HD DVD ends, Web uses greatest villain to comment

February 2, 2008 | In Technology | No Comments

I just pushed a soon-to-be released HD DVD movie to the top of my Netflix queue, the first I’ve added since Warner announced last month it would end support for the format later this year.

When the announcement came days before the Consumer Electronics world entered its big trade show in January, the end of HD DVD seemed to be inevitable.

As the Web is so good at doing, a video popped up taking footage from a German film about the downfall of Nazi Germany re-subtitled with comments about HD DVD. I felt sick watching it.

A friend sent me the You Tube video with a chuckle, but I found it impossible to laugh at it. Comparing the downfall of a consumer electronic product to the greatest villain our world has ever known – a group that killed millions of people and set an entire country on a course it still strives to over-come.

While I’m not suggesting censorship, I’m completely against that, I do find it sad that someone took footage documenting the downfall of one of our worlds more horrific regimes, repurposed in this way.

There has been a lot of comedy at the expense of Nazis over the years, well deserved, thought out and pointed humor that serves to demonstrate the absurdity of their actions. This particular video seems to take a less thought out take on Nazis in an effort for a cheap laugh at the expense of a consumer product. Not really funny, more nauseating.

I understand where the creators of this video is coming from and I’ll give them credit for some interesting jokes at the expense of HD DVD, but placed over a backdrop with Hitler, it feels more like an ignorant frat joke that has the potential to open wounds instead of a light hearted video to be passed around the office.