‘Ich Bin Ein Elefant, Madame’, or ‘I Am An Elephant, Madame’ is the tale of a class of German high schoolers in their final year who are resisting their authoritarian school leaders attempts at indoctrination. The resistance is spearheaded by Rull, an outspoken outcast who protests the conformity of an authoritarian regime through his oddities. The shows the fight between the older generation seeking to keep an authoritarian rule promoting order and the younger generation advocating for a democratic lifestyle through their chaos.

This scene serves as a reminder of what it is that the older generation is seeking to accomplish. The medium shot depicts what one can presume is a husband and wife sitting at a table holding a model house. A song advertising buying a home plays, telling the potential buyers they can “live in this modern luxury without no any worries”. The song and promotion of home ownership are reminiscent of the idea of the nuclear family, a concept created after World War 2 in America prescribing a union of a man and woman with two kids in a three-bedroom house with a white picket fence to create the perfect family. The lyrics of the songs advertisement buys into this idea, telling the public that buying this house will solve all of their problems. The woman in this shot holds the model house, spinning it around, as if she is plotting creating her authoritarian dream life and has the world in her hand. This simple shot and song highlights what it is that the teens are resisting- conformity under an authoritarian life.

via GIPHY