The Wave: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A feature film with the title The Wave, from the ABC Afterschool Special television series. It consists of a single reel of 16mm color polyester film with optical sound.

The film follows a high school class whose social studies teacher, Ben Ross (Bruce Davison), attempts to teach them a life lesson through a weeks-long experiment called The Wave. It begins with the class watching a film about the Nazis. At the end of the film, some of the students admit that they find the fact that the German citizens were unaware of the Nazi's crimes incredulous and they didn't understand why people followed Hitler. In response, Mr. Ross devises an experiment where he incrementally indoctrinates the students. Lauree (Lori Lethin), one of the students in Mr. Ross' class, informs her parents about how impressed she is with the impact the game is having on the rest of the students. However, later in the film her position changes and she gets into a physical altercation with David (John Putch), her boyfriend who is also a student in Mr. Ross’ class. At the end of the film, Mr. Ross chastises the students in the class for following him blindly, some of them begin weeping after his revelation.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1981
• Directed by: Alex Grasshoff, American, 1928 - 2008
• Subject of: Bruce Davidson, American, born 1946
• Subject of: Lori Lethin, American, born 1955
• Subject of: John Punch, American, born 1961
• Owned by: D.C. Public Library, American, founded 1896
• Type: sound films
• Type: color films (visual works)
• Type: 16mm (photographic film size)
• Medium: polyester film
• Dimensions: Duration: 42 Minutes
• Dimensions: Length (Film): 1500 Feet
• Place used: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
• Place filmed: United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Education
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Television
• Topic: World War II
• Topic: Youth
• Object number: 2017.55.96.1a
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Transferred from the DC Public Library
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.