We seem to be at war, in one form or another, since our inception. We war with other species, the elements, each other. In my opinion, we do not only survive but thrive, as well as suffer, during wartime. I say thrive because some of our greatest achievements were borne of war. Within our suffering we not only thrive in scientific and medical advancements but find a way to create synthesized happiness. It is also my belief that we are not “programmed” to live a life of complete contentment. My thought is voiced in the movie The Matrix, as the character Agent Smith, expresses my belief to Morpheus: Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from. Which is why the Matrix was redesigned to this: the peak of your civilization. (Weaving) We have the capacity to find small joys while battling our wars, and these small joys, if allowed to grow, can become happiness. An example of that human trait is Anne Franks’ ability to fall in love while in hiding during WWII. Many movies, books, documentaries, etc. have been created concerning WWII, telling of those who suffered. The Pianist, Empire of the Sun, Schindler’s List are among the better-known films. I would like to center in on, Life is Beautiful "La vita è bella."
There have been other wartime movies, and shows, with a comic element, such as MASH, Hogan’s Heros and F-Troop, but none have caused the outcry that Life is Beautiful has. The blurb that introduces the movie on the IMDb website is as follows, “A Jewish man has a wonderful romance with the help of his humour, but must use that same quality to protect his son in a Nazi death camp” (Benigni). The storyline is presented as: In 1930s Italy, a carefree Jewish book keeper named Guido starts a fairy tale life by courting and marrying a lovely woman from a nearby city. Guido and his wife have a son and live happily together until the occupation of Italy by German forces. In an attempt to hold his family together and help his son survive the horrors of a Jewish Concentration Camp, Guido imagines that the Holocaust is a game and that the grand prize for winning is a tank. (Benigni)
The movie is tragic in its subject matter, but there is the eternal spring of hope of happiness, even within the darkest days anyone could be made to endure. The father, Guido, is much like Chris Gardner, in Pursuit of Happyness, in that he does what he can to shield his son from the horror of life when life is not a friend to happiness. As an example, in the train station bathroom scene Chris creates a magic place for his son, Guido creates a game for his son when they arrive at the concentration camp and the instructions are barked out in German and Guido is supposed to translate the rules, but instead says the following: The game starts now. You have to score one thousand points. If you do that, you take home a tank with a big gun. Each day we will announce the scores from that loudspeaker. The one who has the fewest points will have to wear a sign that says "Jackass" on his back. There are three ways to lose points. One, turning into a big crybaby. Two, telling us you want to see your mommy. Three, saying you're hungry and want something to eat. (Benigni)
I believe the character Guido was well aware of the deadly situation he and his son were in. I also believe Guido possessed the ability to create what Dan Gilbert calls “synthesized happiness.” He says we humans have a “psychological immune system” which, “help them change their views of the world, so they can feel better about the worlds in which they find themselves” (Gilbert). Guido demonstrated this trait prior to the war breaking out. I also believe Guido had a high set point in what Romeo Vitelli writes about, “…happiness has a way of returning to what psychologists call a ‘set point’ or ‘baseline’ of happiness. Also known as the ‘hedonic treadmill,’ happiness seems to be as much about personality and genetic factors as it is about good things happening in your life” (Vitelli).
I would like to think Guido was one that possessed the long version of what Vitelli discusses when he shares data from De Neve’s study that was published in The Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology and Economics concerning the important role of serotonin and the discovery of the “happiness gene,” and the “depression gene” aka 5-HTTLPR, and the, “…strong correlation between ‘long’ and ‘short’ forms of the 5-HTTLPR gene and mood states such as optimism and depression” (Vitelli).
Another factor that seemed not to interfere with Guido’s ability to create the “game” for his son’s benefit was what in Csikszentmihalyi’s quote, “In fact, you can find that the lack of basic resources, material resources, contributes to unhappiness, but the increase in material resources does not increase happiness” (Csikszentmihalyi). His insights are, in part, derived from Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs,” a five-stage model that, according to McLeod, “can be divided into basic (or deficiency) needs (e.g. physiological, safety, love, and esteem) and growth needs (self-actualization)” (Csikszentmihalyi).
As for the criticism of the movie making light of the Holocaust, I would like to include a rebuttal to this argument by exploring, Is Life Beautiful? Can the Shoah Be Funny? Some Thoughts on Recent and Older Films by Sander L. Gilman. Gilman asks, “Can horror be understood through laughter?” (Csikszentmihalyi) This question asks much of us. It asks those who have not suffered a particular form of horror to put oneself in the position of those who have, and understand the forms found, sometimes unnatural, to survive. I give the following examples. I knew my son wanted to be cremated, as he and I had discussed such topics. I had his wooden urn in my bedroom. We were moving and my husband and his mom were standing there. When I lifted the heavy box I said, “We should have put a handle on this.” My husband understood the twisted humor, but my mother-in-law looked at me in horror. Another incident was when I was packing up Michael’s room and my sister was there to comfort me through it. The task was beyond difficult. Michael had asked for either a stereo system or a car for his sixteenth birthday. As I was wrapping up the speakers of the stereo I said, “If I had known, I would have gotten him the car he wanted, that I could have used!” Her jaw dropped. I think we use laughter as an attempt to comprehend the incomprehensible.
Gilman explores Thomas Hobbes’s “notion that humor is in complex ways wedded to notions of power or the illusion of power, then humor is a weapon aimed at those perceived as weaker or stronger than oneself” (Gilman 281). Gilman asks, “Is there an earned laughter that teaches and a false laughter that obfuscates?” (282) I think if anyone but me made those comments about Michael’s urn or stereo it would not have been “earned.” Gilman quotes Des Pres, “In the realm of art a comic response is more resilient, more effectively in revolt against terror and the sources of terror than a response that is solemn or tragic…” (282). Gilman also quotes Des Pres’ saying that “Holocaust laughter is life-reclaiming” (282). Gilman explains that “What is striking is that even when ‘humorous’ modes of expression are used in representing the Shoah, laughter is rarely the desired reaction” (282). Gilman understands that under the comic overtones there are horrific undertones. No amount of laughter can dissolve the tragedy experienced. And as if to drive the point home Gilman includes the actress, Deb Filler, father’s story of his first night in the barracks in Auschwitz, “He and his fellow inmates were crammed so tightly into a bed that they could turn over only together and on command. ‘We laughed; we had to, what else could you do? We laughed the whole first night in Auschwitz’” (289).
Maybe we have it all wrong. Maybe we are not meant to be happy, but only possess the ability to pursue happiness, and when that pursuit is obstructed by other individuals, nations, or elements we conduct a war of wills. As Chris Gardner says at the conclusion of Pursuit of Happyness: It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that? (Smith) It is hope that keeps us putting one foot in front of the other, even in complete darkness. I quote the character, The Architect, in The Matrix Reloaded, “Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness” (Bakaitis).
It may be just that, the quintessential human delusion, but as in another movie, The Shawshank Redemption, the main character Andy, in a note, reminds his friend Red, “Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies” (Robbins).
Works Cited
Flow, the secret to happiness. By Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Perf. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Ted Talks. 2008.
Gilman, Sander L. "Is Life Beautiful? Can the Shoah Be Funny? Some Thoughts on Recent and Older Films."
Critical Inquiry (2000): 279-308.
Life is Beautiful. Dir. Roberto Benigni. Perf. Roberto Benigni. 1997. McLeod, Saul. Simply Psychology. 2014. 2014 <http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html>.
Pursuit of Happyness. Dir. Gabriele Muccino. Perf. Will Smith. 2006.
The Matrix Reloaded. Dir. The Wachowski Brothers. Perf. Helmut Bakaitis. 2003.
The Matrix. Dir. The Wachowski Brothers. Perf. Hugo Weaving. 1999. The Shawshank Redemption. Dir. Frank Darabont. Perf. Tim Robbins. 1994. The surprising science of happiness. By Dan Gilbert. Perf. Dan Gilbert. Ted Talks. 2006. Vitelli, Romeo.
"Can Happiness be Genetic?" Media Spotlight (2013): 1-2.