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The 'Titanic' and 'Avatar': A Curious Obsession with Nazi Sympathizer Leni Riefenstahl
The American Thinker ^ | 4/22/2011 | Mark Musser

Posted on 04/22/2011 8:03:14 AM PDT by Olympiad Fisherman

Robert von Dassanowsky, the director of Film Studies at the University of Colorado, acutely noticed back in 2001 that James Cameron's epic movie Titanic is based on the German mountain films that Riefenstahl starred in. Although largely ignoring Riefenstahl's compromised relationship with the Nazis, von Dassanowsky makes a compelling case that Cameron's Titanic is a German mountain film set upon the sea ice of the North Atlantic.

Von Dassanowsky even went so far to strongly suggest that the heroine in the Titanic, Rose, is actually based on Riefenstahl's personal character. He then intimates that Cameron may have indeed directed the Titanic to show how Riefenstahl's untamed feminism eventually overcame her compromised relationship with the chauvinism of the Nazis, represented by her dictatorial fiancé on the ship, whom she never married. In the end, Riefenstahl, like Rose, redeemed herself from the dictatorial Nazi regime.

Even more startling, Cameron also borrowed from Nazi Germany's own version of the Titanic made in 1943. In the Nazi version, the hero of the story is a German officer who ...

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; History; Outdoors; Society
KEYWORDS: enemypropaganda; hollywood; leniriefenstahl; riefenstahl; titanic
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To: WOBBLY BOB

21 posted on 04/22/2011 8:26:43 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: ClearCase_guy

The deal with Leni Riefenstahl is much bigger than most people would care to admit.


22 posted on 04/22/2011 8:27:20 AM PDT by Olympiad Fisherman (Olympiad Fisherman)
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To: ClearCase_guy

The deal with Leni Riefenstahl is much bigger than most people would care to admit.


23 posted on 04/22/2011 8:27:30 AM PDT by Olympiad Fisherman (Olympiad Fisherman)
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To: WayneS

Very unlikely.


24 posted on 04/22/2011 8:28:08 AM PDT by Olympiad Fisherman (Olympiad Fisherman)
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To: Olympiad Fisherman

Expand? I don’t know what you’re saying.


25 posted on 04/22/2011 8:28:35 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: ClearCase_guy
But my God, the man knows how to make movies.

It's funny when you see some of his stuff and for a moment you might look at how the technology used is a little dated, and then you remember that when he made some of those things, he had to have the technology invented in the first place.

(Granted, folks like Lucas and Henson actually invented stuff, but Cameron still envisioned what he needed.)

26 posted on 04/22/2011 8:28:57 AM PDT by Tanniker Smith (I didn't know she was a liberal when I married her.)
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To: dead

Your question answers itself.


27 posted on 04/22/2011 8:29:19 AM PDT by Olympiad Fisherman (Olympiad Fisherman)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Have you read the entire article, or just the paragraph up front?


28 posted on 04/22/2011 8:30:27 AM PDT by Olympiad Fisherman (Olympiad Fisherman)
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To: Olympiad Fisherman

You take yourself VERY seriously, don’t you?


29 posted on 04/22/2011 8:31:04 AM PDT by WayneS (Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. -- James Madison)
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To: IronJack
This is too much of a stretch for me. There is no cinematic similarity whatsoever between Titanic and Triumph of the Will.

That is not what is claimed. It is claimed that it is based on the "German mountain films" (Bergfilme) which is a totally different genre than "Triumph of the Will" or "Olympiad".

".... acutely noticed back in 2001 that James Cameron's epic movie Titanic is based on the German mountain films that Riefenstahl starred in."

A mountain film is a film genre that focuses on mountaineering and especially the battle of man against nature.

The Bergfilme was as popular in the German cinema in the 1930's as the Western was popular in the American cinema in the 1950's.

30 posted on 04/22/2011 8:32:03 AM PDT by Polybius
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To: Olympiad Fisherman
I've seen you post a large number of one sentence replies, which are cryptic and contain no actual intellectual content. You seem to think you have deep insight -- but you hide it well.

Be expository if you want people to pay attention to you.

31 posted on 04/22/2011 8:32:23 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: dfwgator

Well done!


32 posted on 04/22/2011 8:32:31 AM PDT by WayneS (Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. -- James Madison)
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To: dfwgator; All

“Das Blaue Licht” (aka The Blue Light) is availible at Amazon.com It is well worth $18. http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Light-Leni-Riefenstahl/dp/B000HD1MW0/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1303485767&sr=1-1


33 posted on 04/22/2011 8:32:44 AM PDT by BenLurkin (This post is not a statement of fact. It is merely a personal opinion -- or humor -- or both)
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To: WayneS
"...OR, perhaps a certain 'film studies' professor is bored and craves attention.. "

No kidding. Rose is Molly Brown.

34 posted on 04/22/2011 8:32:46 AM PDT by moehoward
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To: Olympiad Fisherman

Though there is the argument that Cameron’s movie career is nothing more than a vehicle to help him find his next wife, I find this analysis a far, far reach.


35 posted on 04/22/2011 8:33:07 AM PDT by righttackle44 (I may not be much, but I raised a U.S. Marine.)
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To: driftless2

Oh, that’s right, he was talking about the ‘Avatar’ with the blue people in it, not the robe-wearing/arrow-headed guy. I’m glad I’ve finally got that straight.

But now I have to wonder if maybe “Blue Man Group” was influenced by Leni Riefenstahl.


36 posted on 04/22/2011 8:36:38 AM PDT by WayneS (Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. -- James Madison)
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To: Olympiad Fisherman

Movie reviewers get paid to write nonsense. This is a good example. Avatar was an anti-American leftist fantasy, but it was a ripoff of Dances with Wolves, not Leni Riefenstal.


37 posted on 04/22/2011 8:39:46 AM PDT by ozzymandus
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To: Olympiad Fisherman
The deal with Leni Riefenstahl is much bigger than most people would care to admit.

Is your point that Cameron was very influenced by, and incorporates references to Riefenstahl, in his movies?

If that's it, it's not really a very important point.

Riefenstahl was an amazingly influential director. The entire direction of cinema was influenced greatly by her, as it was Georges Méliès or KKK-sympathetic D.W. Griffith.

38 posted on 04/22/2011 8:45:31 AM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: ozzymandus
Do you think people will accuse me of being influenced by other directors when they see MY latest film: Titanic Holy Mountain Dances of the Blue Pocohontas People?
39 posted on 04/22/2011 8:46:29 AM PDT by WayneS (Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. -- James Madison)
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To: WOBBLY BOB

I’ve never seen Avatar, and I never plan on it. That would take up 3 hrs. of my life I could never get back.


40 posted on 04/22/2011 8:52:17 AM PDT by KansasGirl
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