CARTOONS GO TO WAR
(A&E Television Networks, $24.95).
The contribution that government-sponsored and studio-generated animated short filmsmade to boost morale during World War II is explored in this video program, which features vintage cartoon footage as wellas clips of Warner Bros. and Walt Disney characters, Private Snafu, Mr. Hook, and others. During the war years, anestimated 90 million Americans–out of a population of about 120 million–went to see a movie each week, making themotion-picture screen one of the fastest ways to reach a large number of people with information about the global conflict andanti-German and -Japanese propaganda. As part of its contribution to the war effort, Disney created maps depicting thecountries of Europe and illustrating their fate at the hands of Germany’s war machine. The video offers interviews withanimators, cartoon collectors, and historians, along with examples of how the cartoons provided a sugar-coated picture of lifeduring the war by having the likes of Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, and Gandy Goose poke fun at such subjects as rationing.
More Reviews from the December 1996 issue of American History:
MEAN OLD WORLD: THE BLUES FROM 1940 TO 1994WHY VOTE? A RIGHT & A RESPONSIBILITYCNN FACES OF CONFLICTREVOLUTIONSHONOR & GLORY: AMERICA’S MILITARY HONOR GUARDS
