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Hitler requires more vespene gas.note 

Gunsche: There is now a separate page for the Hitler Rants. Fegelein made the request to TV Tropes.
Hitler: I should have known that imbecile would find yet another way to make me look like a fool. And now he's done it! With a separate page for Hitler Rants, I'm FUCKED! I was hoping the Downfall page would bury all the antics that go on in the bunker. But no! Now bring me that asshole Fegelein!

The Hitler Rants (also known as "Hitler Reacts", "Hitler Parodies", or "Downfall Parodies") are Memetic Mutations involving fanmade series of Gag Subs involving Adolf Hitler and his famous freakout scene from Downfall (2004) (portrayed by Bruno Ganz), often ranting about several topics. Said rants are usually anachronistic, often over trivial matters and sometimes can even relate to current events of the time a video gets made, all for Rule of Funny.

There are thousands of videos out there, and they can use any part of the movie (or even clips from other movies), but the most common scenes used are Hitler planning a counterattack, Hitler melting down while in his bunker upon hearing that Felix Steiner couldn't muster up that counterattack, Hitler calling about artillery fire near the bunker, Otto Gunsche informing him that Hermann Fegelein has gone AWOL, or Hitler having dinner with some of his aides and learning that Himmler tried to have Germany surrender to the US behind his back. The most commonly used scenes are actually rather early in the film.

The series has since expanded to the point where the makers of parodies (or Untergangers in reference to the source material) have practically created an entire universe. Not only this, but it has expanded to the point where it has gained a number of spin-offs using footage from other films and videos:

  • Inglourious Basterds: Another ranting Hitler, portrayed as an Arch-Enemy of Downfall Hitler. Popularised by the unterganger Hitler Rants Parodies.
  • U-Boat Parodies: Using footage from Das Boot. Captain Heinrich Lemann-Willenbrock and the loveable crew of U-96 set out to perform all kinds of antics to embarrass Hitler.
  • Stalin Parodies: Using footage from an obscure Russian film the title of which translates as Tukhachevksy, Conspiracy Marshall. Josef Stalin plots various schemes for his own ends, many of which ultimately cause trouble for Hitler.
  • Angry German Kid Parodies: Crossover with another popular Internet Meme about a German kid having a massive breakdown over Unreal Tournament 3. Hitler and Leopold (the Angry German Kid) appear as equally vitriolic arch-enemies particularly in gaming.
  • Revolution Parodies: Using footage of the Italian version of Duck, You Sucker!. John Mallory is out to get Hitler, and nothing's going to stop him from blowing him up.
  • American Girl: Using (often dubbed) footage of various movies based on the toy line. The two most common are Felicity Merriman and Kit Kittredge, though footage using Samantha Parkington has also been used.
  • Mussolini Parodies: Using footage from a film called Mussolini Ultimo Atto, which like Downfall depicts the fall of Mussolini. Much like Hitler Rants, Mussolini runs into all kinds of trouble and rants about it.
  • Gaddafi Parodies: Using actual footage of Muammar Al-Gaddafi. He believes himself to be a superior dictator to the others, and is determined to prove it.

A list of Untergangers can be found here.

The parodies were also adapted into video games or Game Mods, also by Untergangers. Deadpool comics referenced this with Hitler complaining about Nick Fury.

For his part, the film's director, Oliver Hirschbiegel, likes the concept considering it furthers the purpose of his film of making the Nazis feel human and not just monsters one can dismiss as nothing like oneself.

Changing sociopolitical attitudes, YouTube's censorship of Nazi-related content and the retirement of prominent Untergangers have resulted in the meme declining in recent years, though there are some who are still dedicated to making Hitler parody videos to this day.


Tropes:

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    Tropes about the parodies in general 
  • Acme Products: Both Reich Industries and FegelCorp produce all kinds of goods and services.
  • Actually Pretty Funny: In the videos where Hitler realizes that YouTubers make fun of him with these parodies, there are usually other characters who think the videos are pretty funny. Hitler, of course, usually disagrees.
  • Adolf Hitlarious: The whole point of this meme is to make fun of Adolf Hitler and the rest of Those Wacky Nazis through over-the-top Black Comedy and Surreal Humor.
  • Affectionate Parody: Of Downfall.
  • All There in the Manual: HRP's wiki has a timeline page that provides some background information that wasn't mentioned in any of his parodies.
  • Anachronism Stew: Even though the setting seems to be 1945 Germany, Hitler and his acquaintances often encounter people, media, and technology from the past and future. There's no explanation for this.
    • Hitler Rants Parodies' works explicitly take place in an alternate timeline/universe: Germany still seems to be fascist, or at least authoritarian, with Hitler as Führer, but (among other things) World War II and the Final Solution didn't happen - only a "Reich/Soviet War" is mentioned, implied to have started over Stalin calling Hitler a dumbass - and Hitler himself sneers at Real Life Nazi genocides as "what that other dumbass [real] Hitler did".
  • Anti-Villain: Pretty much any way you look at it, no matter which person is the central focus of the parody in question. After all, no matter which character is trying to be a hero, they’re still Nazis.
  • Bilingual Bonus: Inverted for people understanding German, as hearing the original conversations can be a little bit distracting for them while watching the parodies. In an article commenting on the parodies, Downfall director Oliver Hirschbiegel even admitted to muting the sound when watching them.
  • Black Comedy: Bad things frequently happen to Hitler and the rest of the cast, sometimes rather violently, and all of it's Played for Laughs.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: To the point of No Fourth Wall. Everyone seems to be aware that they are characters in YouTube videos. Unsurprisingly, Hitler is very displeased at how most of the humor is targeted at his expense.
  • Crack Fic: Of the highly depressing war drama film Downfall, of all things.
  • Crossover: Many parodies include characters and clips taken straight from other YouTube videos, movies, TV shows, cartoons, video games, and other media. Sometimes results in a full-blown Massive Multiplayer Crossover that serves as a metafictional parody of multiple different works.
  • Death is Cheap: Any character can be killed, but brought back with little or no explanation. Hermann Fegelein is the best example of this, and this is referred to as being some kind of superpower that he has.
  • Digital Head Swap: Done crudely with parodies involving Hitler and company in scenarios e.g. where Hitler gets pranked by Fegelein. Though given the comedic nature of the parodies, it could be seen as a form of Stylistic Suck.
  • Gag Sub: All of the subtitles are intentionally mistranslated from the original German, allowing Hitler to rant about anything.
    • German-speaking viewers will regularly comment that the videos lose some of their humor value if one actually understands what he's saying; however, this hasn't stopped some Germans on YouTube (such as Staedty86) from making these parodies. The effect is somewhat restored by watching with the audio muted.
  • Live-Action Cartoon: These videos frequently involve a lot of Slapstick, Surreal Humor, and wacky characters that give them a very cartoonish feel.
  • Negative Continuity: There is no real canon or continuity, so just about anything can happen without permanent consequences.
  • Sadist Show: Many videos prominently feature Black Comedy and Comedic Sociopathy to varying degrees. Though as most of this sadistic humor primarily victimizes a cast full of Unsympathetic Comedy Villain Protagonists (who are also literal Nazis), it's hard to feel too sorry for any of them.
  • Science Fantasy: Many videos involve the Nazis getting involved with strange phenomena from fantasy or science fiction.
  • Stock Footage: The entire point of this meme is to reuse the same footage from Der Untergang over and over again, but add new subtitles and sometimes special effects to make entirely new stories.
  • Surreal Humor: Many videos involve some really weird comedy, with the most absurdly random events happening, sometimes to the point of Mind Screw.

    Tropes about specific videos 
Video series with their own pages:

 
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Hitler Rants on TV Tropes

Based on the gag dialogue on top of the Hitler Rants page. A typical example of how the 2004 German war drama film Downfall (Der Untergang) is given new subtitles that change the scene's tone from serious to outright comedy.

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