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Shofar (2010) - Migrating Images: Iconic Images of the Holocaust and the Representation of War in Popular Film

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Abstract

The Holocaust has become a master paradigm in late twentieth-century Western culture for contemporary dangers of bigotry, bureaucracy, demagoguery, and nationalism. Familiar historic images from the Holocaust and its immediate aftermath are continuously dissociated from their original historical background and sources. They migrate into popular culture as emblematic signs. The article discusses what happens when these iconic images are projected into popular cinema to convey collective fears and symbolize evil, terror, and genocide. It focuses on the cinematic adaptation of the graphic novel V for Vendetta. V for Vendetta combines several elements, which are indirectly linked to the Holocaust as a central reference point, but which also merge with other iconic incidents, emblematic images, and intertextual references. Thus, an imagined genocide draws on images known from the Nazi concentration camp to convey contemporary themes.

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