After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States view of neutrality for the war in Europe ended. In an unprecedented event, the government and Hollywood banded together to produce films intended to promote patriotism and to give the official view of the war effort abroad. In 1942, President Roosevelt formed the Office of War Information (OWI) whose job was to oversee all government press, information services and also included monitoring motion pictures. The newly created Bureau of Motion Pictures formed an alliance between Hollywood and the government to produce films meant to promote values such as heroism, selflessness, cooperation and the desire to purchase war bonds. Hollywood, following guidelines from memos and pamphlets, created comedies, musicals, cartoons, dramas, romances, and action- packed adventures films on behalf of the war effort.
Roosevelt, in response to advice from the OWI, allowed the viewing of the brutal images of war on film. John Huston made a documentary report of the war in his film; The Battle of San Pietro (1945).This film was probably the most moving of the US war-era documentaries which showed a graphic scene of the battle for a small Italian village in which over one thousand U.S. soldiers were killed. This film brought the realities of war to those on the home front.
Pin-ups were popular with the men at war during WWII. These were illustrations or posters featuring beautiful actresses in revealing clothing. . Photos of these young actresses were seen on playing cards, greeting cards, calendars, matchbooks, tacked up to the walls of the barracks, and hand- painted on the noses of planes. Actresses such as Betty Grable, Ava Gardner, and Veronica Lake were popular pin-ups but the most famous and the most reproduced pin-up image was of Betty Grable’s 1943 bathing suit photo.
The executives with Disney also got into the war effort by producing wartime cartoon shorts displayed before movies at the theater. "Der Fuehrer's Face,” featuring Donald Duck as a Nazi munitions worker, won the Oscar for best short cartoon for 1943.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZcs1SHVbz0&feature=related
Most of these cartoons are banned on T.V. at this time due to their racial and discriminatory stereotyping. Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips was a cartoon directed by Friz Freleng and released in 1944. This cartoon features Bugs Bunny trapped on a deserted island dealing with stereotyped Japanese.
http://noolmusic.com/youtube_live/banned_cartoons_-_bugs_bunny_nips_the_nips.php
-Glenna P.
Bibliography:
The History of Film accessed June 28, 2010 fromhttp://www.filmsite.org/40sintro.html
The Straight Dope accessed June 28, 2010 from http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1995/did-bugs-bunny-appear-in-a-racist-cartoon-during-world-war-ii
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