Sunday, April 20, 2014

Nazis in Movies and Nazis at the Center of the Earth (2012)



If a poll were taken among a group of random people asking what the most evil things were, Nazis would likely come in near the top.  They are the most universally hated group of people to ever live.  The people who were alive during World War II and weren’t German hate them.  Anyone born after World War II has grown up hearing about all of the bad things that the Nazis did.  Television, movies, and books have frequently used Nazi Germany as the source of antagonism.  Seventy years after the war, they are still seen as one of the ultimate evil forces.

Nazis at the Center of the Earth is a movie that doesn’t shy away from the fact that Nazis are one of the most sinister groups of people to ever walk the face of Earth.  Not only does it wear the fact that Nazis are bad like it would a badge; the movie brings them into the modern world with a menace as threatening as ever before.  The 2012 film, directed by Joseph J. Lawson, tells the story of a group of scientists who discover that a group of Nazis have been hiding under Antarctica.  The Nazis have been building an army of half man, half robot German soldiers.  There is a plan for the Nazis to rise again and take over the world.

My question is this: Why is it that 9 out of 10 times, the movies that use Nazis as the villains are terrible movies?  It’s a question that really bothers me.  Why are there so many more bad movies that utilize the Nazi threat than there are good movies using this source of terror?  There are a few ways that we can look at this question.

The first is something that I’ve already covered.  Nazis are one of the ultimate evil forces of human civilization as we know it.  There are very few people who don’t despise the Nazis and what they stood for.  Utilizing Nazis as the antagonist in a movie is an easy way to get the audience to sympathize with the protagonists because of the assumed hate the viewers would have for the Nazis.  If you are making a movie where you want likeable protagonists, the Nazis are a quick way to accomplish that sentiment.  Who out there wouldn’t want to see the Nazis lose?  Nobody.

Now we need to look at why the Nazis are as evil as they are.  The most obvious reason is that they initiated World War II and were (until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor) the main enemy of the Allied Forces during that time.  They invaded Poland, caused the deaths of many people from around the world, and led to the destruction of a large amount of Europe.  Europe was still recovering from the death and destruction of the First World War when the second broke out.  But the fact that the war happened isn’t even the worst of it.  There was the Holocaust.  Maybe you’ve heard about it?  Hitler, the leader of Germany at the time, was rounding up Jewish people and ordering their deaths in camps around Europe.  I’m sure you all know about it.  It’s one of the worst genocidal events in modern history.  It’s still a heart-wrenching instance of human atrocity and one that causes people to hate the Nazis even more than they did before knowing about it.

So there’s all of that bad stuff.  But there’s one more thing that makes the Nazis into one of the perfect antagonists.  Let’s talk about their look a little bit.  Their uniforms are memorable and the swastika is an image likely burned into your mind.  As a mass force, you know what they look like.  Most of all, though, there is Hitler, a one man image machine.  Everyone knows what Hitler looked like.  That face with the combed-over hair and the most recognizable mustache in the world.  Most people have seen footage of him giving speeches.  That man is a perfectly imagined super villain and he was real.  Writers want a standout villain like that.  If you bring in Nazis, you already have that villain.

That’s all the stuff I can think of for the Nazi side of answering my initial question.  The other side of the question is examining bad movies.  This will not take long.  There is an abundance of bad films out there.  There are a lot of people who try to make movies but have no talent in the realm of film.  Their products don’t rise above mediocre and people do not respect them because they don’t earn respect.  They far outnumber the movies that fans and critics rally around and praise.  There are many more low budget films by untalented aspiring filmmakers than there are competent films by respected artists who are knowledgeable about the craft.  Mathematically, it would only be fair to say that Nazis are more likely to show up as the bad guys in a bad move than a good movie because there are more bad movies for them to show up in.

In the end, the answer to my question “Why is it that Nazis are the bad guys in more bad movies than good, by a lot?” all comes down to the fact that there are more bad movies in general, and how easy it is for a less experienced writer to use them as bad guys due to their inherent evil.  That solves that case in 900 words.

Nazis are an antagonist in many movies that you’ll see.  The actions they took and the recognisability of their look has helped to make them a legend in pain and suffering.  They are one of the most recognizable faces of terror.  Whether the movies are good or bad, they will always be known for their atrocities.  And that’s what makes them a great antagonist.
There are some notes that I need to toss in here, so here they are:

  • Lilan Bowden and Jon Kondelik each made appearances in Nazis at the Center of the Earth.  They also showed up in Rise of the Zombies way back near the beginning of the Sunday “Bad” Movies.
  • Christopher Karl Johnson was in this movie as well as Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes.  That film was covered in the Paranormal Entity post.
  • Jake Busey is one of the main characters in Nazis at the Center of the Earth.  He voiced a dog in Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3.
  • If you have any suggestions for future Sunday “Bad” Movies, you can leave them in the comments or tell me on Twitter.  I like to hear suggestions because it gives me ideas on what movies to watch.
  • Nazis at the Center of the Earth was suggested by @MySharona1987.

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