Adolf Hitler in Popular Culture - Internet

Internet

See also: Ranting and List of Internet phenomena

Parodied clips from the 2004 film Downfall have proliferated internationally via YouTube and other video sites. The parodies replace the subtitles from the original movie with incorrect subtitles. The most frequently used clip is the scene where Hitler receives news of the advancing Red Army vastly outnumbering the forces commanded by Felix Steiner. They are subtitled with references to Hitler becoming angry over various facets of modern pop culture such as politics, online gaming, television, music, sports and many other local or international events.

The phenomenon started in English but has spread to other languages including Japanese (massive number of videos on Nico Nico Douga on various topics), Chinese (influenced by Japan, comments on Wenzhou train collision and many other sensational topics mainly on Tudou and Youku), Bulgarian (to ridicule Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov for being a State Security agent during the communist dictatorship and for being a poacher), Romanian (for the 2009 presidential election), Croatian (comments about frequent affairs in the government), Serbian (regarding poor results by football team FK Red Star), French (about the weather), Spanish (about a wide variety of topics mainly related to Argentine and Chilean local events), and Hebrew (about the difficulty of finding parking space in Tel Aviv).

On April 21, 2010, Constantin Film, the production and distribution company responsible for the film, initiated a massive removal of parody videos on YouTube. This removal was criticized by digital rights advocates and was followed by the appearance of self-referential parody videos on the very subject of Constantin's actions with respect to the parodies.

The website Cats That Look Like Hitler features pictures of cats that bear some resemblance to the German leader.

Godwin's Law states "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one". From this is derived an additional formulation, also encountered online, which states "The first person to mention the Third Reich automatically loses the argument".

Hitler has been featured in two episodes of Nice Peter's Epic Rap Battles of History, battling against Darth Vader in both episodes.