Disney in the Classroom
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Everybody joins Up
(c) Disney

Disney Goes to War

In 1941 Walt Disney was considered a genius by most Americans. Walt had created an art form out of a visual gimmick, and had used it to delight and entertain millions. Despite some recent set-backs (Pinocchio and Fantasia had both failed at the box office) the general consensus was that Disney knew what the public wanted and that he would continue to produce entertainment that people wanted to see. These perceptions, combined with the public's belief that Disney ran the most trustworthy of the movie studios, made Walt Disney Productions a natural choice to produce wartime propaganda. I use the Disney's Wartime Cartoons to teach my students how wartime propaganda encouraged Americans, how such propaganda was used to educate Americans, and how any propaganda can be dangerous. 
(Note: The quotes below are from "Walt Disney and the American Way of Life", by Steven Watts. The "Der Fuehrer's Face" still is from The Encyclopedia of Animated Shorts.)

"Donald Gets Drafted"

"In this war humor and fantasy have enlisted on the side of the United Nations....they're fighting and fighting hard.....no other weapon of propaganda can ridicule the Axis,.....expose its absurdities, so deftly" 
 -Joe Grant and Dick Huemer (Watts p. 233)

During the War Disney's greatest accomplishment was to make Americans less afraid of the enemy. This was primarily accomplished through a series of Donald Duck shorts beginning with Donald Gets Drafted (1942). Donald was about the worst soldier in the history of armed conflict, but he always managed to do his duty in the end. It must have been a comfort, to the millions of Americans awaiting draft notices to laugh at Donald's military failures in shorts such as The Vanishing Private, Sky Trooper, Fall Out-Fall In, and The Old Army Game. The Duck's Army career culminated in Commando Duck in which Donald broke every military rule of engagement but still managed to destroy a Japanese airfield.

However, Donald was most effective at ridiculing the enemy when he became the enemy. Der Fuehrer's Face presents Donald as a German factory worker who is driven insane by the cruel absurdities of Nazi rule. The Nazis (and their Axis allies) are presented as buffoons to be laughed at, not worried about. Spike Jones' recording of the short's theme song became a best seller while encouraging all Americans to stick out their tongues in the Fuehrer's face. :o) Fortunately for Donald the whole short turned out to be a bad dream and he awakes to find himself a citizen "of the good ol' U.S.A." (Not to mention that he won an Academy Award for his suffering. ;o) 

I show my students Donald Gets Drafted,  Commando Duck, and Der Fuehrer's Face to demonstrate how  entertainment encouraged Americans during World War Two. We discuss why Americans needed to laugh at their enemies, and how humor made them feel better about an uncertain future. Watching Donald Duck triumph over Army life and the enemy didn't make the War go away, but it made Americans feel like it was just a matter of time before we defeated foes a Duck could handle. ;o)

Students' perceptions of Disney Wartime Shorts