Roseanne as Hitler: Funny or offensive?

Heeb Magazine's most recent Germany issue has the blogosphere and media up in arms. Why? Because Roseanne Barr appears in the magazine dressed up as a domestic Hitler (at her request) with an apron and potholders baking burnt "Jew cookies."

Don't believe it? Here's the image:

Bloggers described Roseanne Barr's photo shoot as "perverse," that it is her "most recent tailspin into the gutter," and said that she "sunk to a new low." One blogger wrote that she "died a little inside when [Roseanne] donned a Swastika armband, then placed one of the 'gingerbread victims' and a Polaroid of herself in Hitler costume into a Ziploc bag as a memento for her 13-year-old son."

SF-based comic Lisa Geduldig wrote in a letter to the editor that the photographs were "despicable, unfunny, disgusting, and offensive. I am a Jewish stand up comic, very progressive, and have a sense of humor,
but this is far from humorous and so brainless of you to do."

Heeb editor Joshua Neumann defended the magazine's choice to create such a photoshoot. In a letter published days after the pic went viral, he agreed that the photograph has "stirred up all sorts of bizarre accusations towards her" but said that fingerpointing "completely ignores the very particular context in which the image was created." He goes on: "Heeb is a satirical Jewish culture magazine that interrogates stereotypes and ideas (hopefully in creative ways) that many hold sacred in order to represent the complex and nuanced perspectives that many Jews have about their identities ... We're trying to communicate something truthful about contemporary Jewishness. Yes, that may sound impossibly high-fallutin, but it’s the truth and while we kind of don’t give a shit whether the magazine wreaks havoc on smug and sanctimonious visions of Jewish life, we do care when our intentions (or those of our collaborators) are distorted."

Neumann says that the Holocaust has always bred a distinct humor, but until recently those jokes were uttered in private. Today's pop culture and entertainment landscape is different. "Just this month, Brüno (at one point, America’s number one box office draw) introduced the concept of 'bleaching one’s Auschwitz' and the climax of The Hangover (which has now grossed over $247 million) revolved around a stripper returning the ring of the grandmother of one of the leads. 'I didn’t know that they gave out rings in the Holocaust,' jokes the character played by Zach Galfinakis. And what better way to capture this moment in popular culture than by having the original 'domestic goddess' don the Fuhrer’s famous mustache? For better or worse, hasn’t the Holocaust itself been domesticated?"

Both sides have good points. I personally am not offended by the image because I've been a Heeb subscriber and am unfazed by how they push the envelope. In fact, I like it (though consider that at 28 years old I'm their intended audience). But as the grandchild of a Holocaust survivor, I personally don't think the photos are funny.

Tablet Magazine asked the best question of all: "What, actually, is the joke?"

"Unlike The Producers, in which the humor is as obvious as the offensiveness, the Barr image is arresting and provocative but little more. We agree that people would be wrong to accuse Heeb of ill intentions. But Heeb should be less worried about such overt critics and more concerned about those who take a look, register the image, and then move on to something else that doesn’t commit the lesser sin of protesting too much."

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