Ah, a propaganda film from WW2 era Disney. I hadn't ever seen this cartoon before, but my parents did have a CD with Spike Jonze "The fuhrer's face" recording on it. We actually have a home movie of my 2 year old brother singing it in the bath tub. It's pretty cute.
As a kid it kind of bothered me how light -hearted and silly the song was, what with the whole holocaust thing and all. But I guess during WW2, everything was pretty terrifying, and making fun of the Nazi's was like the only emotional outlet Americans had.
Skip ahead to 1:24 to get right to the cartoon.
1. The depiction of Hirohito is TERRIBLE.
2. I love that everything in the background (starting at 2:00) is shaped like a swastika.
3. It is really, really bizarre to hear Donald Duck saluting hitler in his Nazi uniform
4. I also like that 95% of German oppression is based in making people say "Heil Hitler"
5. I also also love how Donald decorates his post-fantasy apartment. USA! USA!
Weekend reading: Eric Schlosser on our cartel food system
47 minutes ago
I like it when you post these cartoons! I'd never seen this one before either. It kind of made me think about the Germans who didn't really want to be a part of the Nazi movement, but were stuck. I mean, I'd like to think I would have gotten out of the country or been a part of the underground, but who knows? I don't have any sympathy for officers in the Nazi army, though, and that's why the whole Valkyrie thing pissed me off. It's like, oh it's nice that you wanted to kill Hitler but, I'm sorry, you were still a general in the Nazi army! For a long time! I guess Hitler would have killed people who tried to leave...
ReplyDeleteHaha, sorry for the tirade. Good post!
Also I LOVE that sassy, fat Nazi that does the little shimmy @ 2:28.
ReplyDelete