I think Jeremy provided the best defense for this possible. The self-parodying Hitler video was new to me, thanks for including that one. Not to toot my own horn, but my knowledge of German is quite good. Although sometimes I do turn down the volume on these videos while watching, because of a sinking feeling I get caused by the juxtaposition of the profound emotion of the film's performance and, say, a Superbowl reference, all in all I find the videos amusing. Ever see that Charlie Chaplin Hitler video meme? From, oh, around 1940? From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Dictator#Cast_and_analysis ): "The film contains several of Chaplin's most famous sequences. The rally speech by Hynkel, delivered in German-sounding gibberish, is a caricature of Hitler's oratory style, which Chaplin studied carefully in newsreels." I'm surprised no one (other than Charles, perhaps, who at best hit it only obliquely) has mentioned the political and sociological importance of American English speakers mocking German phonetics without understanding the language. Cold War anti-Soviet mentality is passe, but it's "cool" to mock the Germans again. On Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 1:26 PM, Richard Forno <rforno@infowarrior.org>wrote:
Speaking of the viral nature of the Hitler meme (some of which I find amusing, like the one JH posted this morning) I received THREE of them this week: on Tuesday, one was done about the election in Massachusetts. Then the Creative Commons one hit my inbox today. And now this one parodying itself. 'tis all in good fun, IMHO -- and some of them are rather well-written.
My German is rusty (er, "ganz rustiche") as the next person's (Charles aside!) but from a pure production perspective let's remember these videos all follow the same broad construct: There's a controversial item for discussion and the central character in the video gets furious and takes it out on his underlings, with wonderful raw emotion and facial expressions shown by all involved. Lather, rinse, repeat. Godwin's law aside, IMHO it's perfect fodder for satire and parody.
Some are better than others, to be sure. FWIW saying, my first "Downfall meme" was during the 2008 financial crisis when Hitler realized all his money was invested in Countrywide and other subprime can't-lose mortgage deals. ;)
My 2 cents this Friday...
-rick
On Jan 22, 2010, at 12:56 , live wrote:
Ditto on what others said about the meme.
And given what you feel about them, I think of all of the Hitler meme vids created, this is the one for you Charles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqqxRPZdfvs Hitler rants about the Hitler Parodies
Cheers, -Sharon Greenfield
On Jan 22, 2010, at 8:31 AM, Charles Ess wrote:
Very sorry to have to say this ...
How profoundly disappointing, if not on the edge of insulting. If (a) you know German reasonably well, and especially if (b) you've seen the terrific film, Der Untergang, that is ripped off here - it doesn't strike me as funny at all. The kindest thing that I can say about it from my standpoint is that it is a weak attempt at humor that depends first of all upon complete ignorance of German, and secondly a strikingly uncritical willingness to accept the now very tired trope of Hitler as the archetype of reactionary evil. (Part of the irony here: I don't think he was all that reactionary, especially with regard to new technologies.) As sympathetic as I am to the argument attempted to be made here - this seems to me to thereby works directly contrary to its intentions.
Sorry - no one bats a thousand, not even the redoubtable Jeremy!
- charles ess Institut for Informations- og Medievidenskab Helsingforsgade 14 8200 Århus N. Denmark mail: <imvce@hum.au.dk> tel: (+45) 8942 9250
Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies Drury University, Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA
Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23
in case you've not seen this
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