The Wave

The Wave is a 1981 movie based on the book The Wave, by Todd Strasser, which is based on a true story of a 1969 high school in Gordon High School. The story is about a social experiment in group dynamics that a teacher - Ben Ross – conducts on his classroom students that eventually spreads to the rest of the school because of a question one of his students asked: “How could the people of Germany stand by and let the Nazis do all of the horrible things they did during World War II?” Mr. Ross, of course, answers the students’ questions of Nazi Germany and explains the circumstances the country was in to the best of his abilities; however, he is unsatisfied with his ability to convey to them how it was really like.

Mr. Ross decides to conduct an experiment in order to show his students that which he was unable to explain about Nazi Germany. On the first day, he begins by having his history class sit up straight and obey his commands. Initially, this consisted of: standing at attention out of respect beside their desks and having to say "Mr. Ross..." before speaking. He decides to continue the next day by making a symbol, a salute, a motto he made up: "Strength through discipline, Strength through community, Strength through action." The movement/experiment is dubbed "The Wave". Being teenagers, most students are initially skeptical and reticent about participating in The Wave, but after seeing that all students are equal, and their obligations/responsibilities are streamlined, the class wholeheartedly adopts The Wave, and begins to recruit others for it. Robert Billings (in the movie), the class reject, changes the most due to The Wave (his physical appearance becomes neater and the students grow to accept him more), in addition to becoming more outgoing.

A few students aren’t so sure they like what The Wave is doing to people (Laurie, in the movie), as people are beginning to be singled out and hurt by Wave members for perceived dissent. Mr. Ross is pressured by many individuals (namely, the principal and his wife) to end the experiment, as it is getting out of hand. He recognizes this as well, but feels he must complete the lesson in order to fully teach the students what has happened. He calls an assembly for all Wave members in the gymnasium, during which they will be addressed by their true leader via television broadcast. When the televisions come on the students are watching a recording of one of Adolf Hitler’s speeches to Nazi Germany. It was only then that the students of Gordon High School realized how the people of Germany could either become absorbed in the Nazi doctrine or turn a blind eye toward it.

This movie fits perfectly into Chapter 18 of our textbook, which deals with social psychology. The students of Mr. Ross’s class experience fundamental attribution error when trying to comprehend how the people of Germany, during WWII, could go along with such a horrible administration. Mr. Ross gradually increases the gravity of the experiment by using the foot-in-the-door phenomenon. Once the experiment is in full swing, the students fall victim to conformity, normative social influence, informational social influence, deindividualization, group polarization, groupthink, and ingroup bias, just as many Germans probably did during WWII.