Flag of the Kriegsmarine
In Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981 Harrison Ford plays as the dashing and heroic archaeologist in pursuit of the biblical treasures. He travels the world from Asia to Arabia on his quest.
Upon his grand discovery of the Lost Ark, he takes a life and death chance to get it back. He secretly boards a German Sub and puts his faith in the unknown. The pic above shows Indy boarding the German Sub. Luckily for Indy, the sub does not submerge before arriving at its secret location in the Greek Isles. In the far distance his allied shipmates are cheering him to save Marion and to protect the Lost Ark.
Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981
Kriegsmarine Nazi Flag as it appeared from the obverse
The WWII Kriegsmarine flag appears from the obverse side in this movie. The flag of the German Navy during WWII featured a black and white Scandinavian cross centered on a swastika on a red field.
Hollywood is one of the few places where you can get people to pay you money to wave a Nazi Flag in front of your face - but remember context is key. In 1981 G. Lucas and S. Spielberg were successful in waving the Nazi flag and in the same work of art at great profit, burn the American Flag.
I must say that I am rather confused (and/or stupid). Why is the swastika inverted?
ReplyDeleteBecause that is how it was shown in Raiders of the Lost Ark back in 1981.
ReplyDeleteI understand that, but why? Just for the filming to make it "less offensive"? Or is there a historical reason for it?
DeleteI think it just ended up that way in the film, it was not a PC move. Nazi flags appear several more times in the movie(s). Besides, Lucas and Spielberg even burn an American flag in Raiders.
Deletehttp://zebratigerfish.blogspot.com/2012/01/blog-post_03.html
It is shown that way because that is the reverse/opposite side of the flag. Turn the flag over and it looks normal.
DeleteYes, the naval flag (when seeing the back) has a mirror image. However, the Nazi Party flag had a white circle sewn on both sides -- so that the swastika is the Nazi version no matter how you look at it. Believe it or not, the reversed image is not a Nazi swastika -- it's a Buddhist good luck symbol. Hitler flipped it on purpose -- kind of a bad luck symbol.
ReplyDelete