Hitler goes hip

(Originally published here at The Sunday Guardian)

In his seminal 1957 essay, The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster, Norman Mailer argued that it was World War II that had spawned "the American existentialist — the hipster, the man who knows that if our collective condition is to live with instant death by atomic war" then the only "life-giving answer" was "to divorce oneself from society, to set out on that uncharted journey into the rebellious imperatives of the self". If he were alive today, Mailer might just have cracked a grin upon seeing Hipster Hitler, a webcomic which satirises the Führer by depicting him as a hipster in the 21st Century sense of the word.

Hipster Hitler rides bicycles, eats organic food and wears T-shirts with slogans like "Eastside Westside Genocide" and "Death Camp For Cutie" (a pun on the cult indie band Death Cab For Cutie). That is, when he's not plotting his next conquest or just hanging out with his buddy Broseph Stalin. James Carr and Archana Prasanna Kumar, the creators of Hipster Hitler, were at university together in Melbourne and only came up with the idea after graduating, during a Skype session.

As the duo explained, "The whole idea for the comic emerged because we noticed the uncanny correlations between Hipsters and Hitler. Hitler was a vegetarian (and mocked and berated others for eating meat) an animal rights activist and a failed artist. He relied on his father's money (until it ran dry), and had ironic facial hair."

When I first came across Hipster Hitler, I was struck by how accurately the creators had latched onto the little conceits typical of the hipster subculture: the shallow posturing, the demonising of anything remotely mainstream and even the oversized glasses which Hipster Hitler sports are bang on target. Archana (who draws the comic; the two collaborate over the script) recalled an encounter with a hipster in London. "I was in London sitting at a café and a hipster walking past tripped over. Instead of saying 'ouch' or 'aahh!' or something similar, the first thing to come out of the hipster's mouth was, 'No! My sketch pencils!'" This incident was later worked into a strip where Hipster Hitler cries out for his sketch pencils and not for his lover Eva, following a fire at his home.

A t-shirt design for sale

To be sure, the webcomic has had its share of detractors who think that Hitler should hardly be the subject of a parody, and that the makers were undermining the horrors of the Holocaust. About a year ago, the online retail site RedBubble.com removed all Hipster Hitler merchandise in response to complaints from users who found T-shirts with the slogan "I <3 Juice" offensive. Talking about this line of criticism, the creators retorted, "Saying that Hitler is 'off limits' when it comes to parody and satire is just giving Hitler the power he always wanted." This writer remembers rolling on the floor, doubled up with laughter while watching the unforgettable globe-bouncing scene from Chaplin's The Great Dictator(where he spoofed Hitler) for the first time. Watching a film is kosher but wearing a T-shirt isn't?

James and Archana had this to say about the ironically fascist nature of 'taking offense: "Every now and then we get an email from someone who is offended by our work, but rarely. Normally these people are not Jewish but are getting offended on behalf of Jews. For some people, even mentioning the name Hitler is a problem, and they don't care what the actual content of your work is."

Readers can make up their minds themselves in September, when the Hipster Hitlerbook hits bookstores in America. (While the store release is limited to the US, readers elsewhere can order a copy online on Flipkart, Amazon or Barnes and Nobles). It must be said, though, that it's surprising to see people going Nazi on a Hitler joke or two.