Fyne, Robert. Rev. of Doing Their Bit: Wartime American Animated Short Films, by Michael S. Shull and David E. Wilt. Film &
History: an Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies 35.1 (2005): 78.

Robert Fyne reviews the monumental body of work by Shull and Wilt on Hollywood World War II propaganda. Fyne discusses of parody's importance as a viable propaganda format. Cartoons, according to the authors, became an extension of the government persuasion machine. Animation spoofing reality was a method of escapism for the public weary of wartime films.

This is the basis of my research--that indeed, Hollywood through the animation medium created propaganda to desensitize soldiers towards reality. This becomes clear when you consider the plentiful use of parody as a propaganda format. In Snafuperman (1944, Private Snafu), Snafu is transformed into a super version of himself (a clear parody of Superman), but instead of helping the troops, he creates more mayhem. But Snafu's comic parodic ways repackages the importance of protocol of studying manuals in an acceptable manner. In The Spirit of '43 (1943), Donald Duck is in the classic parody of devil and angel. It emphasizes how the income taxes paid would support the troops, rather than the sacrifices civilians were making; the animation associated spending with vice as opposed to surviving in tough times (remember, this period is at the end of the Depression).

In a book review in the 2005 issue of "Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies," Robert Frye discusses the importance of parody as a viable propaganda format.  The subject of his review is "Doing Their Bit: Wartime American Animated Short Films, 1939-1945" by Michael S. Shull and David E. Wilt. (McFarland, 2004. 246 pages), a study of Hollywood films during World War II.  Frye writes how the book provides additional information about America's attitudes toward World War II and the responses from Hollywood to such feelings, especially how these changing attitudes shaped production of animated films during World War II.  An example he points out is how advancements made by Allied Forces on Germany and in the Pacific Theater against Japan were coupled by a decline in the number of cartoons produced.  The authors conclude that the sense of impatience for a prolonged war and optimism for a better life post war contributed to the decline of the animated short.

Just as propaganda films such as the “Private Snafu” series were born of wartime sentiments, their ending was also correlated with war time events in real time.  As people yearned for more positivism as the War dragged on, there was less of a demand for propaganda film that centered around the war effort.  Indeed, film often represents a cultural and societal dialogue not just between the studios of the film industry with the government but also with the people who serve as audience and consumers of the film product.  In this way, control of films is restored in part to the people from the government’s film office.

Fyne, Robert. Rev. of Doing Their Bit: Wartime American Animated Short Films, by Michael S. Shull and David E. Wilt. Film &
History: an Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies 35.1 (2005): 78.

Robert Fyne reviews the monumental body of work by Shull and Wilt on Hollywood World War II propaganda. Fyne discusses of parody's importance as a viable propaganda format. Cartoons, according to the authors, became an extension of the government persuasion machine. Animation spoofing reality was a method of escapism for the public weary of wartime films.

This is the basis of my research--that indeed, Hollywood through the animation medium created propaganda to desensitize soldiers towards reality. This becomes clear when you consider the plentiful use of parody as a propaganda format. In Snafuperman (1944, Private Snafu), Snafu is transformed into a super version of himself (a clear parody of Superman), but instead of helping the troops, he creates more mayhem. But Snafu's comic parodic ways repackages the importance of protocol of studying manuals in an acceptable manner. In The Spirit of '43 (1943), Donald Duck is in the classic parody of devil and angel. It emphasizes how the income taxes paid would support the troops, rather than the sacrifices civilians were making; the animation associated spending with vice as opposed to surviving in tough times (remember, this period is at the end of the Depression).