So, one of the most evil people in recorded history is now an Internet phenom. The trend, as the Wired story explains, sees people take a scene from a 2004 movie about Hitler where the Fuhrer screams a lot and put funny subtitles unrelated to World War II underneath it (the story incorrectly says “jokers are dubbing humorous dialogue” into the scene, but the audio is the same from the film). Here is an example, using this year’s Super Bowl as the subject:
The various videos cover all sorts of topics, from more sports, DVDs to video games. The Hitler joke videos have apparently been around for awhile, but like a true Internet sensation, are just now getting more widespread attention. Part of the reason they haven’t stopped yet is how easy they are to make and, more importantly, how they can be constantly updated with new jokes. Take this one about Hillary Clinton:
It illustrates all the reasons Hitler videos of this nature are still going. These videos are simple to make – one doesn’t have to edit the video or the audio, they simply just need to add funny text to it. The written words don’t even have to come close to matching the dialogue (as most of these videos showcase), as German was long ago determined to be the funniest sounding language and nobody will pay attention to the actual vocalized words. Hitler remix videos aren’t hard to make, but offer a great outlet to get a lot of hits and laughs.
And, like any great Internet trend hoping to last a few years, the joke has to be malleable. That is to say, new situations can be adapted to the joke. The Hitler parodies touch on everything from the Super Bowl to the primaries. Like a great YTMND trend, these videos offer a funny, easy way to comment on something current. This is the same reason LOLcats continue to be big – they allow for a wide range of topics to be made fun of. Just replace cute kittens with an evil head of state.
Expecting something complicated? About why these are popular? About why Hitler is now funny? About…anything? Well, stop expecting. These Hitler remixes are a simple reminder of popular Internet content. They are easy to make, they are ironic, they are topical and, most importantly, they are funny. Some trends aren’t so difficult to pin down.