At the time of writing this paper, a dark and dismal fog seems to swallow the entire world in the form of unchecked late-stage capitalism, growing fascism and other forms of authoritarianism, climate change, and the as-of-yet unknown aftereffects of the 2019 Coronavirus pandemic. In studying slightly fictionalized depictions of Europe between the World Wars, I can’t shake the feeling that we as people have been here before. The current real-world conflicts present in the United States align perfectly with fictionalized events from 1930s Germany like those depicted in the film Kuhle Wampe (dir. by Bertolt Brecht and Slatan Dudow), such as mass unemployment and rising suicide rates. However, this time with the sheer popularity of communism and similar branches of leftist thought among the rising generations, we may have a chance to revolutionize our society before it is too late.
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Works Cited
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Kuhle Wampe. Directed by Bertold Brecht and Slatan Dudow, Prometheus Film, 1932.
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