I am trying very hard to remember what news story compelled me to suddenly look up a video of Hitler speaking on YouTube....but here I am. Let's not bother reading into this...(wait, just remembered. It was an NYTimes Op-Ed I just read....)
But it IS interesting to have all this distance and just watch Hitler speak. It's surreal. I think by the 15th Sieg Heil, I was almost convinced.
Here's a Disney Classic you should just watch if you've never seen it...Nothing like good ol' propaganda for children by Disney...This is a classic.
That cartoon led me to THESE...which are so startling racist that I'm honestly surprised. Which I shouldn't be. But at every turn......jesus.
This one is called "Bugs bunny nips the nips" (No, RS, Japanese people, not nipples, sorry)
3 comments:
As a long time Looney Toons fan, I have seen all three of the cartoons that you've added.
Remember, those cartoons were created when we were in a the midst of a war, a war in which we were savagely and suprisingly sneak attacked. Bluntly put, one of the keys in war is to dehumanize the enemy. An enemy which is not human can be killed.
The cartoons should be viewed as a product of their times, and no more offensive than say Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen in Gone With the Wind. While they couldn't and shouldn't be made today, but you could equate them to when Stewie on Family Guy attacks Bin Ladin.
Seriousness aside, you may want to check out an incredibly funny cartoon, Der Fuhrer's Face. It will have you in stiches.
RS
I didn't claim that there was no purpose served by the racism. I do find some unease with the statement that one of the keys in war is to dehumanize the enemy though. Human or not, we're going to kill them. Plus, I don't think it's enemy specific. I think THE key to war is dehumanizing your own people, or else how could you send so many of your own sons off to battle, knowing full well how many pine boxes will bear fruit on the ride home...
But then again, these clips weren't shown to soldiers. These were shown to children.
I contend differently. If one can be conditioned not to think that the other side is human, it makes it possible to kill them. The difficulty comes when this is taken to far. For instance, you may remember the scene from Saving Private Ryan, where the soldiers kill a guy with his hands raised in surrender, contending that he said “look, I washed for dinner.” It also prevents surrender. Soldiers are more likely to stay put and fight it out if they think the other side is going to kill them anyway, see e.g. Niall Ferguson, The Pity of War.
Further, you are incorrect that these clips were shown to children. Actually, they were viewed by the entire movie going public. Back in the 1940’s, before television, movies were shown in loops. They would start out with a movie preview, then a newsreel, then a comedy short like the Three Stooges, then perhaps a serial film like the Lone Ranger and a cartoon. Then came the feature film. So everyone, not just children, saw these.
Lastly, I’ve given some further thought to the purpose of these cartoons. Its hard to see in hindsight, but the Second World War was a time of fear, we literally feared attacks by the Germans and the Japanese. (Indeed, it’s a point of familial pride, that my great uncle served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in Wichita, Kansas, and not a single Nazi fighter plane made it past Topeka). Even though it is quite unfunny, the movie 1941 shows the prevailing attitude. By opening up the enemy to ridicule, it makes the enemy less fearsome. No one is scared of the Japanese soldier in Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips. These films were great morale boosters.
RS
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