Kevin Williamson‘s latest contribution to the print edition of National Review includes this amusing observation about the cinematic world:
Hollywood loves Nazis, to the extent that it finds ways to insert them into films in which they have no business appearing: The Sum of All Fears, set in the 21st century, infamously replaced the book’s Islamic terrorists (who seemed reasonably relevant seven months after the al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington) with Nazis. Asked about that, a Hollywood executive explained that the situation is simple: No one even complains if your villain is a Nazi. You can say or do anything in the world with Nazis, whereas if your villain is a cross-dressing serial killer who skins women, you’ll get an earful from cross-dressers who are not serial killers and who do not skin women but are nonetheless offended at the portrayal.
Nazis are simple, which is very attractive if you also are simple.