I think the issue is that you shouldn’t make fascists “fun” or “cool” in any way whatsoever.
In both Star Wars and Troopers the fascists are undeniably fun and entertaining to ride along with. Fun, cool or entertaining things inevitably make people want to imitate or copy-cat them for funsies, and this rubs off into personal identity.
The only movies that portrayed Nazis correctly are the Indiana Jones movies and Come and See. One for portraying the Nazis as a bunch of incompetent buffoons and the other for portraying the Nazis as a bunch of incompetent genocidal buffoons.
Verhoeven should have made Doogie Howzer’s character into a fucking clown with a superiority complex that does stupid shit on camera while barking about how smart he is. That may have saved us decades of budding nazis getting unintentional inspiration.
It keeps happening and I keep hearing how nothing could have been done and there’d be exactly the same responses from the audience no matter what, which sounds like bullshit to me.
Fundamentally satire of fascism doesn’t work because fascist ideology revolves around the idea that you’re a loser made weak by the removed other but can be made strong and cool by doing all the violence.
If fight club had a scene where Tyler Durden tried to ask a girl out in queue to the McDonald’s breakfast menu, pissed himself out of nervousness, and then broke into tears in front of everyone. All that would change is there’d be a fascist org called Piss Boys whose initiation would involve drink a lot of water before queuing up for the world’s greasiest hash browns.
I entirely agree, if fascists are to be portrayed at all it should be as buffoons and idiots, because nobody will want to be seen as a buffoon and idiot.
Which is why my biggest critique of 40k will always be James Workshop are too much of cowards to let another faction be a decent fucking foil for the satire of the Imperium. So long as the fash-inclined fans can circle back around to “Well the Imperium may be bad, but it’s worse everywhere else!” you’ve lost as a satirist. Stop ass-pulling Ws for the blueberries so they always come out on top smelling like roses so you can sell more toys, and actually stand by the idea that there is a viable alternative to human fascism in your fictional setting; instead of leaving that to the interpretation of the most media illiterate people in the history of the concept.
They had a chance with the Tau but then went full gommulist mind control and sterilization of humans. I’d argue the Eldar are still probably better since they more or less have FALGSC, and them not caring about the lives of the xenocidal fascists doesn’t make them evil, it makes them correct.
I have a soft spot for the Orks. Yes, they’re brutal and violent, seemingly without much reason, but I think they’re just vibing with the senseless brutality of the rest of the galaxy. If everyone else was more chill I bet the Orks would be hanging out, partying, fixing up machines for fun, building skateparks and rollercoasters, that sort of thing. They seem like they have the least amount of overt malice or ambition for power. They’re in it for love of the game, and I think there’s an argument that that makes them the least worst out of all of them.
One. The Eldar do have a superior society than the Imperium of man so I agree on that front.
On the other hand even with some of the darker aspects the
T´au as a faction are still a much better society than the IoM with a focus on collectivism and unity. Like being a human auxillary/civilian on a T´au controlled world is vastly superior to living in the hellhole that is the IoM.
This concept was introduced after fans complained that the initial T’au codex described the T’au in too much of a positive light, and that they were too “good” for the grim, dark Warhammer 40,000 universe. This also led to the introduction of the Vespid Communion Helms, which have a much clearer Orwellian feel that the Vespid are being directly manipulated by the T’au thanks to the helmets that are supposedly for “communication purposes.”
Very cool of you james workshop
I originally thought the caste system was “problematic” enough to leave the Tau as visibly “Better” but still with hangups but they had to go and do it to 'em anyway.
The T´au allow humans freedom of faith btw. There are humans in the Tau Empire that still worship the God Emperor (if in a less zealous manner) that also follow the greater good.
I don’t disagree with your assessment, but I’m sad that the 40K universe can’t be interpreted for what it is. The whole point is that there are no good guys, only flavors of galaxy-scale horror. It makes sense from a game design standpoint because you’re supposed to give up the idea that you’re furthering a righteous cause or participating in an evolving narrative. You’re just controlling an army against another army in one of countless battles that have no real consequence because there’s always another army and another battle. They state it right up front: “In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.” In that context, there can’t be any good guys, just different factions in an endless struggle.
But yeah, they don’t do a good enough job of reminding fans that the Imperium is only relatable because it has a human face, and is otherwise indistinguishable from any of the other factions in terms of being comically evil.
The whole point is that there are no good guys, only flavors of galaxy-scale horror.
The most common result of that presentation is consumers choosing the most “based” of bad guys with the most exciting aesthetics and slowly seeing those bad guys as the good guys after all.
Which I think is fine, honestly, so long as it doesn’t bleed into reality. It’s like having a favorite sports team. It’s all fun and games until it becomes a personality trait.
That’s the part to me. Just being in an online chat room somewhere, like in an online game, and having the slightest LGBTQIA+ presence brought up (often in a baiting way, unfortunately) and getting shouted down with “suffer not the” and “exterminatus” references is Jokerfying to me.
As well it should be. That’s some bullshit. As I said, I don’t disagree that the Warhammer fanbase is full of trash people, I just wish it weren’t. The underlying source material isn’t inherently bad, but it’s often appropriated by the worst kind of people.
That’s the reason I stopped playing a long time ago. I’d like to enjoy the hobby for what it is, but I don’t want to interact with a lot of the people who I would end up playing with. Same with most gaming hobbies, save for things like TTRPGs or cooperative/PvE multiplayer games where I can still get the full experience even if I’m only playing with people I know.
I play 40k (DA ORKZ IS PROPPA GITZ) but it’s a rare day where there isn’t at least one “just kidding, unless” nazi around in the general community around me.
I think the issue is that you shouldn’t make fascists “fun” or “cool” in any way whatsoever.
In both Star Wars and Troopers the fascists are undeniably fun and entertaining to ride along with. Fun, cool or entertaining things inevitably make people want to imitate or copy-cat them for funsies, and this rubs off into personal identity.
The only movies that portrayed Nazis correctly are the Indiana Jones movies and Come and See. One for portraying the Nazis as a bunch of incompetent buffoons and the other for portraying the Nazis as a bunch of incompetent genocidal buffoons.
This is totally correct and nobody wants to imitate being those nazis as a result.
Verhoeven should have made Doogie Howzer’s character into a fucking clown with a superiority complex that does stupid shit on camera while barking about how smart he is. That may have saved us decades of budding nazis getting unintentional inspiration.
That would have definitely gotten the intended message across better and force UKIP to stan a different movie.
Never ever make your enemies look cool.
It keeps happening and I keep hearing how nothing could have been done and there’d be exactly the same responses from the audience no matter what, which sounds like bullshit to me.
Reposting one of my old comments:
I entirely agree, if fascists are to be portrayed at all it should be as buffoons and idiots, because nobody will want to be seen as a buffoon and idiot.
Which is why my biggest critique of 40k will always be James Workshop are too much of cowards to let another faction be a decent fucking foil for the satire of the Imperium. So long as the fash-inclined fans can circle back around to “Well the Imperium may be bad, but it’s worse everywhere else!” you’ve lost as a satirist. Stop ass-pulling Ws for the blueberries so they always come out on top smelling like roses so you can sell more toys, and actually stand by the idea that there is a viable alternative to human fascism in your fictional setting; instead of leaving that to the interpretation of the most media illiterate people in the history of the concept.
They had a chance with the Tau but then went full gommulist mind control and sterilization of humans. I’d argue the Eldar are still probably better since they more or less have FALGSC, and them not caring about the lives of the xenocidal fascists doesn’t make them evil, it makes them correct.
I have a soft spot for the Orks. Yes, they’re brutal and violent, seemingly without much reason, but I think they’re just vibing with the senseless brutality of the rest of the galaxy. If everyone else was more chill I bet the Orks would be hanging out, partying, fixing up machines for fun, building skateparks and rollercoasters, that sort of thing. They seem like they have the least amount of overt malice or ambition for power. They’re in it for love of the game, and I think there’s an argument that that makes them the least worst out of all of them.
I regret to inform you that (some) Orks are profit-driven.
I choose to believe that thise particular Orks represent deviant behavior that would otherwise be frowned-upon by the bulk of Ork society.
That’s why I play da Orkz. WAAAAAAAAAAGH
One. The Eldar do have a superior society than the Imperium of man so I agree on that front.
On the other hand even with some of the darker aspects the T´au as a faction are still a much better society than the IoM with a focus on collectivism and unity. Like being a human auxillary/civilian on a T´au controlled world is vastly superior to living in the hellhole that is the IoM.
Very cool of you james workshop
I originally thought the caste system was “problematic” enough to leave the Tau as visibly “Better” but still with hangups but they had to go and do it to 'em anyway.
The T’au who already are asian coded with their gundam esque armor surely do get a lot of oh they are ebul 1984 beehive added.
The T´au allow humans freedom of faith btw. There are humans in the Tau Empire that still worship the God Emperor (if in a less zealous manner) that also follow the greater good.
I don’t disagree with your assessment, but I’m sad that the 40K universe can’t be interpreted for what it is. The whole point is that there are no good guys, only flavors of galaxy-scale horror. It makes sense from a game design standpoint because you’re supposed to give up the idea that you’re furthering a righteous cause or participating in an evolving narrative. You’re just controlling an army against another army in one of countless battles that have no real consequence because there’s always another army and another battle. They state it right up front: “In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.” In that context, there can’t be any good guys, just different factions in an endless struggle.
But yeah, they don’t do a good enough job of reminding fans that the Imperium is only relatable because it has a human face, and is otherwise indistinguishable from any of the other factions in terms of being comically evil.
The most common result of that presentation is consumers choosing the most “based” of bad guys with the most exciting aesthetics and slowly seeing those bad guys as the good guys after all.
Which I think is fine, honestly, so long as it doesn’t bleed into reality. It’s like having a favorite sports team. It’s all fun and games until it becomes a personality trait.
That’s the
part to me. Just being in an online chat room somewhere, like in an online game, and having the slightest LGBTQIA+ presence brought up (often in a baiting way, unfortunately) and getting shouted down with “suffer not the” and “exterminatus” references is Jokerfying to me. 
As well it should be. That’s some bullshit. As I said, I don’t disagree that the Warhammer fanbase is full of trash people, I just wish it weren’t. The underlying source material isn’t inherently bad, but it’s often appropriated by the worst kind of people.
That’s the reason I stopped playing a long time ago. I’d like to enjoy the hobby for what it is, but I don’t want to interact with a lot of the people who I would end up playing with. Same with most gaming hobbies, save for things like TTRPGs or cooperative/PvE multiplayer games where I can still get the full experience even if I’m only playing with people I know.
I play 40k (DA ORKZ IS PROPPA GITZ) but it’s a rare day where there isn’t at least one “just kidding, unless” nazi around in the general community around me.
The Mel Brooks strategy
Springtiiiime for Hitlerrrrr…aaaaand Germanyyyy