Die Welle & Fascism

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Die Welle: The Mass Psychology of Fascism There is an important and debatable question: Is it still possible to experience fascism in today’s world? The movie Die Welle is revolving about this question. It begins with an autocracy class in high school in Germany. Mr. Wenger, the teacher, uses a different method to show his students what autocracy and fascism really means and how we can find their elements in our daily life. His teaching method is highly action-oriented, just as fascism. Apart from introduction and conclusion parts, my paper forms in two parts. In the first part, I will try to explain the establishment of Die Welle and in the second part, there will be the outcomes and actions of Die Welle as a highly organized movement along with fascist elements. Establishment of Die Welle begins with electing a leader which is a fundamental element of fascism. Existence of a powerful leader is really important in fascism mainly because of its understanding of human reason. According to fascist ideology, truth cannot be known by unreliable human reason; we can only reach the truth through intuition and only special people, who are leaders, have intuition. Leaders know the best for the ordinary people by the help of his intuition. People believe that when they follow their leader without any hesitation, they will become powerful. Therefore, Mr. Wenger is elected as a leader since students believe his intuition, power and authority. Then, particular unifying elements and actions are invented. Initially, they decide to wear only white shirts. In order to become a member no matter who you are you have to wear white shirts. Then they elect a name for their group: Die Welle. Another step is establishing a symbol for Die Welle. Making a website comes later, one of the students made a special website for Die Welle. As a last step, they chose a specific greeting
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