Hitler is still angry whilst revolutionizing smart casual clothing

April 13, 2010 4:07 PM

The Hitler Downfall Parody Thing has, of course, been done on Metafilter, and done, and done. But it's still happening (with interesting permutations), and it's still funny. So much so that the BBC's Finlo Rohrer has been compelled to investigate.

The parodies have caused some issues. "We as a corporation have a bit of an ambivalent view of it. On the one hand we are proud the picture has such a huge fanbase and that people are using it for parody. On the other hand we are trying to protect the artists." As such Constantin Film has caused many of the parodies to be removed from YouTube and elsewhere. "It is a task that can never be completed. They are popping up whenever we are taking one down," Mr Moszkowicz admits.

posted by philip-random (67 comments total)

On the other hand we are trying to protect the artists." As such Constantin Film has caused many of the parodies to be removed from YouTube and elsewhere.

"The artists"? Like, you mean, the director? Yeah, he really sounds like he wants to be "protected."
posted by Nothing... and like it at 4:15 PM on April 13, 2010 [11 favorites]

From the comments:

Well that's finally killed off this meme for good. The only thing that can kill a well established meme is mainstream publicity.
posted by WalterMitty at 4:17 PM on April 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

and it's still funny

Can someone get the mods to correct this?
posted by Mike Mongo at 4:17 PM on April 13, 2010 [6 favorites]

Nothing... and like it: "Like, you mean, the director?"

"I think it's only fair if now it's taken as part of our history, and used for whatever purposes people like." He adds, "If only I got royalties for it, then I'd be even happier."
posted by idiopath at 4:22 PM on April 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

I thought the back to the future one was hilarious.
posted by delmoi at 4:22 PM on April 13, 2010 [3 favorites]

I used to wonder when Hitler, the monster whose crimes were said to overwhelm narrative and symbolisation, would become a symbol of a common human character flaw, like Macbeth and Napoleon for ambition, Mark Anthony for susceptibility to temptation, Neville Chamberlain for cowardice, Benedict Arnold for treachery, etc. I wonder no longer! All it took was one decent movie about him and Hitler was instantly a satirical shorthand.

I reckon that in 200 years, when the Holocaust is as hazy a memory as Napoleon's conquest of Europe, "Hitler" will refer to unrealistic blame-shifters who can't take understand or take responsibility for failure.
posted by stammer at 4:23 PM on April 13, 2010 [14 favorites]

OK, I can't stop myself: Der Fuhrer und Das Boss
posted by FelliniBlank at 4:24 PM on April 13, 2010

This is the comedic equivalent of a child's coffin.
posted by basicchannel at 4:24 PM on April 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

Is this where we post ridiculous youtubes?

WoW developers discuss PVP balance.
posted by mek at 4:29 PM on April 13, 2010

&
posted by edgeways at 4:29 PM on April 13, 2010

This is the comedic equivalent of a child's coffin.

A child's coffin with a crank on the outside and when you turn the crank it plays pop goes the weasel and the second or third time it's going 'round the mulberry bush you start to slow down because you just know the child's moldering corpse is about to pop out of the coffin but you keep turning the crank, only slower and slower and kinda turning away in a pre-emptive flinch but nothing happens and then you sort of lean in to see if it's busted and WHAMMO the lid springs open and you've got moldering child-corpse bits all over your shirt?

You're right-- it's exactly like that. Totally predictable, done a thousand times before, and kind of icky as a concept, but still makes me chuckle a little every time, at least when it's well done.
posted by Nothing... and like it at 4:30 PM on April 13, 2010 [38 favorites]

This is the comedic equivalent of a child's coffin.

No, it's not nearly that funny.
posted by synaesthetichaze at 4:30 PM on April 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

There needs to be a term, like "jump the shark," for the moment when a tired meme bubbles over into the mainstream, like when Rick Astley was on that Macy's Thanksgiving float.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:32 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

like when Rick Astley was on that Macy's Thanksgiving float.

Personally, I love the notion of Hitler ranting on a Macy's Thanksgiving float.
posted by philip-random at 4:38 PM on April 13, 2010 [22 favorites]

I've never enjoyed the Downfall thing. I was fluent in German (I sort of still am, but not really), and the cognitive dissonance between what noises Hitler is making with his mouth and the subtitles has proven to be too much for my brain to handle.
posted by hippybear at 4:40 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

What was that about lobster soup in the Back To The Future one?
posted by I_pity_the_fool at 4:44 PM on April 13, 2010

the cognitive dissonance between what noises Hitler is making with his mouth and the subtitles has proven to be too much for my brain to handle.

Turn the volume down.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:46 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

As such Constantin Film has caused many of the parodies to be removed from YouTube and elsewhere.

You know who else removed things from places?
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:47 PM on April 13, 2010 [5 favorites]

You know who else removed things from places?

The moderators?
posted by Nothing... and like it at 4:49 PM on April 13, 2010 [7 favorites]

The Downfall/Tiger Woods commercial mashup was hilarious in a strange way.

Just Tiger Woods getting yelled at by Hitler, and he's got this sad look on his face.
posted by Askiba at 4:49 PM on April 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

posted by Sys Rq There needs to be a term, like "jump the shark," for the moment when a tired meme bubbles over into the mainstream

Memerrhea

"Half of YouTube is bad Downfall parodies and they all stink--the joke is now just memerrhea"
posted by mattdidthat at 4:49 PM on April 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

So wait, does that mean this thread got Godwinned in the FPP itself?
*head asplodes*
posted by sexyrobot at 4:49 PM on April 13, 2010

Scientific peer review, ca. 1945.
posted by tickingclock at 4:56 PM on April 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

Memerrhea

Memerrhea?
posted by Sys Rq at 4:57 PM on April 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

This is the comedic equivalent of a child's coffin.

No, it's not nearly that funny.

I just checked out a few of the Youtube links off that brief interview with Downfall's director Oliver Hirschbiegel that Nothing ... and like it linked to above. And I'm sorry but Hitler Can't Get a Billy Elliot tickets is funny. It just is. Even Albert Speer would agree.
posted by philip-random at 4:57 PM on April 13, 2010

There needs to be a term, like "jump the shark," for the moment when a tired meme bubbles over into the mainstream, like when Rick Astley was on that Macy's Thanksgiving float.

I was thinking RickRot, but following the child's coffin comments, it sounds darker than it should. Other options: "sold out" (not creative, but easy to understand), and "rode the float" (in reference to Rick Astley on the float).
posted by filthy light thief at 5:11 PM on April 13, 2010

ride the float it is.

"The Downfall thing has so totally ridden the float, man."
posted by mwhybark at 5:25 PM on April 13, 2010

I thought it had ridden the float too but the Back to the Future one is amazing. I wonder if this trend will continue and we'll get full length films strung together from Bruno Ganz scenes.

Also that Tiger Woods thing is inspired.
posted by Kattullus at 5:27 PM on April 13, 2010

Hitler Reacts to Wolfenstein 3D
posted by NickO at 5:40 PM on April 13, 2010 [6 favorites]

Sigh, I'm almost ashamed that I like some of these that I've seen. This one about Sandra Bullock's recent troubles with her husband is my current favorite. There's a line in there about Stalin that is just perfect.
posted by fuse theorem at 5:50 PM on April 13, 2010 [4 favorites]

I'm cool with this FPP so long as all examples of this thing go in here and are never brought up again, on pain of death.
posted by chaff at 5:51 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Hitler seems to agree that they're about as funny as a child's coffin.
posted by philip-random at 5:52 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

My favorite one remains the Kanye West/Taylor Swift, though it's tough to beat a homosexual blood elf...
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:07 PM on April 13, 2010

I loved that Wolfenstein one.
posted by nooneyouknow at 6:25 PM on April 13, 2010

This is the comedic equivalent of a child's coffin.

For sale: thousand-year reich, never used.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:02 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

I thought the back to the future one was hilarious.

88 miles an hour: coincidence...or conspiracy?
posted by kirkaracha at 7:07 PM on April 13, 2010

Liked the parodies so much I rented the movie. It's a really damn good movie - what you'd expect from the great acting and editing in that scene.
posted by mediareport at 8:08 PM on April 13, 2010

This is the comedic equivalent of a child's coffin.

For whatever reason, it didn't occur to me that this is likely a comment along the lines of Hitler-Just-Isn't-Funny-Ever-Forever, as opposed to someone just not "getting" the humor inherent in the best of the Downfall parody clips (some of them are pretty lame). I guess my response is, I see your point ... but.

[it's always bullshit before "but"]

The problem is, Hitler's going to be with us forever whether we like it or not. Many a saintly person will be forgotten but this pig-f***er's ongoing infamy will be the closest thing to immortality that human history offers us. In time (we're almost there already), everybody that was ever directly affected by his evil will have died, which is always a weird historical point. This is where history ceases to be a "real" thing and suddenly becomes more of an ongoing argument (my research + evidence versus your research + evidence). It's the kind of thing that gets Napoleon (gone for less than two hundred years) remembered as more of a hero (or certainly a fascinating figure) than the bloodthirsty thug that he was. Likewise Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Henry V, Richard the Lionhearted (and so on, and on and on and on).

At least the Downfall parodies are painting Hitler as a clown, and rather indelibly at that.
posted by philip-random at 8:49 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yeah that wasn't my intention at all. It's just dumb and not. The first time? Sure. The fourth time? Eh, people seem to enjoy it. The zillionth time AND they always seem to get posted to the front page? C'mon!
posted by basicchannel at 9:09 PM on April 13, 2010

Also, yeah... we need to get the message out about this Hitler guy before it's too late!
posted by basicchannel at 9:11 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

(not FUNNY, that is.)

(last one I swear.)
posted by basicchannel at 9:18 PM on April 13, 2010

@philip-random: It's sorta like making noise to drown out Haman's name at Purim. Sorta.
posted by rouftop at 9:25 PM on April 13, 2010

"You know, with Hitler, the more I learn about that guy, the more I don't care for him."
posted by malthas at 10:02 PM on April 13, 2010 [3 favorites]

Also that Tiger Woods thing is inspired.

That made me happy.
posted by homunculus at 10:34 PM on April 13, 2010

repetition is funny. one word: spam

the tiger thing is crazy genius
posted by victors at 10:47 PM on April 13, 2010

Hitler knows what Nanothermite in the dust means

posted by jkeogh at 11:35 PM on April 13, 2010

Hitler's iPhone app is rejected by Apple.
posted by tomcooke at 12:03 AM on April 14, 2010 [2 favorites]

Time to do what I do best: bitch and moan about how other people go about their business in threads. Well, I'm not here to make friends.

Threads with this type of fully subjective "it's funny"-"it's not funny" back-and-forth are really tiresome. Who really cares if you think it's (not) funny? It's purely a matter of personal taste, so what relevant information are you contributing to the discussion? Nothing, just fodder for other people whose taste is the opposite of yours and who, like you, are eager to drop their similar two cents into the thread. And the cycle continues. The same thing happens in just about all music-, movie- and book-related threads as well. It's annoying.

Of course, in this case the post itself contained a value judgment about the funniness of the meme, but I suppose the discussion would have been much of the same even without it. (This later comment by the poster, however, is a good example of the type of interesting comment that has depth beyond simple "me like" or "me not like" or "you suck for you like" filler; more of those, please.)

This meme itself, like most other "insert content into a pre-defined mold" memes (e.g. yo dawg, lolcats), is inherently neither funny nor unfunny; it's just a formula. As long as the basic formula is conducive to cleverness or other humoristic traits (and the Hitler meme is; the scene is fertile ground for contrast-based humor), some of the content-inserting implementations of this formula will inevitably be considered funny by a lot of people. Many will not.

You can certainly grow tired of the formula, and endless FPPs for implementations of that formula will eventually rub people the wrong way, but theoretically it's possible for the implementations to be funny for an indefinite time into the future, as long as clever people keep on doing clever things with the formula.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll see about creating that "Hitler reads a MetaFilter thread concerning feminism" video.
posted by lifeless at 12:57 AM on April 14, 2010 [4 favorites]

Fuse theorem, my god, that was the best I've seen yet. I haven't seen a lot, but that was easily the best matching of the physical acting and the subtitles.
posted by Ghidorah at 2:01 AM on April 14, 2010

subjective "it's funny"-"it's not funny" back-and-forth are really tiresome

Hmmm...
I guess there needs to be a "Hitler (as lifeless) goes on a rant." SLYT
posted by Drasher at 5:44 AM on April 14, 2010

This is the comedic equivalent of a child's coffin.

Not even that is beyond the reaches of humour. See this sketch, from Chris Morris' Jam.

WARNING - The subject is clear from the context. Not for the sensitive or easily offended.
posted by Jakey at 6:38 AM on April 14, 2010 [3 favorites]

Not even that is beyond the reaches of humour. See this sketch, from Chris Morris' Jam.

I saw the humor. I recognized that it was there, and well crafted. I watched it come and go, and could not laugh. It felt mildly... dissociative.
posted by Bobicus at 7:21 AM on April 14, 2010

>Time to do what I do best: bitch and moan about how other people go about their business in threads.

Wow, I have to say: you're right. You do seem to bitch and moan best of all.

>Well, I'm not here to make friends.

no, because alienating others is the proper way to contribute to a discussion lol

christ, etc.
posted by victors at 9:38 AM on April 14, 2010

Shawshank Tiger
posted by IanMorr at 9:55 AM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

This meme itself, like most other "insert content into a pre-defined mold" memes (e.g. yo dawg, lolcats), is inherently neither funny nor unfunny; it's just a formula.
posted by lifeless at 12:57 AM on April 14

Formulas aren't funny, dummy.
posted by basicchannel at 11:00 AM on April 14, 2010

basicchannel: Formulas aren't funny, dummy.

That's not what yo mama said last night!
posted by Kattullus at 11:16 AM on April 14, 2010

BOOM!
posted by basicchannel at 11:25 AM on April 14, 2010

basicchannel: "Formulas aren't funny"

A priest, a rabbi, and a horse walk into a bar
The rabbi says: "Knock Knock"
The bartender says "I'll show you Knock Knock, bend over"
posted by idiopath at 11:28 AM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

strangely, i saw this somewhere recently. interesting painting material and subject

Shitler
posted by marienbad at 11:44 AM on April 14, 2010

very pleasing to read the director take it all in the spirit it was meant. One assumes there has been one where Hitler finds out his Hitler parody has been taken off youTube?
posted by chrisError at 12:05 PM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

Shitler

Hang it next to your Piss Christ.

Both rather nice to look at, I must say, though I wouldn't want to smell them.
posted by philip-random at 1:44 PM on April 14, 2010

Homer Simpson Scolds Tiger
posted by homunculus at 8:31 AM on April 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

I feel something growing.
posted by philip-random at 9:30 AM on April 15, 2010

Hitler Is Very Upset That Constantin Film Is Taking Down Hitler Parodies
posted by homunculus at 2:08 PM on April 20, 2010

Hitler reacts to the Hitler parodies being removed from YouTube
posted by finite at 3:09 PM on April 21, 2010 [2 favorites]

finite: "Hitler reacts to the Hitler parodies being removed from YouTube "

"Google is basically doing the same thing the British did in 1937: they're doing nothing while these Nazis start destroying the world"
"don't worry, he'll realize the irony soon"
posted by idiopath at 3:30 PM on April 21, 2010

Hitler, as "Downfall producer" orders a DMCA takedown
posted by finite at 3:38 PM on April 21, 2010 [1 favorite]