Nazisploitation, Moral Ambiguity, & Race Cars | The Saboteur

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Published on June 23, 2022 10:05:50 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJEGC-mxajg

Game:

The Saboteur (2009)

Duration: 23:17

766 views

36

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NOTES & CONTENT WARNING:
-The Saboteur is set during World War II and I spend some time in the video talking about Nazi Germany, so there may be topics/imagery some find uncomfortable.
-I use ‘Saboteur’ as shorthand rather than saying ‘The Saboteur’ each time. I think this made the script flow better and reduced extra ‘the’s.
-Elizabeth Bridges is paraphrasing Richard Schickel, but her quote better communicates the point.
-I strongly disagree with a lot of what Jeff Hayton says in his essay. But some things I really thought were interesting and agreed with.
-I said the Nazisploitation films of the 1970s, at least many of the famous ones, were sadomasochistic, and this is true as a descriptor. But this is, of course, not to say sadomasochism is inherently evil or immoral. That’s obviously not true.
-I say that it’s easier to escape the Nazis in areas that are ‘inspired’. The game doesn’t actually say this. It’s more of an evaluation on my part of my experience playing. So it could be technically false that escaping alarm states is easier in ‘inspired’ areas but it certainly does feel like it.
-In the video, I discuss Nazi Germany’s war effort and its connection to the Holocaust, saying the two were not mutually exclusive. I’m not a historian, but I do believe this is widely considered accurate. But just in case, here are some links:
---Wolfram Wette’s “The Wehrmacht: History, Myth, Reality”, takes apart the myth of the “clean” Wehrmacht and demonstrates how Nazi Germany’s war effort was tied to anti-Semitism. One particularly stunning quote is on page 132.
https://www.amazon.com/Wehrmacht-History-Myth-Reality/dp/0674025776
https://archive.org/details/wehrmachthistory00wett_0
---Hitler’s Reichstag Speech on January 30, 1939, is another good example:
https://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1939-1941/hitler-speech-to-german-parliament

Intro - 0:00
Saboteur's Sexuality & Nazisploitation - 4:30
Moral Ambiguity - 13:30

LINKS:
1-Nudity In Saboteur
https://techland.time.com/2009/12/08/sex-and-the-saboteur-dev-talks-nudity-in-new-game/
2-Bridges: “Reproducing the Fourth Reich: Cloning, Nazisploitation, and Revival of the Repressed", and Hayton: "Digital Nazis: Genre, History and The Displacement of Evil In First Person Shooters." Both essays were taken from Nazisploitation! The Nazi Image in Low-Brow Cinema and Culture:
https://www.amazon.com/Nazisploitation-Image-Low-Brow-Cinema-Culture/dp/1441183590/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
-Ilse Koch image
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilse_Koch
-William Grover-Williams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Grover-Williams
-Kotaku story
https://kotaku.com/the-saboteur-offers-day-one-free-nudity-dlc-5418003
-Yalta Conference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalta_Conference
-Saboteur 2, PC Invasion
https://www.pcinvasion.com/the-saboteur-2-was-in-development/
-Why We Fight: The Battle of Russia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Why_We_Fight.5a.The_Battle_Of_Russia_Part1.webm
-Nazi Concentration Camps
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nazi_Concentration_Camps.webm

Other links that helped me and that you might be interested in:
Susan Sontag: Fascinating Fascism
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1975/02/06/fascinating-fascism/?lp_txn_id=1357331
Lindsay Ellis: Ethics of Satire about Nazis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62cPPSyoQkE
Richard Schickle: Cloning Around (Review of The Boys from Brazil)
https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,919877-2,00.html

Footage:
The Saboteur
Ghost of Tsushima
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Wolfenstein: The New Order
Far Cry 3 trailer
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS
Salon Kitty
Inglourious Basterds
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
Star Wars: A New Hope
Downfall
GTA V
Why We Fight: The Battle of Russia
Nazi Concentration Camps

Music:
The Saboteur Soundtrack

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