Journal Entry – Week 7

The Private Snafu series was designed to instruct military behavior, particularly the clumsiness of soldiers and how to avoid it. We see instances of Snafu’s gun jamming because of mud, his cannon being dusty, and gun overheating, leading to him losing all situations.

They convey this in the movements of Snafu moving more confident before he realizes his weapon is messed up, which then switches his movement to more sporadic and frantic as he clamors to find a new weapon to save himself

The Private Shufu series uses humor to engage new soldiers by illustrating the mistakes a clumsy soldier might make and what not to do, followed by sarcastic narration that points out those mistakes. In this short film, Private Snafu neglected all his machinery and he edns up captured by a Nazi. The animators use exaggerated drawings of the weapons failing for comedic effect while narrators joke about them to make the lesson easier to understand.

It’s most likely his series also aimed to encourage people to join the army, displaying the environment of the military in a light-hearted and comedic tone, leaving out the realities of war and the damage it did to many people.

Private Snafu used humor to essentially give soldiers an idea of what they’re up against, and to show them what not to do. The Snafu series was most likely a ploy to assemble more people to the war effort. The Private Snafu series not only served as propaganda for the people to join the military, but also as a way to promote obedience to the government and discipline; as the cartoon gives the audience an example of what they should avoid altogether.

Bury the Axis is a short animated film made in the UK and the US during WW2 and heavily depicts the Axis powers. This film starts by depicting the birth of Adolf Hitler from a Stork, he then immediately is shown wearing Nazi symbols and singing. He enters Russia, then immediately leaves, battered and injured. This could play on the stereotype that Russian people are violent and Unfriendly. The film then displays Hitler’s “duche” as an “animal” like a person coming out of a dog house, with him barking and proudly exclaiming his support for him, before getting back inside his dog House. While it was common for people to be “Othered” in American media by comparing them to animals, this depiction of Germany is less exaggerated than what we would see in another American cartoon like for example, American Menstrual shows. The film portrays Japanese people in an arguably more racist and stereotypical way. Representing them as snakes while the European characters have actual titles and introduce themselves as such, the Japanese man refers to himself as “the son of son am I” and speaks in a stereotypical Japanese-English accent, while singing about bombing people. The film presents the Axis powers as unintelligent groups of people with shallow motivations.

“Private Snafu – Fighting Tools” uses humor by taking everyday objects, tools, and props and having the enemy or the associates of the enemy hiding in them or using them as transmission signals. Furthermore, the secrets Private Snafu has are depicted to be locked up with a physical lock on his brain. When Snafu consumes alcohol, the lock breaks/vaporizes due to how much he consumed, and causes his behavior to do the exact opposite of what he promised. While being humorous, the short also tries to tell a message of always being alert and being conscious of your surroundings and actions during your time serving for your country, especially in the time of battle.

Private Snafu was using humor and jokes to inform soliders of what to look out for and what’s to come, ultimately preparing soliders for the upcoming battle by boosting their spirit. The whole point of the character is to represent what not to do, like spill secrets because they could be anywhere listening. By using humorous tactics like Private Snafu, more people would probably be inclined to join the war effort.

The Private Snafu series was able to simultaneously inform soldiers while also making light of a serious situation through the use of jokes and cartoony animation. I believe humor was used because it was a scary time for a lot of young men, and while the military wanted to inform their new soldiers, they also wanted to bring up morale. The cartoon has some slapstick humor and he talks in a funny voice, but a lot of the humor comes from Private Snafu himself, as he’s often depicted as a dim-witted GI private, who often gets into trouble for neglecting his duties and not listening to his commanders. The moral of the story often comes down to not be like Private Snafu, and to do your duty as your are told.

Prompt 1

In “Bust the Axis,” enemy leaders are depicted in a negative light to emphasize their incompetence and reinforce the idea that the opposing side could win the war. This portrayal does not evoke xenophobia, as it focuses solely on the negative traits of the leaders rather than the countries they represent. The animation style is traditional, featuring slapstick movements to ridicule the enemy.

On the other hand, “Momotarō no Umiwashi” portrays the enemy as a group of drunken, cowardly soldiers to imply that they cannot win the war. The character Brutus is used as the primary antagonist because the film was aimed at children, to invoke feelings of patriotism. Brutus is a well-known character from Popeye shorts, consistently depicted as the villain. The film employs traditional animation, featuring animals as the protagonists, since the main character, Momotaro (the peach boy), is based on a Japanese folk tale. The animation is kept simple to convey the message of patriotism to young audiences.

The Private Snafu series was designed to instruct GIs in military techniques and behaviors. How do you think Private Snafu – Fighting Tools uses humor to get the point across? Does it use voice, drawing, movement or story? How?

The short film make it seems like it uses humor with silly animation, clumsy mistakes, and a sarcastic narrator. Snafu’s weapons don’t work because he doesn’t take care of them, and the animation makes his failures look ridiculous. The narrator jokes about his mistakes, making the lesson easy to understand. It’s a fun way to remind soldiers to take care of their gear.

Private Snafu – Fighting Tools uses humor in a few different ways to get its point across, mainly through voice, drawing, movement, and story. The exaggerated, sarcastic narration mocks Snafu’s mistakes, making the lesson more memorable while keeping it entertaining. The animation itself is cartoonish and over-the-top, with Snafu’s clueless expressions and dramatic failures adding to the comedy. Slapstick plays a big role too with his carelessness with his weapons leads to exaggerated mishaps. The story follows a simple but effective setup: Snafu neglects his weapons, and when the time comes to use them, they fail him completely.

Many of the films we saw this week show stereotypical versions of the enemy. Watch “Bust the Axis”, made in the UK directed by an American and “Momotarō no Umiwashi”. How is the enemy portrayed in each of these films? What negative stereotypes are depicted? What means are used in terms of drawing style and movement? What are the behaviors demonstrated by the characters?

Both war cartoons rely on some pretty obvious enemy stereotypes. “Bust the Axis” makes fun of the Axis powers with over-the-top caricatures, the Germans with those pointy helmets, Italians with huge noses, and Japanese characters with really racist features like buck teeth and yellow skin. They move all jerky and clumsy, portrayed as cowardly losers. Meanwhile, “Momotarō no Umiwashi” does the same thing to Westerners, giving them massive noses and stiff movements, showing Americans and Brits as corrupt colonizers who get easily beaten by the graceful, honorable Japanese characters. The animation styles really hammer home these differences – with heavier lines and darker colors for villains in the American film, and sharp, angular features for the Western bad guys in the Japanese one. Classic propaganda techniques from both sides.

The animated film Private Snafu – Fighting Tools uses humor to get the point across by making the tune of the music pleasant and upbeat, possibly as if it’s a happy song, however the words used add more effect with the tunes. The film uses voice as well as drawing and movement to get the point across.