Intention and Context

As I procrastinated doing this assignment, I decided to play a couple rounds of Pokémon Shuffle, a match-three videogame available on mobile devices. I had been stuck for days on stage 120, Mega Glalie, and had been increasingly frustrated with my lack of progress. As I eventually turned to the Internet for advice, I stumbled upon a quote from a redditor referencing another character in the game: “Onix is literally Hitler.” Of course, I had not reached that particular stage yet, but that his/her sentiments echoed mine as I faced my own ruthless opponent.

It was interesting that Adolf Hitler, a man so widely regarded as evil, could be referenced in such a trivial context, essentially becoming a pop culture reference in the process. I remembered comparisons of Obama to Hitler that eventually became a meme, complete with joke Photoshop images comparing the two. Hitler was eventually compared to everything from videogame companies to the Kardashian family. The humor lay in the obvious faulty comparison, as well as relatable frustrations with the non-Hitler entity. This became the primary inspiration for my project.