The Wave - Blog #3

Today in class, we watched clips from the German film The Wave, which is based on a classroom experiment where a teacher creates a social movement to show his students how easily people can be influenced by group dynamics. Before watching, I already understood that groups of people can be manipulated, especially when they are given a strong sense of belonging or a common goal. What I did not fully think about was how quickly something like that can happen without people necessarily realizing it. I think we like to assume, for our own comfort, or when we think about history, that movements like that take years to develop and grow, but it can be quite the opposite. They can happen with such speed that you do not have time to stop and think, “Something’s up.” The more we watched, the more uncomfortable it became because the people involved did not just suddenly become completely different people. They slowly became more invested in the group until it started influencing the way they acted and thought.

I think most of us like to believe that we would be the person who noticed what was happening and refused to participate. It is easy to watch something like The Wave and think, “I would never let myself get that far.” I also think there is a difference between knowing that people can be manipulated and believing that you personally could be manipulated. I can understand how it happens in society and recognize the warning signs from the outside, but there is still something uncomfortable about imagining that I could be part of a group like that and not realize how far I had gotten until it was too late.

What stood out to me the most is that manipulation does not always look like manipulation when you are experiencing it. It can start with something that seems harmless, like wanting to belong, agreeing with the people around you, or feeling like you are part of something bigger than yourself. Once everyone around you starts thinking and acting the same way, it probably becomes much harder to stop and question it. I think the biggest thing I learned from The Wave is that it is easy to assume we would recognize manipulation immediately, but that confidence might actually be part of what makes it so effective. I still want to believe I would be the person who noticed what was happening, but I'm a little less confident about saying that after watching this.