Downfall Parodies - Controversy and Fair Use

*Most information for this post was gathered from knowyourmeme.com

The Internet MEME "Downfall," also known as "Hitler Reacts to..." and "Hitler Finds Out" is a series of video remixes of the 2004 German film Der Untergang (English title: Downfall). The MEME typically features the same scene from Downfall, when Hitler finds out that the German counter-offensive against the Russians never took place and the fall of the German Army is imminent. By simply changing the subtitles, YouTube users remixed the scene so that Hitler gets very upset over topical issues and trivial events.

Below are a series of "Hitler Reacts to" videos, illustrating the wide range of cultural topics this MEME is able to comment on.

Xbox Live

 

Problems with Windows Vista

 

Hitler's World of Warcraft Account gets Hacked

 

Hitler finds out that Barack Obama is not a US Citizen

 

Hitler reacts to Kanye West dissing Taylor Swift (at VMA)

 

Hitler reacts to the US Housing Market Crash

 

Hitler reacts to Rebecca Black's "Friday"




Varied Responses

On April 19th, 2010,Constantin Films began sending DMCA takedown notices to YouTube. On April 21st, the AP reported that Martin Moszkowicz, head of film and TV at Constantin films in Munich, finds many of the parodies distasteful and trivial in light of the seriousness of the Holocaust and World War II.

However, the director of Downfall had something different to say about this use of his work:

"Someone sends me the links every time there’s a new one…I think I’ve seen about 145 of them! Of course, I have to put the sound down when I watch. Many times the lines are so funny, I laugh out loud, and I’m laughing about the scene that I staged myself! You couldn’t get a better compliment as a director."

 - Oliver Hirschbiegel (excerpt taken from NY Entertainment Blog Vulture)   http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/

Soon after the DCMA takedowns began, YouTube saw a huge resurgence of Downfall videos, in the opinion of Know Your MEME, due mostly to the "Streisand-effect." Some of these parodies even approached the takedown notices as their subject matter:

Hitler reacts to the Hitler Parodies being removed from Youtube

  

Though these videos are hilarious and fun, they have some rather serious implications. As goofy as "Hitler reacts to" videos can be, they are a testament to the creativity that modern technology has allowed to flourish and how sites like YouTube give everyone on the planet the chance to be cultural commentators.


In response to the takedown notices on YouTube, the Institute for Internet Studies has offered users a video guide for understanding fair use and navigating wrongful takedown notices:

Once a piece of media gets released into society, though it may be owned on terms of copyright, it belongs to everyone as a cultural relic. These works serve as expressions of our fellow human representatives; which we can either agree with and praise, have complete disdain for, or ignore altogether. This is freedom of expression.