Distinguishing the "Good" from the "Bad"

Much like every facet of the Nazi German lifestyle, the quality of artwork was directly dictated from Hitler and his trusted committees (which merely stood in for Hitler when he was not available to hand-pick the art himself). If the piece of artwork helped push the image of a "perfect" Germany, the it was likely to hang on the walls of Hitler's public art showings. These included images of what a "good" German would both do and look like. On the other hand, modern art were deemed "bad" because they looked abnormal and were not representative of what the new German nation was. To this point, Nazi propaganda connected the modern art with pictures of people with abnormal features in order to reason that both should be permanently removed from the new German world.

So much like film, literature, etc., the transformation of what defined German artwork was just as much propaganda as anything else used to distribute to the masses. The political message of this new German artwork is also quite parallel to that of Nazi politics as well. The "good" art was more so about flash rather than substance, to the point that many of the pieces of art could be categorized as kitsch (especially portraits of Hitler); like the politics, there was little meaning behind the message. The pieces of modern art, labeled as "bad," were confiscated and destroyed for their irregularity and differing style rather than analyzed for what the deeper meaning really was. So whereas the "bad" pieces of art may have had a meaningful message or purpose behind their style, the "good" pieces of art were glorified because they played into the theatrics of the Nazi party.

Cohen's film was absolutely political in meaning. It is understandable to only include certain aspects of years of information in order to make a point (as I have done by narrowing down 2 hours of film into a couple of paragraphs), but the way he shaped and ordered the information shows a political directive. By presenting the highlights of a political message, Cohen's film becomes political, in turn.