
Space Nazi Trailers Draw Crowd Funding for Iron Sky Movie - alexandros
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/06/iron-sky-space-nazis/
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stcredzero
It's been true about them ever since they were actually walking around in
reality. It's even truer since they faded into history. It was true in Star
Wars. It's true in Mel Brooks' parody of Star Wars, and a whole bunch of his
other films besides. It's true in Indiana Jones. In a way it's true on
Seinfeld. Even Charlie Chaplin found it to be true. Poor old Leni Riefenstahl
knew it was true, personally, then spent the rest of her life paying the
price.

What is it? _Nazis make for good cinema!_

It makes sense, really. A bunch of guys running around in the 20th century,
with mechanized warfare and a world view that would've fit in perfectly well
in Genghis Khan's time. It's as if a writer for a video game made them up and
they escaped through a time portal into the 1st half of the 20th century.

Why do I even bother with posts like this? _Automatic Godwin's!_

(Standard Godwin's Disclaimers: Nazis were real and as evil as you can get.
The Holocaust actually happened.)

~~~
xsmasher
They're also the "safe bad guy" - you can make Nazis the villain in your movie
/ game and no one will complain (except don't show the swastika, ss in some
countries.)

Spielberg promised not to use Nazis as a trope after Schilder's list, and the
last Indy movies suffered for it. Using commies as the enemy seems so dated
and Jingoistic, even though the conflict was more recent.

~~~
stcredzero
Yes, but the "safe" aspect is only a side benefit. Artistically, they're
_perfect_. Really, the more you think about it, the more it seems like a video
game or comic book writer made them up and they escaped into reality and stole
a time machine.

They were into the occult and old Nordic/Germanic mythology. They were
developing and had bonafide super-science weapons: jets, ICBMs, and stealth
aircraft while some of their opponents early in the war were still using
cavalry charges. There was real-life superscience intrigue involving highly
gifted super-geniuses. This intrigue involved _nuclear weapons_. They were
_urgently_ bent on world domination -- not as an eventual goal or as a
someday-daydream wish, but as an urgent we-need-to-do-this-ASAP real-world
project.

They also seem to be securely in the top 5% of everyone _fictional or real_ as
far of level of atrocities goes.

They just flat-out make really cool villains.

~~~
astine
"Artistically, they're perfect."

Curious turn of phrase, considering that one of the most enduring legacies of
the Nazis is their sense of taste. The Nazis had a very Platonic idea of the
purpose of art and everything that they touched was imbued with their
aesthetic. From the parades, to the propaganda leaflets, there was a uniform
sense of purpose and higher meaning.

Hitler himself began as a starving artist and when he took over he made
everything his. He was, arguably, the most successful art-critic of the 20th
century.

So, yeah, the Nazis are very distinct.

~~~
stcredzero
This makes me want to search on YouTube for one of those Hitler bunker videos
criticizing Star Wars.

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Vivtek
Oh, man, they're really making some serious progress there, aren't they? At
this rate, they might finish the movie before 2018 (when the space Nazis are
to return to Earth).

I'm looking forward to this one.

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utexaspunk
Sorta like Starship Troopers, no?

~~~
charleso
Heinlein's Rocket Ship Galileo (1947), actually.

For a vague, SPOILER-ish description (the book's cover often gives it away
anyhow): A group of teens build a moon rocket, but someone (wonder who?) is
there to meet them.

~~~
GFischer
Noooo :P (I am actually reading the book right now ! - they were on their way
to the moon when I stopped reading. I don't mind the spoiler that much. Since
it's an ebook I don't have the cover anyways)

On the story itself, it's almost too naive to be believed, but I hope it makes
for a good movie.

Heinlein's later novels are much better but often repeat themselves and he
became obsessed with his "World as Myth" idea
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_as_Myth>)

I wish they made a "Glory Road" movie... sounds like good material there :)
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_Road>)

