Propaganda and World War II on the Home Front: Der Fuehrer’s Face

Context

During World War II, the United States’ economy left the stagnation of the Great Depression and became the “Arsenal of Democracy” as factories and farms mobilized for building the weapons needed by America and the Allied Powers. The quantity of goods produced was staggering, ranging from 1,556 naval vessels and 299,294 aircraft to 6.5 million rifles and 40 billion bullets (Kennedy 655). The home front victories, however, came with a price. While the continental United States escaped the horrors of bombing and combat, civilian life lost many of its peacetime pleasantries. Long hours at work, rationing, and shortages of consumer goods and housing, all took their toll on morale (Cohen 62-75 ). Factories racially integrated their workforces in order to meet the demands of wartime production and as the result of President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8802 in June 1941 that established the Far Employment Practices Commission. Conflict erupted on the shop floor as white workers downed tools in “hate strikes.” Racial violence also spilled into overcrowded wartime cities, notably in the 1943 Detroit Riot (Kennedy 762-770).

Amidst this turbulent atmosphere, the U.S. government employed a large-scale propaganda campaign, through the Office of War Information, in order to diffuse conflict and keep the population focused on winning the war against the Axis.

One famous example of this campaign was the film Der Fuehrer’s Face, released on January 1, 1943, that featured the familiar cartoon character Donald Duck dreaming of a decidedly unhappy life as an enslaved part of the Nazi war machine. The film won an Oscar in 1943 in the category of Best Animated Short Film (The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts).

Here is the film.


Discussion Questions
What message does the film try and convey to the viewer? Discuss examples of the techniques that the film uses, such parody, stereotyping, and caricature to achieve these goals.

Do you think that the film distinguishes between “Germans” and Nazis”?

If you were making a propaganda film today, would you employ the same narrative strategies that this film uses? How and why do you think that propaganda has changed?

Sources

Lizabeth Cohen, The Consumers Republic: The Politics of Consumption in Postwar America. New York: Vintage Books, 2003.

David M. Kennedy Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

The Encyclopedia of Disney Film Shorts “Der Fuehrer’s Face.”