Similar to Blitz Wolf, this cartoon deals with the way animators used cartoons during the World War II era. However, this cartoon was distributed by Warner Brothers Animations and produced by Leon Schlesinger. It was directed by Friz Freleng. It is interesting how many animation studios used the war as a means for profit. Instead of developing normal cartoons, animators used the war for different ideas. In this blog post, I will give a brief synopsis of the short animation, some interesting facts about the animation, as well as, discuss how this short gives the audience a sense of nationalism.
In the beginning of the animation, a German commander (Von Vulture) is given a telegram from the “Gestinko Gestapo.” The telegrams says if he allows anymore unwanted people through, he’ll get in trouble. After hearing a plane outside, Von Vulture calls Schultz, a soldier who Von Vulture hits over the head with a mallet. When they use the spotlight, they see Daffy Duck. However, after Daffy yells at them to turn off the light, Schultz does so, but turns it back on when Von Vulture yells at him. Unable to locate Daffy, there are hand puppets visible from the light. After noticing Daffy is doing this, he runs behind a curtain that says “asbestos.” When Von Vulture opens the curtain, Daffy has a funny face (used to make fun of the Japanese in other cartoons) and scares off Von Vulture. Then the typical bomb joke takes play and Daffy gives Von a bomb as a gift. When he realizes what it is, he gives it to Schultz who is flown up in the sky. When he comes down, Von is about to hit him with a mallet, but Daffy hits him instead.
Von Vulture then chases him to a phone booth, saying “hail Hitler” at a skunk. Then, Daffy goes inside the telephone booth, talking to someone on the phone. Here, there are a series of cards Daffy holds up to translate what he is saying. When he allows Von Vulture to go in and use the phone, he thinks he is talking to Schultz, however he isn’t. After realizing this, Daffy jumps into plane and is almost taken out by German airplanes. However, they end up destroying each other and Von Vulture shoots down Daffy. Daffy hides in a human canon, which Von shoots off. Daffy flies out with to United States Flags in his hands. He lands beside Hitler, who is giving a speech. Daffy then hits Hitler on the head with a mallet, when all of a sudden Hitler yells for Schultz.
Along with humor, this animation has some very interesting facts. One fact is when Daffy is parachuting down at the beginning, he is singing “She was poor but she was honest.” This song was popular in Britain during World War II. A funny fact about this cartoon is about the telegram. It was to Von Vulture as an uberkommandant, which is a fictional German rank. Also, all of the words in German on the telegram were words for foods. When Von takes down Daffy’s plane, he uses an MP40. The music playing while Hitler is giving his speech is a distorted version of “The More We Play Together.” Out of all of these facts, the last one is the most intriguing because it has absolutely nothing to do with something inside the cartoon. A clip from this cartoon is played during the introduction of Futurama.
Looking at this cartoon as a child, I would not really associate it to any kind of propaganda. However now, I can see how it is propaganda and supports United States Nationalism. For example, the good guy, Daffy Duck, prevails throughout the whole cartoon. He is never hurt and when it looks like he is about to get hurt, he doesn’t because he comes out winning in the end. Another interesting thing about this is the fact that he waves two American Flags in the air, signifying that the United States is the superior. This cartoon, as well as many other cartoons, had one mission and one mission only: to support the war efforts and to create humor while doing so (to make it less noticeable to the public). Overall, this cartoon achieves this goal.
ETA: I commented on the Blogs of Jessica Martin and Myca Taylor.
Til Next Time…
Its amazing how well a cartoon can instill a sense of nationalism far below the radar of any unsuspecting child that views it. Nowadays, things have changed a bit, with instant communication allowing for a community of different opinions to form, and keeping nationalist pride from being the standard accross the country. This war in the Middle east is not popular compared to WWII, and with good reason, so it’s easy to see how nationalism can get left behind.