Post #4678 by aquarj on Tue, Jul 30, 2002 1:48 PM

Regarding Germans and "little jack-booted dolls", that's probably a joke, but let me clarify...

Viking culture and imagery was closely tied in with the representations of the norse gods, like Odin and Thor and all that. Likewise the imagery of the tiki gods was often meant for intimidation - the traditional Ku is the war god after all, right? And ancient Polynesian history had its share of man-against-man brutality, directly associated with these images. But I think the use of these images in a modern pop context really has nothing to do with these original meanings. When a little Danish kid wears a Viking helmet, it has absolutely nothing to do with plundering villages, and the culture as a whole recognizes that.

I'm sure the nazi reference is supposed to make a point, since obviously it's hard to "have fun" with those images. But as always, there are people who cherish the bad and people who cherish the good, and it's a shame that Germans are so often associated with just the horrific nazi era. Actually I think the Germans in particular have a history of very powerful iconography, dating much further back than just the last century. And contrary to the stereotype, the Germans know how to have fun too (and a few of them happen to be experts on tiki).

-Randy