Academic

YouTube Pulls Hitler Parodies, Sort Of

By Dan Filler

In 2004, a film named Downfall was released.  I don't know what was in the whole movie, but it featured a scene designed to be a realistic account of Hitler confronting his likely fall.  He sat in his office, faced his underlings, and screamed at them.  But about a year ago, something odd happened to this scene: it was captured on a YouTube clip and parodied with subtitles on utterly unrelated topics.  Parodies surfaced on a number of topics, including - most saliently to law school associate deans - a depiction of Hitler as a law school prof demanding to teach after only after 11 and never on Fridays.

Critics of the film argued that it over-humanized Hitler; the parodies seemed to undermine that effort.  On the other hand, some folks felt that the whole project trivialized Hiter.  A pretty nice account of the social phenomenon is here.

Now, however, YouTube - a division of Google Inc - has begun to pull the parody clips.  The owner of the film's copyright is sick and tired of having its IP hijacked.  (Query whether the clips are fair use...)  And, naturally, parodies of that very act of removal have now surfaced on YouTube here. 

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on April 23, 2010 (boomark / email).