I'll take my propaganda with a side of loony tunes

March 23, 2006 10:46 PM

Education for Death. (YouTubefilter.) Disney-produced anti-Nazi cartoon short from 1943. Look for Hitler's Satanic horns. More weirdness from WWII: Warner Bros Snafuperman, starring Pvt. Snafu (originally created by Dr. Seuss!), who also deals with spies, all while jabbering away in a voice that sounds disconcertingly like that of a certain cwazy wabbit. From Archive. org -- Pvt. Snafu learns about booby traps, in one case literally. Bugs himself joined the Air Force, and was faced with gremlins for his trouble. Superman himself got in on the act, battling Japoteurs. After all, during the War we were plenty worried about those canny Japanese.
posted by Astro Zombie (26 comments total)

Poor Hans, heiling and marching, marching and heiling.
posted by tellurian at 11:22 PM on March 23, 2006

Wow, that was great. I've seen a lot of these before, but not Education for Death. Some really nice Hiltermation there. It's a testament to Ward Kimball's talent that he could make even Der Fuehrer funny. There's more here, but only in short clips.
Thanks, Astro Zombie!

Am I the only one who got a jolt of Tara Reid during the reveal of Sleeping Germany?

oh, and Godwin!
posted by maryh at 11:32 PM on March 23, 2006

Pre-Godwined for your viewing pleasure.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:34 PM on March 23, 2006

Interestingly, Germany still has a list of acceptable names. And I'm pretty sure that Hans is still allowed -- for now.

Nice post, Astro Zombie!
posted by Ljubljana at 12:28 AM on March 24, 2006

Great post, Astro Zombie. Seuss was quite outspoken against American isolationist policy, so it is cool to see his name in there as well.
posted by GooseOnTheLoose at 12:59 AM on March 24, 2006

I am 99% certain this has come up before, but it is a fascinating subject and good to see that it's on youtube. Not to PepsiBlue, but Disney recently made a DVD compilation of their wartime shorts available.
posted by mek at 1:52 AM on March 24, 2006

nice post. as an addition: i've just uploaded Der Fuehrers Face to youtube a few hours ago. (wikipedia entry)
posted by kolophon at 2:29 AM on March 24, 2006

Wasn't that toon hosted by archive.org already back in 1999?
posted by dabitch at 2:58 AM on March 24, 2006

dabitch: you mean Der Fuehrer's Face? they probably pulled it because it was released on the DVD compilation.

I wonder, will youtube just delete the clip or my account altogether when disney finds out?
posted by kolophon at 3:26 AM on March 24, 2006

Thanks Astro Zombie & kolophon! I now have "Heil! Heil! Right in Der Fuehrer's Face!" stuck on my internal jukebox.
posted by saturnine at 4:07 AM on March 24, 2006

What saturnine said. Shit. I'm going to be humming that friggin' tune all week.
posted by unreason at 5:23 AM on March 24, 2006

Great post! And thanks, kolophon, I've been wanting to see "Der Fuehrer's Face" for years.
posted by languagehat at 5:35 AM on March 24, 2006

A few comments from the final link:

Reviewer: TexasTechie - 5 out of 5 stars - November 23, 2005
Subject: One of the better War Films - My Japan
Excellent for it's genre. I see some more critical reviews and wish to remind the viewer that this is/was total war. It was the Japanese in the unprovoked attack on the US. I see some Monday morning quarter-backing arguing against the use of cinema in this fashion. But there was no TV, FM radio, satelittes or internet. A message had to be conveyed and this was one way to do it. We have somehow, elevated, ourselves to be above a unified message or unified effort to win a war. This film is a throw-back, granted, but it should remind us that there is nothing wrong with despising an enemy. It is meant to portray the enemy in a bad light. We are not supposed to give them "equal time" to state their case. They are murderers and thugs. Enjoy the film for what it is/was. A great view on a ruthless enemy.

Reviewer: riga4me - 1 out of 5 stars - January 11, 2005
Subject: Remember the rape of Nanking
When the bomb dropped, it didn't kill enough of those Japs. Remember how they treated our POW's? I thought not. You liberals still have your heads up your ass. As for the Japs they still will not admitt to the rape of Nanking. So go and buy a fucking Toyota and stick it you your ass. If that doesn't do for you, let me know where you live and we can have a one on one.
Semper Fi
posted by Drexen at 5:39 AM on March 24, 2006

Cool.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:44 AM on March 24, 2006

Good stuff, Astro Zombie.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:10 AM on March 24, 2006

Related: I posted a link about the Disney DVD set that has "Der Fuehrer's Face" previously.
posted by Prospero at 6:12 AM on March 24, 2006

Theodore Geisel did a lot of editorial cartooning before becoming a children's author. The book Dr. Seuss Goes To War is a must-read for fans.
posted by TedW at 6:20 AM on March 24, 2006

The chinese had a bunch of anti-japanese riots a couple years ago, they had some pretty compelling arguments. Unlike the Germans, the Japanese don't know much about their actions in WWII.
posted by delmoi at 7:01 AM on March 24, 2006

Apparently, Hans grew up, became non-animated, and appeared in Don't Be a Sucker.
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:40 AM on March 24, 2006

Unlike the Germans, the Japanese don't know much about their actions in WWII.

I can attest to that.

there is nothing wrong with despising an enemy. It is meant to portray the enemy in a bad light.

I�m aware of the long history of dehumanization in war propaganda � depicting the Japanese as sub-human, etc. One would think, though, that if there is reason enough to go to war, those reasons make a fine display of the enemy in a bad light. I mean, for friggin sake. Hitler needs demon-horns? The Nazis weren�t bad enough on their own?

Not that I'm against comedic depictions. I still don't understand it when some people argue that the H-man can't be a target of humour.
posted by dreamsign at 8:46 AM on March 24, 2006

"This film is a throw-back, granted, but it should remind us that there is nothing wrong with despising an enemy. It is meant to portray the enemy in a bad light. We are not supposed to give them "equal time" to state their case. They are murderers and thugs."

Wha? That guy made that comment in 2005? What an idiot.


"Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips"
Peanut or Cheese?


Captain America had some of this way back. It was everywhere.
posted by Smedleyman at 9:01 AM on March 24, 2006

The Nazi leadership admired Disney's animated films and recognized their potential for getting propaganda the message across. However, German animators started late and never created anything equal to Disney's efforts. From The Animated Cartoon Film in the Third Reich:

A diary mark of Goebbels makes Hitler's enthusiasm clear: “I have given twelve Mickey-Mouse-movies as a present for the Führer at Christmas! He is being pleased about it. He is absolute happy about this treasure".
...
A lot of animation artists were ordered in whole Germany from the Goebbelsschen propaganda machinery in the 30's and made them create a German Walt Disney pendant in order to face up to the overpowerful "US factory" squarely. They studied the techniques of Diseny and looked for new ways at the same time.

The technique of the Disney studios were already partial copied before the assumption of power happened. Already in 1931 the German animation artists drew their figures - analogous to Walt Disney - with four instead of five fingers, which involved an important saving of time while producing the figures.

Along with the outbreak of World War II the movies were increasingly included for the propaganda too. The animated film "Der Störenfried - The Troublemaker" by Hans Held shows, how all animals of the forest hold together in order to drive the troublemaker - a fox - away. The hedgehogs with Wehrmacht helmets and the wasps mobilized [frame].

More about German animation of the time here.

I don't know which image is more chilling: Hitler, Goebbels and guests laughing at Mickey Mouse after dinner; or Reich Propaganda Ministry officials and staff analyzing Disney films for proper technique? It's hard to beat good old Hollywood know-how, but the problem is you never know who's watching...
posted by cenoxo at 9:42 AM on March 24, 2006

Wow. Someone just posted a Disney VD film on Google Videos.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:13 PM on March 24, 2006

A great post, Astro, with some wonderful additions by folks in the comments. I teach history online, so this stuff is gold to me. Time to update the reading list.
posted by LarryC at 4:23 PM on March 24, 2006

Fascinating historical artifact, but I wonder how accurately it reflects the book. For one thing, it portrays Hans as born under the Nazis, then growing to manhood and joining the Wehrmacht. But nobody born after the Nazis took power would have been older than 12 by the time the war ended.

In other words, this may have reflected how Nazism did try to teach children, but it doesn't explain how ordinary Germans who grew up in the Weimar Republic became Nazis.
posted by dhartung at 7:08 PM on March 24, 2006

Metafilter: I have given twelve Mickey-Mouse-movies as a present for the Führer at Christmas!
posted by EarBucket at 4:08 PM on March 25, 2006