The White Ribbon

This is Sarah. Last monday, we watched about an hour of the film The White Ribbon. This film takes place in Germany post-World War I, before the Nazi ruling of Germany. The color white in literature symbolizes purity. In the movie, the child's white ribbon was taken off his arm and he was told that he could wear it again as soon as he suffered the consequences. Each child wore a white ribbon on their arm until marriage, I am assuming. Since we only watched an hour of the film, I do not know what the child did to get his ribbon removed and to be beaten so harshly, but I am sure the movie will later explain it.
Honestly, the whole time I felt like I was watching a documentary about a cult. Everyone seemed so censored, but I guess that was the point. This movie relates to Freud's theory of repression. The white ribbon symbolizes all of the desires that one has but do not act on. The children and adults acted like robots. It seemed as though they were programmed to act the way that they did. Sex was never talked about and public displays of affection were simply out of the question. Dancing with one another was their only form of self expression.
Each person's lack of self expression really bothered me. I cannot imagine having someone dictate what I wore and how I acted. It is fascinating to think about how life was during that time. Society acted as a whole and there was little to no individualism. Some may say that that is a sign of a functioning society and that people should be less independent. hmm