fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2948 ]

[ SECRET POST #2948 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2948 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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10. http://i60.tinypic.com/28ml4sn.jpg

Cover of the novel "Look who's back" by Timur Vermes. It shows a black silhouette of hair, the title text is placed underneath to form a toothbrush mustache. The two combined elements resemble Hitler's signature hairstyle.

Text: I get so annoyed when one of my favorite pieces of satire gets summarized as "Hitler becomes a comedian" by people who haven't read it as some kind of Factoid of the Day.

I'm intrigued, OP. Tell me more about this novel?

Basically Adolf Hitler wakes up in modern day Berlin and he meets a kiosk owner who thinks he’s a comedian whose gimmick is acting like Hitler. Then a production firm gives him a spot in a comedy show and the whole think develops from there. So yeah, Hitler does kinda become a comedian but at the same time that description doesn't fit because while everyone around him thinks he's a comedian Hitler himself never makes any jokes. He's always completely serious about what he says. It's just that everyone takes it as satire when he says something bigoted. And the scary part is to see all these people agree with his views because „obviously he doesn't really mean it like that.“

So the description annoys me because you get this image of Hitler telling awful jokes about Polish people when it's more Hitler's second rise to power with help from modern mass media paired with some really good observations about those mass media and modern German culture and politics. It's really interesting to see these things from the perspective of Hitler. (He's a big fan of the BILD news paper for example.)

Thank you for this summary. This sounds like something I would love. I'm dying for some more nuanced discussion of satire than people screaming "but it's satire!" every time some people aren't happy with it.

I'm always torn between laughing and being extremely uncomfortable when I listen to it. Because he'll say something in complete earnestness because that's actually his opinion (he is literally Hitler after all) and then you'll get the warped perception of what he "obviously wanted to express through an satirical approach of the topic." Also since the book is written from his perspective as a human being you kinda involuntarily start rooting for him and then you'll realize what you're doing...

Still sounds perfect for me. I'm definitely adding it to my list.

Wow. That sounds very interesting, but also very very creepy and unsettling. I dunno that I could read it, but I'm glad it exists.

--Rogan

Ew.

So it's satire of the excuses used to defend bad satire? I suppose that's the only way to get past the "but it's satire" crowd.

Yeah, kind of.

For example his first "comedy bit" is in a fictional sketch comedy show presented by a comedian who's an immigrant and the sketches consist of that comedian donning various costumes and making fun of immigrants. (Inspired by real comedians whose main topic is their own and other immigrant's heritage.) Then it's Hitler's turn and he gives a speech saying that he thinks it's shameful that today you can only make fun of minorities if you yourself belong to that minority. Everyone should be free to express their racist prejudices. And the critics later applaud him for "pointing out that racist stereotypes are still racist stereotypes even when embodied by somebody belonging to the stereotyped minority."

So I'd say the real criticism in this case is actually what Vermes made the critics write. That comedians like Kaya Yanar, who has Turkish immigrant parents shouldn't throw other immigrants under the bus by entertaining non-immigrant Germans with stereotypes about immigrants.

SA

But of course that's not what Hitler actually wanted to express. His thought was more along the lines of a white person crying about oppression because he's not allowed to say the N-word...

Oh, I read that book last year! I liked it but I think I would have understood better its humour if I had more knowledge about German politics.

I was actually really surprised it even got translated. It's so steeped in German culture.

For example I've got the (German) audio book. It's read by Christoph Maria Herbst. He plays the main character in the sitcom Stromberg which is basically a German version of The Office and that show gets parodied in another show by replacing that main character with a version of Hitler that has Stromberg's characteristics. So it's like 3 levels of meta but the mental image you get is amazing.

Can you tell me more about this show parodying Stromberg? Is that a real thing or part of the book?

NAYRT

It's part of a series of comedy shorts parodying all kinds of German TV-shows. The Stromberg/Hitler one is "Obersalzberg" - have an episode with subs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF09Gm8weyo

SA (The subs are kind of awkward but they were the best I could find).

Danke!

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[ SECRET POST #2948 ]

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