Phillip Zimbardo's Analysis
A war veteran speaks with his closest friend about their days in the military, reliving their long nights on the beach, shooting at the enemies, enjoying themselves while always facing victory, never touching upon the trauma that they endured. They never talk about the faces of young men that they were ordered to execute, nor do they talk about the image in their heads of a little girl, laying in the street dead, her mother next in line for a the similar fate. Both men ask themselves how they came to commit such horrible crimes, neither one grasping onto a logical reason, and their guilt following them to the grave. Ari Folman’s animated documentary Waltz with Bashir follows Folman himself, a memory-stricken war veteran who struggles to let
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Another instance in where we lose our sense of identity is in role changing. Phillip Zimbardo illustrates the effects of role changing and how it can shape ones personality[iii]. Zimbardo took a group of college-aged men and split them in half. Half the group was told to be guards. They were given uniforms, Billy clubs, and whistles and were told to enforce the rules. The other half of the group was assigned to the role of prisoners. They were locked behind bars and given jumpsuits. After a few days, the simulation became almost a reality. The guards were cruel and degrading to the prisoners, and as a result the prisoners rioted, succumbed to the guards, or either quit the experiment. Role change also plays an important role in Waltz with Bashir within the soldiers and the way they behave. After conforming to the Phalangists and following orders to set off flares, many of the soldiers felt as if they had taken the role of a killer, installing a feeling of guilt. As a result of the guilt that came with the role change, Folman was haunted by flashbacks and hallucinations, showing killings and other guilt-ridden events in his conscious. In the end of the movie when all Folman hears are yells of the innocent Palestinians, it is not the pain of the Palestinians that the director is focusing on, but on Folman’s shallow breathing, exemplifying his feelings of guilt and shame in response to his role in the massacre. Folman’s dreams about a massacre years after the war were a result of his suppressed memories of Beruit. At the time of the massacre, Folman and many other soldiers believed that their actions were normal in the context that they were in, agreeing to the banality of evil. Even though people change themselves to conform to a group, their old identity will eventually resurface again, with their feeling of guilt resurfacing
Another instance in where we lose our sense of identity is in role changing. Phillip Zimbardo illustrates the effects of role changing and how it can shape ones personality[iii]. Zimbardo took a group of college-aged men and split them in half. Half the group was told to be guards. They were given uniforms, Billy clubs, and whistles and were told to enforce the rules. The other half of the group was assigned to the role of prisoners. They were locked behind bars and given jumpsuits. After a few days, the simulation became almost a reality. The guards were cruel and degrading to the prisoners, and as a result the prisoners rioted, succumbed to the guards, or either quit the experiment. Role change also plays an important role in Waltz with Bashir within the soldiers and the way they behave. After conforming to the Phalangists and following orders to set off flares, many of the soldiers felt as if they had taken the role of a killer, installing a feeling of guilt. As a result of the guilt that came with the role change, Folman was haunted by flashbacks and hallucinations, showing killings and other guilt-ridden events in his conscious. In the end of the movie when all Folman hears are yells of the innocent Palestinians, it is not the pain of the Palestinians that the director is focusing on, but on Folman’s shallow breathing, exemplifying his feelings of guilt and shame in response to his role in the massacre. Folman’s dreams about a massacre years after the war were a result of his suppressed memories of Beruit. At the time of the massacre, Folman and many other soldiers believed that their actions were normal in the context that they were in, agreeing to the banality of evil. Even though people change themselves to conform to a group, their old identity will eventually resurface again, with their feeling of guilt resurfacing