This presentation compares the representation of Nazis in three films: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Schindler's List, and Dead Snow. In Indiana Jones, Nazis are portrayed as purely evil villains for the protagonist to battle. Schindler's List aims for a more accurate historical portrayal, though some question how realistic some scenes are. Dead Snow depicts Nazis as unintelligent zombie monsters, moving further from reality. The presentation examines how Nazi representations have changed over time and become ingrained symbols in popular culture and society.

1. Presentation Script
“The changing representations of Nazi’s in Cinema”
Run Audio:Mozartpiano from Schindler’s List, evacuation of Krakow Ghetto scene.
Projector:BCU image of a Nazi Stormtrooper in Schindler’s List
Presenter:Since the end of WWIIand the subsequent fall frompower of the Nazi Third Reich, there have been
countless documentaries, cartoons and feature films that tell the story of the most infamous evilin western
culture – the Nazi’s. The way that they have been represented varies hugely, but all hold one factin reserve –
the Nazi’s are a definition of evil.
Video Clip: Scene featuring Nazi Zombies attacking the survivors in Dead Snow {0’30”}
Presenter:This research project looks at the development of the historical representation of Nazi’s across a
number of films, focusing on their representation by DirectorSteven Spielberg. Twofilms central to this
examination will be Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Schindler’s List (1993)
Presenter:In this presentation I will cover:
 Nazi Representation in Indiana Jones
Music
Cinematography
Mise-en-scene
 Nazi representation in Schindler’s List
The Nazi’s and Schindler
The real Oskar Schindler
 Nazi Representation in Dead Snow
Nazi’s in society

Presenter:Distributes handouts containing these points
Video Clip:Scenefeaturing interrogation of Marian Ravenwoodby Major Toht from Indiana Jones {1’36”}
Presenter:Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark is very twodimensional in it’s representation of
Nazi’s. They exist in the film only as an enemy to DoctorJones, and evil forceto oppose him. Binary opposition
is key to the audience’s understanding of the film, owing largely to its mainstream American target audience. As
such, the Nazi’s are represented as pure evil from an American perspective, whilst Indiana Jones represents
good from an American POV.He is an ex-american war hero whoupholds ideals of justice, freedom and liberty
– US audiences willrecognise this and these qualities add even more to his appeal. For example, the non-
digetic music in the scene you have just watched changes fromfairly light and hopeful, to dark and ominous as
Major Toht bars Marianne’s escape. This music is influenced by Nazi anthems from the Nuremburg trials,
according to Richard Evans;
“the Nazi anthems were key to the great rallies…foreboding tracks that promoted military might”

2. This idea that the music actually used by the real lifeNazi’s has influenced the soundtrack of raiders adds a
sense of realism to the villains, and the danger that Marianne currently finds herself in; alone with the Nazi’s,
and withoutthe protection of the very American Doctor Jones. In contrast to this, when DoctorJones himself is
on screen, the music is orchestral and heroic, with IMDB rating it as the 4th best soundtrack of all time. This
causes both soundtracks to reflect the characteristics of their respective sides. Another binary opposition here
is the factthat Indiana Jones is known as ‘DoctorJones’. Doctors save lives, whereas the Nazi’s take them away.
The word Doctoralso connotes American strength and intelligence prevailing overthe brute forceof the Nazi’s.
John Williams is renowned for his music, and is credited by many with the resurrection of a ‘soundtrack’ as
essential to the success of a Hollywoodblockbuster. This music style holds many connotations for the audience;
Nazi, imperial and powerful,as this type of music is used in many films as a theme to evil organisations.
However,Williams also wrote the score for the main theme of NBC’s nightly news programme, which he
names; the mission. This score is almost identical to one of his Hollywoodsoundtracks, and connotes to the
audience that this music is related to real events and facts; the representation of Nazi’s in Indiana Jones is as
reliable as the News itself, and the music becomes associated with the War stories in real life.
Projector:Freezeframe of Major Toht with menacing looking rod
Presenter:As the scene develops we see Major Toht take out a black metal rod, that looks somewhat like a
nunchuck. He flexes it menacingly, playing on the audience’s existing knowledge of Nazi interrogation methods.
However,when he folds it into a coathanger, the illusion is broken, and Spielberg makes a tongue in cheek
reference to convention in order to make the Nazi’s appear vain as well as evil, that he must carry around a coat
hanger so as not to crease his jacket.In fact Spielberg may hit on a small truth, as in the Nuremberg trials, many
of the accused Nazi’s gave the smart uniform as an original reason for joining the party. As one young German is
quoted in ‘The Third Reich in Power’;
“The uniform was very smart…I joined to get money and ladies”
Projector:Freezeframe of Dr Jones fist fighting with a Nazi guard.
Presenter:Here we see Dr Jones pitted against a Nazi guard. The cinematography presents Jones as stronger
and superior to the Nazi, connoting that good prevails overevil, and essentially that American culture prevails
over Nazi culture. However,we can still see many other Nazi guards in the back of the shot, adding to the
representation of Nazi’s as powerful and dangerous, whilst also reinforcing Dr Jones as the underdog.
Projector:FreezeFrame of Nazi’s looking into a pit, in whichDr Jones is trapped.
Presenter:In this shot however, the Nazi’s are again represented as powerfuland numerous. As they walk
away and leave Dr Jones to die, the ‘Sinicism’ that they embody is reinforced.This contradicting distribution of
power in the film connotethe shifts in power that were experienced between the American’s and the Nazi’s in
WWII;there was no real side that was ‘more powerful’ in any outright manner than the other. This also
shows that even when Dr Jones is not beaten and locked up by Nazi’s, the best he can do is fist fight against a
hopeless number of them, which connotes the Nazi’s superiority regarding technology in the war, and in turn
makes Jones’ victory even more rewarding to the audience.

3. Run Audio:Theme tune from Indiana Jones
Presenter:This idea of American culture being strong and good is explored through Indiana Jones, but is made
most effectivethrough the use of the Nazi’s as juxtaposition to American culture. Essentially, the Nazi’s are
represented as nothing more than movie villains, or something for DoctorJones to battle against in order to
drive the narrative forward.The monsters of cinema are after all, depictions of monsters, or representations of
monsters, not the actual things themselves. This is not to say that they are necessarily fictionalmonsters
however;the Nazi’s are non-fictional,along with many of the deeds they are represented doing in cinema.
These are still just actors attempting to recreate through representation the Nazi regime, and therefore the
Nazi’s still exist only as movie villains, and are not an attempt to document the events of the Third Reich. So if
the Nazi’s within Indiana Jones attempt only to scare the audience and create a rival for DoctorJones, why is
the film not scary?As Stanley Cavell puts it;
"terror is of violence,of the violenceI might do or that might be done me. I can be terrifiedof thunder,
but not horrified by it."
This states clearly that whilst the Nazi’s as an idea may scare us, it is likely that within film, they actually make
the least terrifying villains cinema has ever seen. This is down to the factthat we as a society,know that the
Nazi’s were powerful,evil and terrible; we also, however, know subconsciously that they were defeated by the
Allies, and exist no longer. This therefore provides the audience with a ‘subconscious resilience’ to the Nazi’s in
film, whichexplains why any films featuring the Nazi’s tend to fall into sub-genre of horror, because they do not
make effectivenarrative devices that allow the filmmaker to scare his audience in the way that is expected in
horror.
Schindler’s List represents Nazi’s in an entirely different way.Inspired by Spielberg’s first ever visit to Krakow,
the film documents the life of Oskar Schindler, as he saves more than 1,000 Jews fromdeath at the hands of the
Nazi’s. However,the Nazi’s in Schindler’s List ostensibly appear to be a much more accurate representation of
the real life Nazi’s, and has been accepted by many younger generations as the most widely used source
regarding whatthe Nazi’s were actually like. Again supporting the theory of ‘Simulacra and Simulation’, this
suggests that the representation of Nazi’s is more important now than the actual reality of the Nazi regime; it is
almost irrelevant if these particular Nazi’s did or did not morally approve of the regime they were taking part
in, because they are not represented this way through the media. In this way,there is a distinguishable
difference between what is real, what wepretend is real, and the simulation that we accept is real. As Emíle
Littré1 says;
“"Whoeverfakes an illness can simply stay in bed and make everyone believe he is ill. Whoever
simulates an illness produces in himself some of the symptoms"
This example can be applied to Schindler’s List, as the Nazi guards may be in reality good, honest
people, trying to earn a living. However, the simulation that society has created shows them as evil,
heartless and cruel beyond measure; this has therefore become what they are.
1 French Philosopher

4. “Each film... must be analyzed not only in terms of who ... is being represented, {but also}
for what purpose, at which historical moment, for which location, using which strategies,
and in what tone of address.”2
Projector:Clip of wifebeing shot by Nazi guard during the evacuation of Krakow {0’32”}
One example of this within the film is within this clip. It is irrelevant whether the real life Nazi’s wouldhave
actually committed this clearly unnecessary murder or not, because Spielberg has represented it this way,and
it is thus accepted by the audience as a realistic interpretation of the Nazi’s. However,many revisionist
Historians now question whether the Nazi SS would have actually done things like this. It is now believed that
Himmler, whowas the leader of the SS, was so incredibly strict when it came to the etiquette of the Nazi guard,
that he would not have allowed the killing of people in the street unless he himself had ordered the brutality.
Historians believe he felt this gave him greater control overthe regime, and allowed him to more effectively set
up a mass genocide on the scale of the Holocaust. As Simon Woodwardput it;
“Himmler saw the SS as his own personal branch of the party; he would spare no expense to
ensure that his word was seen as law – if he said it, you did it. Cooperation was forcedthrough
violence.”
How can Schindler’s List be seen as a sympathetic view towards the Nazi’s then, if it exaggerates the casual
violencecommitted by the standard Nazi officers?This suggests that the Nazi’s in cinema almost have a set of
conventions that must be followedif the representation is to be accepted into the ‘Simulacrum’ held by society.
They must be Evil,almost unbelievably cruel and violent, dressed smartly and witha bizarre German/English
accent. This is because this is the reflection of the reality that society has now taken as it’s reality. It is
therefore unimportant to the film if the Nazi’s wereactually like this, because the audience already believe that
they were.
Projector:Splitscreen image of Nazi Zombie from CoD:Black Ops and Nazi Zombie from DeadSnow
Presenter:.When we hear the word ‘Nazi’, most of us think of A bloodthirsty killer with no aim other than to
kill, dehumanised to the point that the audience retains no empathy whatsoever forthe people involved in
these atrocities. Increasingly, ‘Nazi’ has begun to take on its ownmeaning in society. ‘Nazi’ means ‘Evil’without
condition, unrealistically evil even, as is seen withthe insanely popular ‘Nazi Zombies’ branch of Call of Duty, as
well as in Dead Snow.
Projector:Clip of Nazi Zombie being killed in DeadSnow
Presenter:More alike withIndiana Jones than Schindler’s List, Dead Snow in no way attempts to show what
the Nazi’s were actually like, in fact taking it much further than Indiana Jones, degrading the Nazi’s to be
subhuman, unintelligent monsters that willdo anything to kill. This new archetype of Nazi’s has become
prevalent and the dominant representation of Nazi’s in society. The pre-conception society now holds is the
2 The Struggle over Representation: Casting, Coalitions, and the Politics of Identification,

5. idea of Nazi’s as moviemonsters in the same sense that Dracula or Frankenstein are movie monsters – they
originally began as the embodiments of cultural fears and paranoia’s but have since out lived those fears,
concluding in the de-sensitization of the audience towards Nazi’s in the sense of anything ‘scary’. Nazi’s (in
Dead Snow) are a symbol of ‘evil’ not genocide and are slowly becoming less associated with real life events
and more associated with generic symbols of evil. One theory that supports this point is French Philosopher
John Baudrillard ‘s theory of Simulacra and Simulation. This states that reality in modern society is lost
amongst a series of ‘signs and symbols’ referred to by Baudrillard as ‘the procession of simulacra’. Rather than
see Nazi’s in cinema as a fictionalrepresentation of a very real danger and terror, the audience conceivesthem
as the actual Nazi’s, and takes this reflectionof reality as more relevant and important than the reality itself.
Run Audio: Animal Alpha – Fire! Fire! Fire! From DeadSnowsoundtrack
Projector:Quotefrom Tommy Wirkola;
" What is more evil than a zombie’? A Nazi-zombie! And youknow Nazis have always been the
ultimate villains in movies. I like to think of them as Nazi zombies. Nazis first, then zombies."
Presenter:Using a variety of techniques, including the music you can hear playing, Wirkola created the perfect
movie villain – disgusting beyond measure, evil forevil’s sake, and totally impossible to sympathize with, due to
a lack of humanity. It could also be argued however,that it shows great disrespect to the victims of the Nazi’s to
represent them as unintelligent and crude. Critics claim that Dead Snow is nothing more than a homage to a
history too cruel to make fun of – but Wikola does it anyway.
Personally however,I believe that the Nazi Zombies add to the film in a way that no other villain could, a sense
of ridiculous fiction,whilst still remaining anchored in history and reality.
Handout:Containing information on the Einsatzgruppen (Death Squads) responsible for the murder of Jewsin
Norway and Poland.
Presenter:The film is based on the Einsatzgruppen talked about in yourhandouts, responsible forthe mobile
extermination of the ‘underclass’ according to the Nazi’s. Though relatively little known, they were responsible
for the killing of almost 1,000,000 within twoyears, and it was these ‘Death Squads’ that first had the idea of
using poisonous gas as a method of mass murder. Would it really be fair to ask any director or film maker to
have to represent something this emotional to so many people? Perhaps it is better that wedo not attempt to
replicate the animosity and discrimination of the Nazi party in Film.
Projector:Triplefreeze frame – Major Toht of IndianaJones,Oskar Schindler and the Einsatzgruppen from
DeadSnow.
Presenter:The position of Nazi’s in our society is ever changing, but never far below the surface, with the next
Valkyrie or IngloriousBasterds justaround the corner.