Today marks Donald Duck’s 75th birthday. Now, I don’t have a grudge against Donald (or Disney) and always loved the cartoons he’s featured in. What I regret though is the fact that there is a side to Donald Duck and Disney that often doesn’t get any attention anymore, namely the Disney work that was produced during World War II. This is why, what follows might come as a surprise for many.
The Disney Studios were one, amonst many others to make propagandic shortfilms for the US government & army throughout the war. During my studies at the Ghent University I wrote paper on the subject and did some research into the themes they touched. An interesting subject, that has always drawn my attention.
Between 1942 and 1945, good old Walt set out to produce a bunch of films for the US government. It was a means for him to survive an economic harsh period, but people have also always written that Walt had a darkside himself. These films were mainly anti-German and anti-Japanese cartoons, both for soldiers as the general public. The most famous ones are Commando Duck (’44), Der Fuhrer’s Face (’42) and Education of Death (’43), pro-American war propaganda in an effort to increase war bonds sales and overall support for the war.
I suggest you check out the clips below and let us know what you think about them as I really don’t know what other people think about it all. They’re pieces of art in a certain way (especially when you consider they that they’ve been made entirely by hand), but on the other/darker side they contain anti-racial messages that remain to shock people up till today. This is also why they have been more or less banned and hardly are mentioned nowadays. Also bare in mind that in those days, these cartoons would be screened in cinema’s throughout the country and I can only wonder what peoples reactions were afterwards.
“Education for Death- The Making of a Nazi” takes on the perspective of Hans, a young German boy. As the movie progresses and Hans is exposed to Hitler youth and the Nazi culture, his value of human life decreases.
In “Der Fuehrer’s Face,” Donald Duck breaks down after experiencing a nightmare where he has to make do with eating disgusting Nazi food rations and experiences a day at a Nazi artillery factory.
In “Commando Duck”, Donald destroys an entire Japanese airbase.
The last clip I added is one from the MGM Studios. It’s my alltime favorite and brings us the three little pigs and the big bad wolf (Hitler) as we’ve never seen them before. If there’s one clip you should see its this one.
If you like to find out more on this story I suggest you drop me a line or hit your local library and try and get your hands on “Mou$e Entertainment”. This book, by Rein van Willigen, gives you the history of Disney throughout the years. Google & YouTube can also help you off course. Search queries containing the words ‘propaganda, cartoons, Disney & World War II’ will give you enough content to fill an evening. Out.
Tagged: der fuhrer's face, disney, donald duck, eduction of death, mgm studios, propaganda cartoons, world war II
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[...] I’ve written about this in the past. Its an old fascination of mine: WWII and other animated propaganda from the 1940s onwards. Bored with the regular assignments at University and willing to do discover something unknown or at least have a good time while spending hours behind your typewriter doing research I even wrote a paper on the matter. [...]
One Comment
Echt de moeite. Had er nog nooit van gehoord en bij deze weet ik dat nu ook weeral. Nice work!