The Hitler Meme

On YouTube, we’re in a bunker, and the enemies are always, always closing in. The ceilings are low. The air is stifling. A disheveled leader is delusional.

This is the premise of more than 100 videos on the Web–the work of satirists who for years have been snatching video and audio from “Downfall,” the 2004 German movie of Hitler’s demise, and doctoring it to tell a range of stories about personal travails and world politics. By adding new English-language subtitles, they transform the movie’s climactic scene, in which Hitler (played by Bruno Ganz) rails against his enemies and reluctantly faces his defeat, into the generic story of a rabid blowhard brought low.

[YouTube is owned by Google (GOOG).]


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  • http://blog.macb.net Mac Beach

    Here is why the mainstream media continues to die (I was happy to see that WSJ was up a tik in recent numbers though).

    The above links to an interesting article (NYT), and in the article reference is made to several “Downfall” parodies spoofing well known people. Each is turned into a link by the New York Times, but instead of a link to the parodies we are treated to a link to other articles in the New York Times, no doubt by some automaton that scans every bleeding article for famous names. Even when they seem to be getting it, they just don’t get it!

    I’ve gone from simply not seeking NYT articles to now seeking to avoid them. Same is true of many of the old-guard outlets.

    Sad really. Are the people who run these things a thousand years old or something? Murdock needs to be sharing his Geritol or whatever his secret is.

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