Journal Entry – Week 7

Both films had their own agenda for propaganda, “Bust the Axis”, made in the UK and directed by an American puppeteer. The short film was representing the Axis powers and how evil they are and how Hitler was taking several nations. The film mocks the Axis powers by showing how incapable the leaders are like Hitler and Mussolini, and Hirohito is wicked and dumb. This was done in stop motion when creating the short film. While “Momotarō no Umiwashi”, was made in Japan and directed by Mitsuyo Seo. The short film was done in 2D animation. The film illustrated the invasion of Pearl Harbor and made it as if their attack was justified. It shows the glory of the Japanese planes attacking Pearl Harbor and showing the Americans as weak, incompetent characters running away and being cowards.

In almost all propaganda, the enemy is depicted as being clumsy and dumb. In ‘Bury the Axis’, racist stereotypes were used to pick at the clay figurines of the Axis Powers leaders and also made them look like foolish losers. In ‘Momotaro no Umiwashi’, Americans were the center of the propaganda and were made to be seen as unorganized fools.

When watching Private Snafu they used a lot of music and Rhythms to conduct the series. This was a good way to get there point across to viewers by showing what happens when you don’t clean your gun. As Private Snafu was shooting you can see mud was coming out and the enemy was mocking him. This showed viewers in the military what happens when the guns Jams you can’t attack the enemy. They used a great sense of humor even though it was a serious situation.

Prompt 1: 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?

Bury the Axis (1943): Bury the Axis was directed and animated by American Lou Bunin It was part of a British plan to showcase the enemies of Britain as truly evil in the eyes of the public in order to continue the war effort. Kenneth Clark, as head of the Films Division of the Ministry of information that was re-established at the start of the war, argued in 1940 that the public must be convinced of German brutality, stating ‘we should emphasize wherever possible the wickedness and evil perpetrated in the occupied countries’. The film uses stop-motion animation in order to portray its story. This includes clay puppet models of Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito. It begins with Hitler singing a little song about how he’s taken over several countries and will do more, until he gets to Moscow.

Momotarō no Umiwashi (1943):  The film is a Japanese propagandistic perspective of the bombings of Pearl Harbor and the offensive on the Pacific theatre of the Second World War. Director Mitsuyo Seo went out of his way to portray the brutality of war with the prolonged live footage of the bombings inserted into his film, something that flew right past the naval supervisor censors who saw this as a victory lap of their strategic achievements at that point in the war. The main character Momotaro sends a sneak aircraft attack to sink the ships of Demon Island, using his animal companions as crew members and pilots. Which basically portrays the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Both films, “Bust the Axis,” a stop motion animated feature directed by American puppeteer Lou Bunin, and “Momotarō no Umiwashi,” a traditional 2D Japanese animated feature produced by studio Geijutsu Eigasha, depict their adversaries in an incompetent, foolish manner, not only to primarily influence their audience but also to advance their war agenda. For example, in “Bust the Axis,” the Axis power leaders, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo are depicted as inept, dull-witted individuals who appear to lack competence in their high-ranking positions and are ultimately viewed as the war’s “laughing stocks,” with the film going as far as to show the United Nations exploiting their incompetence and winning the war as a result. “Momotarō no Umiwashi” takes a similar approach to this form of propaganda. This is demonstrated bluntly with the Japanese soldiers being depicted as these attractive and astute soldiers, while the East Indies were depicted as these facetiously perverse long-haired monkeys, evoking their naive and simple nature as indigenous people, as well as British soldiers with exaggerated features such as large eyes, gargantuan noses, and lanky limbs. For “Bust the Axis,” I truly believe that stop motion adds a whole new dimension to the puppeteered figures and helps define the characters’ actions. With stop motion puppets, their movements are much more deformed and janky, which contributes significantly to their portrayal as facetious and incompetent, owing in part to their motion. The 2D animation in “Momotarō no Umiwashi” is no exception in the terms of defining the characters through their animation techniques. The fluidity and smoothness of the animated sections with the Japanese soldiers, particularly the dramatic close-up shots, help portray the soldiers in their tale as these “noble, stoic” types, while everyone else is deemed an impediment to their war efforts.

At the beginning of ” Private Snafu – Fighting Toolsvate Snafu” you can hear an excited and victory background sounding playing. Then it shows us a newspaper the topic of “Battle reports prove… best armed in the world” at that part we can understand U.S. soldiers are very strong with the best-armed weapon. When the camera zooms in the center you can see “U.S. Rifle Proven deadly” then it shows “our fighting tools unbeatable…proper care” at this part you can already tell the humor of the words because of proper care. Later in the film, you can see a U.S. soldier grabs the rifle(claimed to be deadly) from the mud, trying to shoot the German solider, something ironic happened since the rifle was garbed from the mud it was full of mud on side of the rifle so you can’t shot the bullets out. Then the U.S. used a machine gun, a few seconds later it broke apart from lack of care, German soldier the replyed with “our weapon works fine because we gave them great care”. That was the funny part because the U.S. didn’t take care of their firearm, opposite to the newspaper, they are not deadly anymore from the lack of care. The animation “Private Snafu – Fighting Toolsvate Snafu” wants U.S. soldiers to take care of their weapons and don’t disobey the rule.

The “Private Snafu” cartoons used humor to in “Fighting Tools” to make their point get to the audience. The film was pretty simple, the detail wasn’t too much but neither too little. The drawings were smooth along with the different frames. In “Fighting Tools” there was a lot of singing about his weapons being one of the best ones ever but turns out it wasn’t when he was using it. He got in contact with the other solider from the enemy side and realized that his gun was no match for the enemy because they didn’t take care of their guns or equipment. The enemy side decided to make fun of the American solider singing how his gun was no match for theirs because he didn’t take care of his gun.

During wwii animation was used to get messages across or lighten things up, in private snafu the way they used and described their fighting tools was with humor or singing songs about soldiers or what they were going through. Also rhyming to make things fun would be part of it along with many other ways which made it seem less intense during those times.

During the war, animation became an essential tool in the United States, and it was utilized for propaganda reasons, such as educating the general public about the war or portraying the enemy in a “xenophobic” manner. Hilter is the adversary shown in Bury the Axis; his drawing approach was dirtier in the face, and he moved in a marching manner. The footage shows four geese following his lead in the same marching pattern, but in the next scene, only one goose follows him. Making the audience believe that if they disobeyed him or disagreed with him, they would be killed. The animation of Momotar no Umiwashi is a complete black and white reconstruction of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The characters from America were designed to be more immature and dumb. Japanese characters, on the other hand, were more responsible and worked together. Both films used these animations to implicitly convey certain stereotypes about the enemy in order for civilians to have the same perception of them.

After analyzing the video “ Private Snafu” how I believe they used humor to get their point across was by using  the Fighting Tools. What I mean by this is when the soldier was in his tent he was singing a song about his weapons being the best and unbeatable but when it came time to prove it didn’t turn out so well . What I mean by this is when he came in contact with an enemy soldier he grabbed his rifle and for a minute had the soldier scared until he realized his weapon was useless because they didn’t take care of their weapons. What made this even more humorous was how every time the American soldier weapon did not work the enemy soldier sang a song on how his weapons were useless because of lack of care. You can also see the humor in the different scenarios whether it be the voice which was sarcastic and funny. As for the drawing you can see the clear black and white scene and the extractive explosions. As for the movement you can see a clear sense of frantic movement of the soldiers and overall you can see how everything came together in place to bring the film together. 

Around the time of the second World War, animated films were showing stereotypical versions of the enemy in a damned manner. The short film, “Bury the Axis” depicts Hitler and his troops to be very fragile and futile when in terms of dictatorship as whatever they do, it turns out be foolish and that they are always outsmarted by the Allies. When it comes to “Momotaro no Umiwashi”, as they are recreating the scene of the Pearl Harbor attack, they are showing the Americans to be very idiotic as well as they are spilling alcohol everywhere on the floor in the ship being irresponsible in their work where as the Japanese on the other side are seen to be resourceful to each other unlike the Americans. Each side shows how their enemy is clumsy and stupid and them being the opposite.

In each of the propaganda films, the enemy is depicted as weak and incompetent being easily defeated by the opposing side. In Bust the Axis, the Axis side is depicted with their negative racial stereotypes. In Momotarō no Umiwashi, the Americans are depicted as big and oafish, carrying bottles of booze with them which spill everywhere. The Allied propaganda film was animated with stop-motion and the Axis film was animated with tradition 2d drawing. In Bust the Axis, Hitler is an ignorant leader marching towards defeat and his allies are his dopey goons that follow him into battle. In Momotarō no Umiwashi, the Japanese are cute animals that are smiling and laughing all the time and seen helping each other. The Americans are depicted as clumsy and cowardly.

In the Private Snafu cartoons, there is always something to enjoy, and Fighting Tools is one of the most amusing. It’s not quite as good as Spies, Booby Traps, or The Goldbrick, but it’s still quite nice. It’s a touch too short and has a predictable finish. The animation never tries to be overly intricate, yet there is enough detail, good use of black and white colors, and smooth drawings to keep it from being too simple. Fighting Tools has a lot of music and singing, and the good news is that it’s not just energetically performed, vibrant in rhythm, and well-produced, but it’s also unforgettable. Fighting Tools is incredibly intelligent and entertaining; both Snafu and the Nazi soldier have amusing stuff, and the comic even has a daring, risqué quality to it, which is what originally drew me to it. The gags are equally amusing, such as Snafu mistaking the Nazi soldier’s bottom for his head, and the cartoon never comes across as heavy-handed or trying to make light of a serious issue (none of the Snafu cartoons did). Snafu, as always, is endearing; he is terribly inept—the series’ recurring joke is that he is the worst soldier in the army—but he genuinely cares, and the Nazi soldier manages to avoid being vulgar cliché. Mel Blanc does an excellent job with the voice acting, which should come as no surprise given that he is one of the best voice performers of all time. Overall, if not the best of the Snafu series, it’s still a lot of fun.