Die driet welle

Translation from German - The third wave

Collective Identity

"A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project/projects to achieve a common objective." - Wikipedia

Introducing Identity
David Buckingham

On the one hand, identity is something unique to each of us that we assume is more or less consistent.. our identity is something we uniquely possess: it is what distinguishes us from other people. Yet on the other hand, identity also implies a relationship with a broader collective or social group of some kind. When we talk about national identity, culture identity, or gender identity, for example, we imply that our identity is partly a matter of what we share with other people. Here, identity is about identification with others who we assume are similar to us, if not the same, at least in some significant ways.

David Gauntlett 2007

"Identity is complicated. Everyone thinks they've got one. Magazines and talk shows urge us to explore out 'identity'. Religious and national identities are at the heart of major international conflicts. Artists play the idea of 'identity' in modern society. Blockbuster movie superheros have emotional conflicts about their 'true' identity. And the average teenager can create three online identities before breakfast." (facebook, bebo, twitter, myspace)

David Buckingham 2008

"A focus on identity requires us to pay close attention to the diverse ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life, and their consequences both for individuals and for social groups.

Areas of collective identity;
- gender
- sexuality
- religion
- nationality
- age
- class
- ethnicity
- disability
- celebrity

My teacher decided it would be fantastic idea to make some ridiculous class rules after Tuesdays lesson (I was not there and was not aware of this.) But apparently he sent a email to every member of the class stating the new class rules;
- Students must sit one space apart from one another and face the front
- Students must stand up to ask a question
- Students must stand up when a member of staff enters the room
- Students must answer in only 3 words
- Start 3 word sentences with Mr Smith to everyone

To
- your own comprehension of yourself, how you see yourself
- how others see us
- appearance
- attributes
- clothing
- experiences
- rivals

We had to think of 5 things which made us class members the same, then go round the class, applying to the rules!!, and say on thing. For example; go to Lutterworth school and all were clothes.

Then we had to think of as many things as we could that made us individual, this was hard but then again we had to say one of things to the class.

After this we had to thing about our own identity and ask the question, has media shaped who you are in anyway? I answer saying I don't no because I don't feel I am influenced by any one particular mediation. I feel that everyone is influenced by everything, and this can not be put down to media, social life, family your a collection of your surroundings. Everyone else answered.

Die Driet Welle

The third wave was experiment devised by Ron Jones, a history teacher, this experiment was on his history class as part of there study of Nazi Germany. The experiment was to demonstrate fascism.

Jones couldn't describe what the Nazi Germans did to the Jewish so decided to show them, he came up with a new movement call 'the third wave' and convinced his students that this was a movement to eliminate democracy. This was displayed through the movements motto,"Strength through discipline, strength through community, strength through action, strength through pride."

There is hardly any written evidence of the third wave, except for documents created a long time after the event at the school.

Books and TV series have been based on the experiment, and most recently a film, 2008, Die Welle.

In a piece of writing from Jones, many years later he describes that the class had to, (in 1967,) be from outside the class to sat in the class room, without making a sound, in 30 seconds. The classroom had strict rules, Jones was an over the top authoritative figure.

At the end of the lesson Jones gave the students some rules, that it was a one day experiment, students had to be sitting, ready for the lesson before second bell, had to stand up to ask or answer questions and had to do it in three words or less, and were required to start each remark with "Mr. Jones."

By the second day Jones had give the students a supreme sense of discipline and community. Jones named the movement "The Third Wave", after the common belief that the third in a series of ocean waves is last and largest. Jones made up a salute resembling the one of Nazi regime and ordered class members to salute each other even outside the class. They all complied with this command.

Students not in Jones history class, joined in the 30 students became 43, all students skills and motivation improved. Each student had a member card, and were given tasks, for example designing a Third Wave banner etc. Jones instructed students how to get new members and by the end of the day they had over 200 participants. Jones was surprised that some of the students started reporting to him when other members of the movement failed to abide by the rules.

On Thursday, the fourth day of the experiment, Jones decided to stop the movement because he was loosing control of it. The students became increasingly involved in the project and their discipline and loyalty to the project was astounding. He announced to the participants that this movement is only a part of a nationwide movement and that on the next day a presidential candidate of the movement would publicly announce existence of the movement. Jones ordered students to attend a noon rally on Friday to witness the announcement.

Instead of a televised address of their leader, the students were presented with an empty channel. After few minutes of waiting, Jones announced that they have been a part of an experiment in fascism and that they all willingly created a sense of superiority that German citizens had in the period of Nazi Germany. He then played them a film about Nazi regime. That was the end of the experiment.

So basically we as a class were given the same instruction, we did not follow all the rules, and questioned the idea.

For the last two lessons with Mr Smith we watched the film the wave, a German filmed based on the book The Wave which was inspired by the social experiment The Third Wave. The remake was successful in German cinemas. The film was directed by Dennis Gansel and starred Jürgen Vogel, Max Riemelt, Jennifer Ulrich, Jacob Matschenz and Frederick Lau.
The film is different to the book in the sense that the school in the book is in America, opposed to the film which is set in a German high school. The book is also set in 1969, when the real experiment took place rather than the film which is set in modern 2008. I feel this has been done so audiences can relate better to the modern language, the fashion and the politics of today.
The original names were changed in the film, so that they sound more German, but the characters remain the same as they were in the novel.

Two ending were created for the film, one; less dramatic, no shootings and the other were Tim takes the group well to far and shots another member then takes his own life. I feel that this, didn't spoil the film but made it seem less realistic because although shootings in school do acure they are not common and not something that the average student can relate to. But because of artistic licence they felt it would be a more dramatic ending and memberbel.