Cartoons Go to War

1
Cartoons Go to War

• We usually think of cartoons as childrens fare,
  but in studying the ways in which they both
  reflect and direct our culture, were defining
  them as adult entertainments that provide models
  for
• Gender and sex roles
• Racial attitudes
• Class differences
• Patterns of national identity
• Above all, like all Hollywood products, cartoons
  are . . .

2
Commodities to be consumed

• They are sold as entertainment, but while they
  entertain, they can also influence those who view
  them by promoting
• Mainstream values
• Attitudes reinforced by government and/or
  industry
• Education for Death, Disney, 1943
• Foreign policy
• Assent to an unpopular course of action
• The New Spirit, Disney, 1942

3
US Divided Over WWII in 1940

• Ethnic groups favored
• Isolation (German and Italian)
• Support of Allies (Polish, Danish, Norwegian)
• Support of England (Anglo Saxon Protestants)
• Support of anyone but England (Irish Catholics)
• African Americans
• 18 felt Japan would treat them better
• 31 felt there would be no difference between US
  and Japan winning the war
• 28 felt better off with current US government

4
More Lack of Support

• Labor Unions and their members
• Draftees
• People confronted with shortages on the home
  front
• Cartoons could parody such attitudes
• Draftee Daffy (1942)
• The Weakly Reporter (1944)

5
Bettys Replacement

• While real middle class women worked outside the
  home in large numbers for the first time in US
  history, the dream woman of the 40s became
  sexiness objectified, thanks to Tex Avery
• Little Red Riding Hood (1942)
• Swing Shift Cinderella (1944)
• Little Red Riding Rabbit (1944)

6
Building Consensus
Tokio Jokio, WB,1943
Bury the Axis, Bunin, 1943
Nimbus Libre, Vichy, 1943
7
Social Engineering

• When a large number of persons combine for a
  common purpose, each one feels less aware of his
  own weakness and limitations . . . . They can
  together achieve more than the mere sum of their
  achievements together. United under a leader, he
  will come to personify them collectively, to
  embody their aspirations, and to get most of the
  credit for accomplishments. (Ellis Freeman,
  1940)

8
Coming Soon Private Snafu

• How Cartoons Mobilized the Nation
• And
• Helped the Army Win the War

9
Snafu

• Appeared as part of the Army Screen Magazine
• Created by Theodor Geisel
• Represented as urban, working class man
• Low intelligence and no initiative
• Discontented and resentful of army life

10
Biology is Destiny

• We are each ideally suited to the status into
  which we are born.
• We should not try to move up, but rather to do
  the best possible job we can within our
  socioeconomic class.
• Why is this a useful concept for the army to
  teach, particularly a segregated army?
• What happens when Snafu tries to jump up in the
  military hierarchy?

11
What can we learn from Snafu?

• Cultural concerns in the 1940s US are shown in
  cartoons through use of
• Stereotypes
• Gender
• Race or Nationality
• Class
• Representations of good and bad character and
  choices are shown as a product of gender, race or
  nationality, or class
• Anger or discontent often disguised as humor

12
Bringing the Country Together

• Invoking American Heroes
• Scrap Happy Daffy (1943)
• Supporting the Allies
• Russian Rhapsody (1944)

13
Bringing the Country Together

• Demonizing Axis
• Plane Daffy (WB, 1944)
• Herr Meets Hare (WB, 1945)
• What cultural assumptions about race, ethnicity,
  gender roles, patriotism, and heroism are
  expressed in these cartoons? What can we learn
  about US ideology from watching them?