Der Furher's Face: Classic Cartoon or Shameless Propaganda?

That asshole Hitler stole his mustache.

Just like he stole Kipling's swastika!

In my history class, we once watched many american war time cartoons and my classmates were positively surprised about Der Führer's Face. Not only is it funny to watch, compared to what we expected it was quite respectful towards the German people and pretty close to the reality (the live for the normal German was terrible during the war, especially in the big citys. Not only were you in constant danger of getting killed by the RAF, you were also starving most of the time (two siblings of my grandmother starved to death) and you could be executed if you hide food (because you could be accused of theft) so yeah, Donald was justified in being paranoid about his bread.

Actually the cartoon might be a bit too lenient with the Germans because it implies that most of them were simply bullied in following the Nazis (which could be said about the last period of the war, but not before). In my opinion, Disney doesn't need to pretend this cartoon never existed. The ones dealing with japenese soldiers are a different matter (they censor these scenes at least in Germany).

I'm of the opinion that not making fun of evil and taking evil ideas seriously is a way of giving evil power. It gives it legitimacy.

edited 25th Jun '12 4:29:50 PM by IraTheSquire

Although I'm not too opinionated on this topic (because I started it), I'm going to say compared too some more serious propaganda, for example, "Education for Death" (which is still pretty mild compared to other◊ stuff◊), another Disney propaganda cartoon, " Der Furher's Face" is a delightful display of animation.

edited 25th Jun '12 6:45:08 PM by every108minutes

I'm not sure what you're trying to imply through that sarcasm mode pothole.

I'm not convinced that evil having an air of legitimacy is a bad thing. Certainly, that viewpoint is helpful in recognizing a genuine threat and thus motivating actions along the lines of landing at Normandy.

When the said evil is a physical threat, true, because the priority is to defeat it physically. But when the evil is limited to just an idea or happened in the past and no longer physical threat, than taking it seriously gives that idea legitimacy.

edited 26th Jun '12 2:36:21 PM by IraTheSquire

"Evil", used as a noun, makes it sound like the Nazis were the villains of some cheap melodrama. They weren't. The Nazis, those who worked for them, and their victims were real people with real motivations in a complex society. Reducing all of that to a cartoonish Theme Park Version, as "Der Führer's Face" does, does not take away their 'power' or 'legitimacy'. Quite the contrary. It doesn't do justice to the victims, and it hinders a proper understanding of the perpetrators.

edited 26th Jun '12 3:31:16 PM by MidnightRambler

In your opinion, in mine I feel that mockery of evil does indeed get rid of much of its legitimacy. It doesn't mean people hate them any less, but it makes them less scary.

Have to disagree on that one. Nothing takes power away better than outright ridicule and treating it as uttermost stupidity.