Mcgowan Good

I'd like to start this blog by saying that the movie Good really impressed me in so many ways. I honestly cannot think of one GOOD reason why it wouldn't be distributed in the United States, besides the possibility of the title in relation to Nazi Germany. In my eyes, it is hard for some Americans today to distinguish between what is good and what is bad. Maybe it was ultimately decided that this film is too much for our country as a whole. I think that is a sad notion. I figured out why it was titled "Good" after watching a couple of scenes. It is clear that John Halder is the image of what most societies would consider a good person, inside and out. He is putting up with a lot of things that he should not have to deal with when the movie opens. For example, he is dealing with his terminally ill mother. I happen to know from my mother's personal experience with my grandparents that it is not easy to take care of someone like that. Therefore, it is extremely honorable of him to take care of her. On top of that, he is taking care of his three children and a lazy wife who he is clearly no longer in love with. He also stays true to his beliefs (for a while, at least) by keeping contact with his jewish friend, Maurice and resisting his father in laws pressure to join the Nazi party.

I believe the image we were asked to discuss relates to the title in a completely different way. This is an image of John and his new love, Anne, at a party after he has become a Nazi. This image shows a different side of John. This image is what people in Germany in this time period thought was "good". Anne is even described in this scene as a "perfect arian". I think that John's fall for Anne had everything to do with his fall into the Nazi party. I also feel like it was his fall into what he thought was happiness. I can see why his new lifestyle appealed to him so much, because his old one seemed so miserable. I have sympathy for John in the end of this movie because he did not realize that his happiness was fickle until it was too late. By the time he differentiated between what was good and bad, his best friend was already lost in a concentration camp. It only goes to show that some people do not realize that they are in the wrong until its too late.