204
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
amplifies exploitation and splatter with “factual horror” (e.g. Ilsa: She-Wolf
of the SS; Inglourious Basterds). 1
Regardless of exploitative characteristics, any such media products
offer an interpretation of the past. Due to their distinctive influence on
popular culture, the Wolfenstein video games have been argued to be a “site
of mass-schooling” about the Second World War. 2 Despite their use of retro
science fiction elements, the games also feature many historically accurate
elements and a meticulously designed Second World War backdrop. The
games’ production company filters these factuality signals in two ways.
Firstly, when games are designed or redesigned for a broader audience (in the
case of the Wolfenstein 3D SNES version and Wolfenstein RPG), and secondly
when they are localized for the German market, where legal restrictions
exist regarding the display of NS symbols and NS rule. 3 This process can
be called institutional filtering, meaning that production companies and
social institutions set constraints on media content.
The changes to the Wolfenstein games go beyond simple filtering of forbidden symbols like the swastika, and affect the ideological interpretations
of the past such games offer. The result is a superficially “sanitized” media
product that camouflages WWII references. This camouflaging of the war
backdrop intensifies its function as a factuality signal. The camouflaging
grants NS rule an aura of taboo, further adding to the mythologization of
Nazi Germany in the Wolfenstein series. Furthermore, the interpretations
of the past that the Wolfenstein games offer become more selective when
they are adapted to the German market.
By examining the legal background for the f iltering of Wolfenstein
games, and how it amplifies the WWII mythologization in the filtered
version, this chapter provides an exemplary look at adaptations of a global
transmedial franchise in the course of transculturation processes. The
chapter furthermore shows the interplay of various contextual domains
in shaping discourse. The following section introduces the ways in which
the Wolfenstein series follows popular media strategies for remembering the Holocaust. Then, the processes of institutional filtering that the
Wolfenstein games undergo are highlighted, before discussing the German
1 Steven Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981); Joe Johnston, Captain America (2011); Don
Edmonds, Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS (1974); Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds (2009).
2 Jeff Hayton, “Digital Nazis: Genre, History and the Displacement of Evil in First-Person
Shooters.” In Nazisploitation!: The Nazi Image in Low-Brow Cinema and Culture, ed. Daniel H.
Magilow, Elizabeth Bridges and Vander Lugt, Kristin T. (New York: Continuum, 2012), 200.
3 Inc. id Software, Wolfenstein 3D (Imagineer Co., Limited, 1993); id Mobile, Wolfenstein RPG
(Apple, Inc., 2009).
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
amplifies exploitation and splatter with “factual horror” (e.g. Ilsa: She-Wolf
of the SS; Inglourious Basterds). 1
Regardless of exploitative characteristics, any such media products
offer an interpretation of the past. Due to their distinctive influence on
popular culture, the Wolfenstein video games have been argued to be a “site
of mass-schooling” about the Second World War. 2 Despite their use of retro
science fiction elements, the games also feature many historically accurate
elements and a meticulously designed Second World War backdrop. The
games’ production company filters these factuality signals in two ways.
Firstly, when games are designed or redesigned for a broader audience (in the
case of the Wolfenstein 3D SNES version and Wolfenstein RPG), and secondly
when they are localized for the German market, where legal restrictions
exist regarding the display of NS symbols and NS rule. 3 This process can
be called institutional filtering, meaning that production companies and
social institutions set constraints on media content.
The changes to the Wolfenstein games go beyond simple filtering of forbidden symbols like the swastika, and affect the ideological interpretations
of the past such games offer. The result is a superficially “sanitized” media
product that camouflages WWII references. This camouflaging of the war
backdrop intensifies its function as a factuality signal. The camouflaging
grants NS rule an aura of taboo, further adding to the mythologization of
Nazi Germany in the Wolfenstein series. Furthermore, the interpretations
of the past that the Wolfenstein games offer become more selective when
they are adapted to the German market.
By examining the legal background for the f iltering of Wolfenstein
games, and how it amplifies the WWII mythologization in the filtered
version, this chapter provides an exemplary look at adaptations of a global
transmedial franchise in the course of transculturation processes. The
chapter furthermore shows the interplay of various contextual domains
in shaping discourse. The following section introduces the ways in which
the Wolfenstein series follows popular media strategies for remembering the Holocaust. Then, the processes of institutional filtering that the
Wolfenstein games undergo are highlighted, before discussing the German
1 Steven Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981); Joe Johnston, Captain America (2011); Don
Edmonds, Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS (1974); Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds (2009).
2 Jeff Hayton, “Digital Nazis: Genre, History and the Displacement of Evil in First-Person
Shooters.” In Nazisploitation!: The Nazi Image in Low-Brow Cinema and Culture, ed. Daniel H.
Magilow, Elizabeth Bridges and Vander Lugt, Kristin T. (New York: Continuum, 2012), 200.
3 Inc. id Software, Wolfenstein 3D (Imagineer Co., Limited, 1993); id Mobile, Wolfenstein RPG
(Apple, Inc., 2009).