nostatic
New member
It totally depends on the lens you use to view the world. Context is everything. Part of what makes art in general and remix in particular so interesting (and offending) is that few things, if any, are sacrosanct.
If someone took footage from United 93 (Greengrass' film about 9/11) and remixed it as a comedy, it likely would provoke a fair amount of outrage, especially for those in the US. There are a number of factors in play here, one being time from the incident, and another being the evolution of the depiction of events and people over time.
Hitler is an interesting case because he has become iconic for his horrors, but his consistent invocation in situations where it isn't warranted (ie almost all interwebs forum arguments) has turned his image into a caricature. One could argue that the establishment of Godwin's Law has diminished the horror of the 3rd Reich, but it is what it is. Hitler was parodied back in the 40's by Warner Brothers, and it continues to this day, albeit in a different fashion.
The time factor helps to make such references "acceptable." Plus, these remixes make fun of a universally bad guy. It is the visiting team that is getting poked. In addition the pervasive influence of American culture (for better or worse, most likely worse) sets some of the "groundrules" for remix, though interestingly enough American icons get soundly lambasted on a regular basis.
All fascinating stuff...