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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8467873" data-attributes="member: 42582">Possibly. I think this is very contextual - in all sorts of ways (content, audience, place, etc).I found Death of Stalin an amazing film, and also very funny. A Finnish friend who has spent a lot of time living in Britain and Australia could understand why it was funny, but also found it uncomfortable. I'm told by those who have Russian friends that it's a century or two too soon for them.My own issue with this is that Hydra and the Nazis living in completely different worlds.Hyrda are like Dr Doom or (to a significant extent) Sauron - they stand for a completely &quot;empty&quot; evil that has no reason or logic behind it, other than to provide a legitimate focus of opposition for good protagonists. They are stipulated to be evil, and hence the appropriate antagonists, and then we impute various deeds or dispositions to them more-or-less arbitrarily as needed to support the stipulation and the plot.Whereas National Socialism was a real social movement, a real government, a real phenomenon that we can talk about in meaningful ways, including why - of all human political ideals - it is probably, at present at least, the most discredited. There is nothing going on here that resembles stipulation.A story about fighting Hydra might let us enjoy adventure and vicariously imagining ourselves to be good and heroic.A story about encountering, and perhaps fighting, National Socialists is something completely different. That could be a story about me or you actually having to make a political decision. It might be very challenging.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8467873, member: 42582"] Possibly. I think this is very contextual - in all sorts of ways (content, audience, place, etc). I found Death of Stalin an amazing film, and also very funny. A Finnish friend who has spent a lot of time living in Britain and Australia could understand why it was funny, but also found it uncomfortable. I'm told by those who have Russian friends that it's a century or two too soon for them. My own issue with this is that Hydra and the Nazis living in completely different worlds. Hyrda are like Dr Doom or (to a significant extent) Sauron - they stand for a completely "empty" evil that has no reason or logic behind it, other than to provide a legitimate focus of opposition for good protagonists. They are stipulated to be evil, and hence the appropriate antagonists, and then we impute various deeds or dispositions to them more-or-less arbitrarily as needed to support the stipulation and the plot. Whereas National Socialism was a real social movement, a real government, a real phenomenon that we can talk about in meaningful ways, including why - of all human political ideals - it is probably, at present at least, the most discredited. There is nothing going on here that resembles stipulation. A story about fighting Hydra might let us enjoy adventure and vicariously imagining ourselves to be good and heroic. A story about encountering, and perhaps fighting, National Socialists is something completely different. That could be a story about me or you actually having to make a political decision. It might be very challenging. [/QUOTE]

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