superb entrepreneurial skills peculiar to their culture that deepen their hearty mobility.The success of the war depended on the support of the citizenry whose pouch was composed of the middle and working classes. For Germany, the single greatest binding military posture that united them together was in the ethnocentric conception of the superiority of the German race. This was compounded in the narrow nationalist promotion of Germany for Germans. Both ideas worked to fasten a strong Anti-Semitist sentiment in the country.This shifting of social identities towards the last expression of humanity in war is effectively captured in The Grand Illusi on. Here, social individuality stems from the recognition of ones social rank in a social group united through interchangeable billets and viewpoints (Stets and Burke, 2000, p.225). Renoirs intention was to portray the transcendence everywhere ethnicity and social class as illusions, aptly because they are the glaring opposite of social reality.Social individualism and TranscendenceSocial Class across NationalitiesFrench-German AristocratsThe film portrayed the universality of social class and the general group identities of interchangeable social classes across borders. The German maitre dhotel von Rauffenstein is seen inviting his prisoner, the French maitre dhotel de Boeldieu, to lunch just because the latter was an officer, and so, a fellow patrician. Their identification with one another stems from their common fulfillment of the roles and expectations associated with their class.The scenes that followed showed them enjoying each others confederation thus forming an in -group, highlighting their difference (in-group favoritism) from the commoners, the step up-group. They talk animatedly about experiences inner(a) to the elite cuisine, women and familiar people. Their use of German, French and English further emphasizes their major power to overcome the German-French and prisoner-captor divide.Stets and Burke (2000) stated that in-group homogeneity is especially strong when no motivational forces exist to distinguish the self from others within the group(p.226). In the final scenes, Captain de Boeldieu distracts the German guards to enable his two companions to escape. German Captain von Rauffenstein tried to talk him into submission first but was forced to savage him. De Boeldieu was a fellow aristrocrat (part of an in-group) but more than this, he was excessively a French officer, an enemy (motivational force).The scenes depicting the dying de Boeldieu talking to von Rauffenstein saw how identity roles pack center stage over group identity . Though twain of them see their identity as aristocrats, in the process of the war, they came to see their roles divergently. Von Rauffenstein believed in the purpose of the war while de Boeldieu believed that their class was dysfunctional and welcomed the possibility of society being led by the lower class.Similarly, identity roles taking antecedency was illustrated in de Boeldieu allowing Lieutenant Marechal, his fellow aviator who was a mechanic forwards the war, to escape. Group identity would dictate that de Boeldieu, in order to perform his duty, would take advantage of the situation for himself. But because he saw his identity role differently, he died allowing a commoner to regain his freedom.French-German CommonersThe transcendence over social class across nationalities was in any case demonstrated during the escape of Marechal together with another prisoner named Rosenthal who was a Jew. Traveling on foot over foreign and hostile territory presented difficulties and was further exacerbated when Rosenthal sustained injuries. As such, they were forced to ingest for help at the farm that they came across with.The resident was a German char, Elsa, whose husband tragically died fighting in the war. She shared a similar identity with Marechal who also came from a working class background. The common realization that there is much to lose in the war but no(prenominal) to gain (similarities), led both Elsa and Marechal to overcome differences in nationality and language barriers for the woman to help the fugitives.Ethnicity and Social IdentityOne of the characters in the film was a Jew named Rosenthal. He belonged to the stop number class but was originally a commoner. The film dispels the exaggerated dissimilarities that led to prejudicial or Anti-Semitic sentiments when Rosenthals character was portrayed as compassionate. Although he was upper class, he gave parts of his meals to his fellow prisoners without exception. therefrom, he retained favorable family relationships with all captives in the camp.This suggests that Rosenthal as a Jew and the non-Jew prisoners overcame ethnic differences because their identity was primarily based on all of them being prisoners (social group). Thus they performed a common role and viewpoint to dig a tunnel and escape in order to return to their respective territories and continue playing their duty to fight against the common enemy. Here, the German guards are the out-group.ConclusionThe transcendence over social identity is easily accomplished under circumstances of chaos and instability that are not conventional during times of peace. This is because as social experiments have proven, divisions between groups are minimized when there are common goals that can only be achieved through collective efforts (SIT lecture). In the film, prisoners from different classes and ethnicities worked together to dig a tunnel as a common means of escape. The sharing of food for equal sustenanc e to all was also depicted, albeit through Rosenthal as an individual, increasing everyones chances of survival.Transcendence on an individual train can also be accomplished when ones wisdom of identity role deviates from the traditional group identity boundaries, i.e. de Boeldeius self-control for a commoner as a way out of the aristocrat failure as a class in contrast to von Rauffensteins steadfast conformity to aristocratic duties. The latters conformity is overdue to his commitment of a role that is salient to him (Stets and Burke, 2000, p.232).As social identity results from likeness of ones self from others and recognizing the similarities in experience can also lead one to transcend socially defined divisions. This was exemplified in the relationship of the French Lieutenant Marechal and the German peasant, Elsa.Non-transcendence on the part of the German guards and their officers, who equal the German state under Hitler in history, was due to their segregation of thems elves as a superior race and their determined attempts to compete over economic and political superiority as well.In general, the film has been rich in examples video display how social identification leads to social conflict and also to conflict resolution. The lessons borne out of this classic film are invaluable as we face a world today where war seems to be the solution to contradictions among nations, races, ethnic groups and social classes.List of ReferencesStets, J.E. and Burke, P.J. (2000). Identity Theory and Social Identity Theory. SocialPsychology Quarterly, 63(3), p.224-237.Social Identity Theory Powerpoint (Lecture).