Kevin Dineen

Professor Wood

History, Theory, and Methods

22 November, 2019

History Assignment: Early Disney Animations

1. The Object

The object of my history assignment is early Disney animations. Contemporary views of

these early Disney films may consider them to be childish or innocent, but they actually were

used in very serious ways. Walt Disney invented cartoons with synchronized sound in 1928, and

up until World War II they were thought of as childish. During the war cartoons were used

heavily as propaganda materials, and truly gained traction as a medium for all ages. Since then

people have forgotten about these uses of animation and gone back to thinking of early Disney

animations as simply fairy tales and silly animations. The truth, however, is that Disney

animations were actually powerful government propaganda tools and had a strong influence on

the American war effort.

Beckerman, Howard. ​Animation: The Whole Story.​ Allworth Press, 2012.

Moseley, Doobie. “Pearl Harbor Changed Everything, Even the Disney Studio.”

LaughingPlace.com,​ 20 Dec. 2015,

www.laughingplace.com/w/featured/2015/12/07/pearl-harbor-changed-everything-even-d

isney-studio/​.

Ness, Mari. “Animation as War Propaganda: Disney's Victory Through Air Power.” ​Tor.com​, 28

July 2016,
 www.tor.com/2016/07/28/animation-as-war-propaganda-disneys-victory-through-air-pow

er/​.

2. The Archive

The archive that I have chosen is the UCLA Film and Television Archive. It is an

organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television. It was

founded as a television library in 1965 by the UCLA Theater Arts Department and the Academy

of Television Arts and Sciences. They seek to create a physical record through film for all sorts

of media, including newsreel. Since the archive is specifically media focused, they do not have

many non-film documents such as writings or interviews about film. They are more focused on

the preservation of the media itself. I found my resources in the archive collection entitled “Walt

Disney on the Front Lines.” This collection is a series of short propaganda animations created by

the Walt Disney Animation Studios. One film entitled ​Der Fuehrer’s Face​ (Disney 1942) depicts

Donald Duck struggling to live in a Nazi controlled Germany, and eventually he awakens to

realize it was a nightmare. This film and many others in the collection use Disney’s beloved

characters to spread messages about paying taxes, food shortages, and the dangers of nazism. A

second film, ​Victory Through Air Power (​ Disney 1943)​ ​shows the animated history of airplanes

and unveils a plan involving tactical long-range bombing as the solution to winning the war. In

addition to these wartime animations, the archive has a collection of all nearly all other early

animations, spanning up to the modern day.

 3. Making History

The archive’s collection of animated propaganda both affirms and challenges the

contemporary views of early Disney animations that they are primarily meant for children. It is

fair to say that these animations were created to influence children and try to teach them lessons

through Disney characters. At the same time, however, it is obvious that they are not exclusively

directed towards children. While these animations were an effective way to educate children, the

importance of the messages are directed more towards the general public.

Animations and cartoons do have an affect on children, and are utilized to spread

​ ill show cartoons

messages to children. Simply turning on an episode of ​Dora the Explorer w

attempting to help children learn to speak and process information. In his study, Richmond

Acheampong found that “[Cartoons] do not only change their behaviour towards aggression but

also their language which is a crucial aspect of every culture. Moreover, children entertain

themselves with cartoons more than with physical activities, and cartoons influence their mental

and physical grooming.” (Acheampong 2017) In the same way that Dora attempts to teach

children, Disney was using his characters and cartoons to instill feelings of patriotism and teach

them that doing as the government says is important. It is fair to say that, to a certain degree,

these animations are made for children.

While these animations had messages important for children, they definitely should not

be considered “childish.” They talk about things that children have no control over, such as

paying your taxes. There are very specific messages that are directed towards adults, and those

messages were effective. In ​Victory Through Air Power, ​Disney presented strategies to develop
long range bombing that included “how a dam's own power can be utilized when bombing it,

thereby stopping electricity supplies and creating massive damage, and how scientific bombing

can eradicate the threat of submarines.” (Disney 1943) Scientific bombing of submarines and

dams are definitely not topics that are meant for children.

These cartoons were the first of their kind. Before the war efforts, cartoons had not been

used in politics. Because of this, Disney animations were actually viewed as childish

entertainment. Propaganda cartoons provided voices that had previously never been seen. Rather

than a public figure like the President telling the public how to act, Disney’s beloved animated

characters were used as examples for how to act. They were used as a tool to build ideologies

that would assist the United States in their War effort.

When thinking of World War II, many of the stereotypes can be seen in these cartoons.

Der Fuehrer’s Face​ shows Donald Duck being forced to read ​Mein Kampf a​ nd “improve the

mind.” Additionally, he is forced to work in a factory at gunpoint. It is a reinforcement of the

common teachings that Nazi’s were oppressive and portrays them as evil. If you were to ask

someone to characterize the Nazi party, they would likely list these attributes as defining

features. It is a trend that has persevered through American ideologies, likely due to pop culture

and media portrayals. Since these cartoons were some of the first instances of political

propaganda meant to influence the American opinion, it is fair to say that they had a deep impact

on the ideological assumptions of Americans about World War II. Some of these assumptions

have lasted throughout history to the modern day.

 The films that I was looking at are very obviously biased to be pro-American and spread

anti-Nazi ideologies. I thought it would be interesting to look at the Nazi perspective and see if

they had any similarly anti-American animations. While the UCLA Film and Television Archive

has a vast collection of animations and cartoons, both propaganda and non-propaganda, I could

not find any that were produced with a non-American sentiment. This makes sense since UCLA

is an American institution. I know that Nazi’s did to some extent utilize animation and I think

that seeing this perspective would give better insight into whether or not cartoons are universally

viewed as childish.

4. A Method to our Madness

The best way to further research the Disney cartoons that I have been looking at would be

through an ideology critique. As with most outdated pieces of media, many of the ideologies at

the time seem bizarre and offensive when looked back at. With these pieces, however, many of

the ideologies seem to have been maintained up to the modern day. Some are still a part of our

modern ideologies. In addition to using an ideological critique to disprove the dominant

historical view, I think being able to utilize surveys and show people the pieces would be a very

interesting study that changes many opinions.

To conduct an ideological critique I would follow the steps that we previously utilized,

starting with establishing what dominant ideology is expressed and which unstated assumptions

about social life are being made in the texts. These are fairly evident, as the ideologies being

expressed are to listen to the United States government and Nazi’s are bad. The unstated

assumptions all point to the same things, that you are happier in America and to stay happy you
must support America. It is interesting, however, to see how these ideologies have effectively

become ingrained in society. While we are no longer frequently showing anti-nazi propaganda,

the same sentiments remain. Using a German character in a TV show or movie almost

immediately connotes the character is a villain. This is because, as Hall says, ​“particular

versions may have faded. But their ​traces​ are still to be observed, re-worked in many of the

modern and updated images.” (Hall 1994, 22). The particular versions that were utilized by Walt

Disney and other animators at the time are no longer relevant, and would likely be frowned upon

in today’s animation because of the perception that cartoons are for children. The traces that

were left and instilled by these films, however, have never left American ideologies.

To follow up, I would look at other ways that these films could be interpreted and who

the ideologies are really benefiting. I think these are important to look at because in most of the

films the goal is to raise money for the American war effort. They portray spending money on

oneself as an aid to the Axis, and paying your taxes promptly as an American and patriotic duty.

It is ultimately a reinforcement of Althusser’s theses that “Ideology interpellates individuals as

subjects. (Althusser 1970, 160). He is saying that ideologies transform individuals into subjects.

When an individual feels that a message is directed at them, as the animated propaganda does,

they become subjective to the ideologies being spread. Since the cartoons are being utilized as

government propaganda, it blurs the lines between what is an ideological state apparatus, as the

media should be, and what is a repressive state apparatus. Telling the American people that

failing to do what they are told supports the Nazi party is a repressive technique. Looking at

these cartoons in this way deepens our understanding of how we interact with media. It
demonstrates the controlling nature of the media and shows that animations and cartoons,

especially these wartime propaganda films, were not only for children.

Additionally, I think that conducting surveys about the films would be interesting due to

the surprise that I had when I initially discovered them. I was completely unaware of their

existence, as were my roommates. If I were conducting a poll I would prefer to use Quota

sampling in order to get an exact amount of representatives from each demographic. I would ask

about their preconceptions of early Disney animations, who they think they were directed

towards, and what the messages they think Disney would have been trying to convey. Having a

broad variety of demographics would create a wide field of responses. For instance, older

demographics would be more likely to know about these propaganda cartoons, while younger

people probably do not know they exist. At the same time, it would be interesting to see how

minorities feel about these early cartoons, because there are some problematic racial depictions

that have recently been discussed following the introduction of the “Disney+” platform.

I think that, regardless of age or race, when people think of early Disney animations they

think of fairy tales and Mickey Mouse cartoons. Showing them these early cartoons would be a

good way to change how people see modern media and the background that it has developed

from. Additionally, I think it would change the dominant perspective of these animations as

being made for children.

 Works Cited

Acheampong, Richmond. “Effects of Cartoons on the Behavior of Children.” ​Durreesamin

Journal​, vol. 3, no. 2, Oct. 2017.

Althusser, Louis. ​Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.​ 1971.

Disney, Walt. ​Der Fuehrer's Face.​ ​UCLA Film and Television Archive,​ UCLA, 2004,

cinema.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=239&recCount=50&recPointer=1

3&bibId=161551.

Disney, Walt. ​Victory Through Air Power.​ ​UCLA Film and Television Archive,​ UCLA,

cinema.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=240&recCount=50&recPointer=2

9&bibId=161573.

Hall, Stuart, editor. ​Gender, Race and Class in Media.​ Sage, 1994.