American Documentaries and Animated Cartoon as Tools for Propaganda in the Period of the II World War – МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЙ ЖУРНАЛ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ

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Maksim F. Kazyuchits
Russian State Institute of Cinematography named after S. A. Gerasimov; The State Central Film Museum, Moscow, Russia
129226, Russia, Moscow, Wilhelm Peak str., 3.
Senior Research Fellow
PhD in Philosophy
e-mail: mkazuchitz@gmail.com

American Documentaries and Animated Cartoon as Tools for Propaganda in the Period of the II World War

Abstract: The article analyzes development of narrative and rhetoric of animation in the USA in the 1940s, as well as the ways of convergence of animation and documentaries. Special attention is paid to the period of the 1940s, when the USA entered the World War II. It had a huge impact on the development of the film industry and the animation film industry. The author attempts to build the typology that could describe the techniques of visual rhetoric in animation films and to research what role they played in popular culture during the World War II. He researches the most effective strategies for propaganda, delivery of information messages in animation films and documentary films of the World War II. The author studies these strategies on the example of animated films and documentary films (Disney, WB, etc.) and the “Private Snafu” film series. Thus, the realities of the US cultural context of the 1940s – World War II, the need to promote and inform the military and civilian population create a demand for a universal character that can dynamically adapt to the changing cultural and historical context. A marker of such searches for satisfactory aesthetic models is, for example, the introduction of classic characters in propaganda animation (Donald Duck). Another important circumstance was the new generation of characters-masks, characters-signs (snafu). The latter are integrated into the traditional art system of animation. However, due to the initial isolation from any artistic context, this new type is not able to function for a long time within the boundaries of genre animation and is eliminated from it over time. The strategy of using a conditional character-function during the war was further developed: various types of deliberately abstract objects appeared, which were predicated on plastic drawing, gesture, and the aesthetics of generally known animated characters (Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, Popeye the Sailor, etc.).

Key words: non-fiction film, documentaries, animated cartoon, propaganda, World War II, Disney, “Private Snafu”.

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For Citation:

Kazyuchits, M. (2020). American Documentaries and Animated Cartoon as Tools for Propaganda in the Period of the II World War. International Journal of Cultural Research, 4 (41), 52–68. DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2020_4_52

DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2020_4_52