The Slow Erosion of the Thousand-Year Reich

(Please keep in mind that the post is from an objective standpoint, and gives no indication of the writer's political standpoint. This is an analysis of members of the Nazi party in FICTION)

Nazis have been villains in fiction for as long as I can remember- conventions born of over half a century of taking the role of villain in fiction find themselves recurring over and over again. I have come to the conclusion that over the years, the writers, directors, authors and actors have slowly caused the 'root' of the terrifying nature of the Nazis to erode away. If one were to look at the volume of fiction with a member (or many members) that are part of the Nazi party as villains, and then looked a how many of these were characters the viewer/reader genuinely thought about- I imagine the proportion you find will be disappointingly small.

This is to be the first historical example of villainy here, and I feel that such an example can be categorised just as any other, once the term 'Nazi' I will be using has been clearly defined. For the record, I am using the term 'Nazi' as a blanket term for any character infatuated to the political, ideological or religious forms of Nazism during World War 2. Without defining this, any member of the Nazi party (even the hundreds of thousands who were forced into membership) would be included within the frustratingly vague term- unfairly. The motivations and analysis that follow are an analysis are of the archetype created through the media as a representation of those infatuated members of the party mentioned earlier.

Now that the term I will be using is defined, I can begin to analyse this archetype- beginning with their motivations.

Firstly, 'M2' is easily applied to many of these characters, when used in its nationalistic interpretation- one of the main pillars of the Nazi indoctrination system was the sense of duty to their country they instilled into the population- most clearly seen through the Hitler-Jugend (Hitler Youth). They continue this passionate feeling of duty into the time-frame of their fiction's plot, creating a character that believes it necessary, in many cases, to commit the evil acts we witness. As a political and militaristic movement, the category 'M3' is also clear- the domination of nations or other people. (I doubt this requires further explanation)

'M4' is also a motivation that would apply to some of the soldiers of the Nazi archetype-though these are less common within fiction than they would have been in history itself.

Nazis have been used in an insurmountable array of example of fiction- from the monochrome masterpiece of 'Schindler's List' to the musical mirth of 'The Sound of Music'; a political party that did unspeakable things, it is unbelievable how many pieces of fiction they have 'invaded'. (Apologies for the terrible pun) As previously mentioned, it is my belief that the recent iterations of the archetype have become just that- archetypes. Not characters, but an archetype- a two dimensional, predictable character with little to no character development.

For a recent model of this, I would suggest the film 'Captain America: The First Avenger' (2011)- the antagonist, 'Red Skull', played by Hugo Weaving, is an unfortunate stereotype of a Nazi villain, with no redemptive characteristics to draw an audience member in. On the other hand, Ralph Fiennes performance of Amon Goeth in the 1993 film 'Schindler's List' was- in a word- masterful; the character is evil without a doubt, but has redemptive characteristics in his love of fine food and his musical taste, his charisma and command of the scene. Evil the latter may be, but never dull, as I often found the former.

In conclusion, 'The Nazi' is an unfortunately overused stereotype; there are, of course, innumerable example of them, and this is the problem. With each over-the-top German accent or unnecessary reveal of their diabolical plans, the true horrors of the Nazi regime are slowly forgotten and apathy is cultivated. We feel no horror at the things we see often, or have become accustomed to. Heaven forbid the day when the erosion is completed, and the mention of the Nazi horrors creates nothing but apathy.

NOTE: It is a strong belief of my friends and I that any Nazi officer in fiction can be 'rated' on how evil he/she is by their clothing and appearance. Watch out for: Black trench coat (bonus if leather), hats, black gloves, medals on the chest, jackboots, a comb-over and monocles. Facial hair of any kind, strangely, has no correlation. The next time you see a Nazi in film or television and look out for the features I have mentioned- the higher the number, the more villainous they are- enjoy. (Also, there's probably a fantastic drinking game somewhere in there!)