The child in crisis: The ramifications of the adolescent voice in three war narratives (Volker Schlondorff, Agnieszka Holland, John Boorman, Poland, Germany, Ireland)

The thesis explores the function of the child protagonist in three diverse films set during the Second World War, examining each hero's mitigation of reality through the adults around him. The investigation follows a two step process, the first being the identification of the child's relationship with the adults, and the second the interpretation of that relationship in context to the implied sociopolitical commentary of the director. The three films under investigation are Volker Schlondorff's The Tin Drum , Agnieszka Holland's Europa Europa, and John Boorman's Hope and Glory, each representing a unique vantage point upon the war and the adult world. With the war putting sociopolitical, economic and interpersonal relations into flux, the adult world represents a referent to the status quo in comparison to the child's perspective, which articulates relative social extremes. Yet the status quo rarely represents an ideal to aspire to, especially in wartime.