Thursday, April 10, 2008
Disney Propaganda??
Was even necessary for Disney to create all this propaganda for the government? Wasn't obvious to the U.S. citizens of the atrocities and evilness of Germany and Japan prior to the ending of the war? Wasn't their detailed reports in the newspapers of some of the atrocities committed by both nations prior to the war? It seems to me that this was kind of superfluous to the overall war effort and it created a way for people at Disney to avoid frontline service by supporting the war effort through the excuse of propaganda.
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6 comments:
While Americans knew of some of the atrocities, most did not completely believe them. And considering they were told the war would end soon, and the number of American casualties, while no where near that of other countries, probably caused people to doubt this war. In order to keep up support propaganda films were needed. While today's society is different from that of WWII, what would you rather do read a paper or go to a movie, which would have been a fairly new and unique experience?
Propaganda is an interesting ploy of governments to sway people. I think the propaganda that is used during times of war is especially interesting. A lot of it is very clearly propaganda.
I have done some research on the reports that were avaliable during the war about the Holocaust. It was very interesting to see how early in the war reports were made on the elimination of the Jews. I think people were so shocked that such atrocities were being committed, that it was easier to not believe the media. On the other hand there were a lot of contridicted reports from various sources which made it very hard to discern the truth.
artists from Disney also designed insignia's for different units during the war, most notably the "Flying Tigers" squadron, but i think the propaganda is what they are most know for in the WWII era
To most I'm guessing it was more than propaganda since it won best Oscar for short animation that year. It's weird how propaganda leads to patriotism. We can't seem to truly love our country and be proud unless we have someone else to hate and despise.
I think adults understood why America was fighting a war and but young children did not. I think the cartoons were geared more towards younger children then adults. It is hard for young kids to understand death and explain to them the atrocities that the Axis powers were committing and I think a cartoon was the best way to inform the kids without going to much detail about why there father, uncle, or older brother was off fighting.
They say art reflects the times. Disney was owned and operated by Americans - they became involved in the way that was familiar to them. Don't rely on people to make themselves familiar with what's going on in the news. Consider that more people in the US today know who is on American Idol than who is the Vice President. ...same thing. Disney probably increased awareness more than you know.
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