Chariots of Fire_Run For A Purpose

Chariots of Fire is a fascinating film that describes the motivations of runners. Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams are two main characters in this film. Sometimes they’re driven by different motivations.

             
Eric Liddell ran because of approach causes. He stated that he could feel God’s pleasure when he ran. He said that “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.” This is the way he worshiped God.

                          
 Liddell also faced an approach-approach conflict. Liddell loved running because of his faith. He kept the promise that he would not run on the Sabbath as well because that’s the way he showed his faith to God. In the Olympics Games, Liddell faced the dilemma. He would like to keep his principle and he would like to run as well. However, he made his decision that he would not run on the Sabbath day.

                          
Harold Abrahams actually ran due to avoident causes. He was facing prejudice because he was a Jewish. Normally some people would use negative attitudes towards him. He would like to use running to kick them off.

                           
The dilemma he faced was an approach-avoidance conflict because the results of the run vitally impact him. Victory could help him to prove himself, but lose could undermine his self-esteem. It was hard for him to find the balance between these two consequences.

                           
Liddell was also a great example that how he was driven by the intrinsic motivation. When he talked to the leader of Britain athletes’ team, he said that he loved running and even willing to endure suffers and challenges from relationship and works.

                           
Equity theory was able to explain Abrahams running behaviour as well. As a Jewish, he was willing to run because it gave him back the prestige and respects from others. Especially he was admired by his Sybil and his girlfriend’s brother.

Schindler's List_The List of Mercy

Obviously, there were a lot of prejudice in this movie. There were institutionalized discrimination and envious discrimination. A lot of interactions between German and Jewish were performed in this movie. Most of the interaction was between soldiers (except for Schindler) and Jewishs.

The soldier showed German's typical negative emotions which were created and triggered by Hilter. These emotions include envy, resentment hostility and fear. Hitler chose Jewish to be their German's enemy in order to unite the German and hold the power. There were some behaviors would be shown from those individuals with envious prejudice.

Individuals with envious prejudice would avoid, exclude, segregate and exterminate the people they have a prejudice with. For examples, Nazy extensively segregate Jewish from German's community. In this film, the governors repeatedly labeled all the Jewish and Poles. They treated them as some flesh that could provide labor. They created an atmosphere that they pretended them as non-human. For example, a soldier told a girl he liked that he thought the girl was seducing him. He would not develop a romantic relationship with her because the whole German society should treat Jewish as rat or other species but not human.

The Jewishs were controlled by the feelings of fear. They were not able to fight back, but some of them were still trying. Schindler could eliminate his prejudice towards the Jewish because he truly understands the situation. He was in a situation that he knew he could do something for his own good at first. However, gradually he started to sacrifice and put more efforts for his Jewish workers after having  a clear understanding the whole situation and realized that he could do something. The  situation he was in actually was a two-side situation. He had to choose which side he stands for. However, Jewish's side was more able to fulfill his demands based on social identity theory.