The Irony of Perfection
After watching this movie, a certain theme was produced. The theme is that of perfection and childhood woes. After examining the childhood of both Wilhelm and Adolf Hitler, I found several similarities. These similarities could be underlying contributers to the actions of these men when in official positions. Some events that were not so positive in their childhood may have caused psychological issues.
The movie explained that because of birthing difficulties, Wilhelm the II ended up with a weak and withered left arm. This caused him much despair during his childhood. In a similar way, after looking further into the background of Adolf Hitler, he too had a distressed childhood. In chapter twenty-six of the textbook, it explains Adolf's brutal actions toward the Jews that were not admirable. Wilhelm's influence of the war was not considered admirable either.
In Adolf's youth, he was much more attached to his mother, and, after her death from cancer in 1908, he was lost. His father was strict and extremely authoritarian. Adolf also had dreams of becoming a painter until he was rejected from the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts. Likewise, as a child, Wilhelm was tortured with ways to try and fix his arm, and was cursed with having to try and hide it all his life.
I wonder if it is possible that Hitler's authoritarian father expected perfection of him, and when it was not reached, simply because it is impossible, if Hitler's father rejected him, causing a strained relationship. Hitler's later authoritarian role could have been generated from that. Because not being accepted into the art academy was out of Hitler's control, I wonder if he had a psychological problem of trying to control people and create perfection among them.
similarly, Wilhelm's action of wanting to improve his empire and increase it could have been a response from his childhood. Having multiple failed treatments for is arm, having to try ways to hide it, and fear of being unacceptable because of the fact, may have been contributers to Wilhelm's actions leading to the war. Psychologically speaking, Wilhelm probably tried anything to get his arm to be normal. His parents probably took extreme measures to fix his arm. I think that Wilhelm was willing to take extreme measures, even if it meant war, to make his empire better.