Answer the following questions:Using examples from the films, lectures, and readings, what are some of the main points of conflict in American society during WWII/great depression era?What significance do various forms of culture (literature, photography, cinema, and theater) have for understanding these tensions? In what ways have artists or scholars historically addressed debates about gender, race, and class, for example? Using at least two examples from the course, how have various artists or creatives used art or forms of culture to shape public perceptions in U.S. society? What were their political goals? Moreover, how did these goals shape the artistic techniques or rhetorical strategies in their work? In your own terms, what is the significance of understanding how culture organizes perceptions about society, politics, or various social groups?
Please make sure to structure your responses around a specific argument that addresses and organizes the subject of the prompt. In answering these questions, students should expect to start with in-class material but include additional research (where necessary) to help develop the success of their analysis.
Use citations from in class disscussion on
The office of war information
Propaganda
Creates political messaging a lot of the activities that were happening
The films that were produced during ww2 to help over sees view us, and how we view ourselves
Plant a victory garden- the hat is evoking on the boy the military
National identity in being self sufficient
Food is a weapon- green one- they are still supporting indirectly the aims of war
Do with less- so they’ll have enough- encouraging us to help and support the service members, attractive ideal looking man, empathy
New deal poster-concrete real ways to all support
The victory girl: socially awkward teen, being ignored by his romantic interest. Quick marriages, sexual assertive and knowing women, without the watchful eye of watchful husbands
–alot of sexual expression when the service members were away
Juvenile delinquency- police discretion, 1940S, against sexual
-big fear of women and cheating, and stis
Women at war
Traditional women 1941, life magazine published Occupation housewife: what it meant to be an american women, racialized, having access to housing, usually picturing upper class upper middle class house wife that was very privileged
3 million took jobs
1 million did work full time
War time messaging helped cultivate women in the workforce
The more WOMEN at work the sooner we WIN-feminist working- glamourize working- she looks clean, with makeup not reality
Viewing the posters of individuality of the women working to empathize
Phylis-idoziling her as a type of women, upper middle class type is, to help participate, presenting wartime work is compatible with workforce
Make the idea of participating in the war idolized
Buying war bonds, getting factory work, and recruiting nurses really pushed
WWII representation of sexuality: single men outnumbered single women three to two
MOST promiscuous women have venereal disease, sexist to women but also attention too public heath
V.D worst of the three: also helps frame sexuality as a military threat, control the sexual practices during the war
There’s no medicine for regret:women is the shadows, associating sex workers with streets, mystery films are getting big: strong use of shadows, ideas about gender are circulating and about public health
Hollywood–Gov’t productions for the war effort: they collaborated, by showing victory films, newsreels and documentaries, war training films
Victory films: highly similar to the office of war information, crash course instruction on how people could support the war, money was directed towards social causes
-Elmer Davis- (director)- gov propaganda- kinda a hard sell, boring but if these messages come in through entertainment then it tends to be much more effective,
Victory films- War activities committee,
18-24 weeks-14,000 screens
The scale and speed of these victory films being screened were huge
Big directors during the time
John Ford
John huston
-help people understand the war and what’s going on about the war
William Wyler
-focusing on the housewife during war
-emotional aspects of service members
Walt Disney
-in 1943 estimated 94% of walt disney’s work was war related
-he turned to fdr’s gov to help with money struggles by giving them donald duck, echoing the idea of war time messaging with entertainment, more of an incentive for people to want to see propaganda
-concrete ways to help explain taxes, and how to help in the war effort
Donald duck short film:
-Angel and devils- one scottish duck, and then the duck with the zoot zoot
—the film also explains where there money, taxes, are going
Bureau of motion pictures: they worked with studios to make them submit scripts, and help them control what the image of the US is and is viewed in a positive way
-reviewed 1,652 scripts
Trumph of the Will (1935)-nazi propaganda
German propaganda and the U.S war effort
Frank capra- Why We fight(1943)- created many training films for the military,
—Really need how to explain the entrance to the war, not only because of japan, that fit in with the national identity
Help, analogy freedom of speech and freedom of religion-national myths of living is a free society
Office of war information wanted for this as a fight for a free world, rather against war itself more that
Foreign Policy and the pro-soviet film: FDR feared that embracing the alliance with foreign countries would
Yes we americans reject communism but we do not reject our russian ally–not claiming the political constitutions but are accepting there people
Foreign policy and pro-soviet film
Office of Inter-American Affairs:
Latin American Stars during WWII-stereotypes of the fiery latina stereotype
Observational documentary
Cinema vertia- uses available light, fast film stock, handheld lightweight cameras, portable sound recording, and other equipment to record profilmic events—french
Direct cinema: direct documentary with people
Chronicle of a summer: cinema vertia- commenting about modern life, the challenges of not being able to be creative and an artist so he can pay the bills, two issues that could be studied of immigrants, job trends, all can be studied by psychologist, cinema verite expresses self expressions and true emotion
Cinema verite becomes very useful in alot of civil rights documentaries
Public interest in the 1950s: providing access to the arts, access to authors, advancing the public interest to people who are creating,
-became vital to a
Direct cinema: fly on the wall style, essential element+filming real people in uncontrolled situations, attempted to capture reality as raw, unadulterated,
-robert drew