The Pop-Icon Hitler as a Trope of Critical Reflection on Media Society: The World‘s Most Recognisable Face

Abstract | Abstract

Countless representations in different media and genres through several decades make Hitler one of the most productive icons on a global scale. The analysis of this icon seems of fundamental theoretical interest as its original semantics as the embodiment of evil challenges common notions of icon work between collaborative iconolatry, on the one hand, and adversarial iconoclasm, on the other. However, the range of different significances to be found in contemporary Hitler representations suggests that the icon serves to work through issues of the respective context in which it is used. I will argue that, interestingly, especially representations claiming to do justice to history and to the historical person Hitler might be problematized and seen as part of a “remembrance industry”, while pop-cultural, often humorous representations of the icon establish a critical meta-level allowing audiences to reflect on certain phenomena in contemporary media society.