War Criminals
Is it the war that creates monsters or do monsters create the war?
The Captain in Pan's Labyrinth
The Captain in Pan’s Labyrinth also represents an invisible monster in a war setting.The character of the Captain displays the ruthless, immoral side of war. The Captain is willing to go as far as killing a young innocent girl, who is technically he stepdaughter, in order to protect his legacy and power. This desire to do whatever it takes to save himself and his war no matter the consequence and his brutal actions shows his monstrosity and lack of morality. The Captain is a murderous, immoral man, but this might not be readily seen by outsiders or even Carmen. But there is the possibility that Carmen and other people see his monstrosity but choose to ignore him and remain attached to him as a form of protection. For example, Carmen marries him and has his child, but while pregnant he takes care of her. She may just be a pawn in his game, but before her death she is at least taken care of and protected. There also is a scene where the ruthlessly Captain kills two villagers. The villagers were found with a fired gun, but they insisted that they were only hunting rabbits. The Captain shots both of them before looking in their bag and pulling out two rabbits. He turns to his officers and tells them to do a better job searching for evidence next time before bringing suspects in. This suggests that the Captain knew they were innocent, but chose to shoot them anyway to make a lesson out of them to his soldiers. This scene confirms his lack of morality and inner monstrosity.
The next two examples explore historical war criminals: Hitler and Stalin. These apparently normal men have caused some of the worst atrocities against humankind. William Shakespeare warned of the monstrosity of humanity saying that there are "good men who succumb to one character flaw and do monstrous things. These men are far more dangerous than those who are obviously evil, because the world often does not see the threat they pose until it is much too late" (Los Angeles Times 2004). Thus, the invisible human monsters pose the most threat to humanity.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was the Nazi leader that was the face of the Nazi Movement and was responsible for the Holocaust and the millions of deaths that ensued. Hitler a long with his Nazi followers performed these monstrous actions based on the reasoning that "Jewish people posed a deadly threat to all that was noble in humanity" (Smith 2011). With this dehumanized mindset, Hitler and the Nazis were able to perform monstrous actions and were responsible for millions of deaths without any glimpse of guilt. The more disturbing part of Hitler and the Nazis is that they were not "madmen or monsters. It's that they were ordinary human beings" (Smith 2011).Hitler was still a normal human being, one who had family and friends he loved and cared for, but he possessed an internal monstrosity. How is it possible the same man perpetuated such monstrous acts and destruction? His actions lie in the reasoning that the Jews were the "other" in his world that he must rid of. So how does one recognize who the real monster?
Joseph Stalin
Jospeh Stalin is a former Soviet leader who's two decades of reign encompassed death and terror. Although he tried to modernize the Soviet Union through industrialization and collectivization of agricultural land, his totalitarian government permitted ethnic cleansing, deportation, labor camps, executions, and famines. These evil, inhumane actions and lack of morality makes him a war criminal and a monster. His own daughter even described him as "a moral and spiritual monster" (Wills 2018). Yet, despite his monstrous behavior, he was still human. His "'charm and inhumanity' were not contradictory, but rather the source of his power" (Wills 2018). There were still small glimpse's of his humanity, such as his love for books and movies, that prevented him from being completely cast out as a monster at the time and enabled him to continue his monstrous reign.
Additional modern day leaders accused of war crimes can be found here.
Looking back in history and seeing the whole picture, the real monsters are obvious, but what about recognition of monstrosity in the moment? As discussed in the Los Angeles Times article, "as human beings on this planet, if we are not self-aware we can be capable of the worst atrocities against humanity without giving them a second thought while we bask in our safe, secure lives" (Los Angeles Times 2004). Hitler and Stalin are two of the many examples of monstrosity in war criminals and shows that not only does the monster destroy us, but it also survives throughout history.
