REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 PROPAGANDA
The usage of propaganda goes back to the birth of human civilization. A veritable example is found in the early hieroglyphic writings of Egyptian and Mesoamerican (Aztec, Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec) cultures which consisted of symbols and images chronicling a history that favoured the ruling class (Marcus, 1992).
Propaganda has permeated human life. Ellul argued that man is doubly reassured by propaganda because it tells him the reasons behind developments and because it promises a solution for all problems which would otherwise seem insoluble. The great force of propaganda lies in giving man all embracing, simple explanations and massive doctrinal causes, without which he could not live with the news (Ellul, 1965) (Cited in Black, 1944-45, pg.95). Propaganda is a key factor in creating the social conditions for genocide (Lifton/ Markusen, 1980, pg.3).
Propaganda involved the dextrous use of images, slogans and symbols that play on our prejudices and emotions; it is the communication of the point of view with the ultimate goal of having the recipient of the appeal coming to ‘voluntarily’ accept this position as it were his or her own (Pratins and Turner, 1952, pg.187). Propaganda, Gobbles insisted must be at emotions (Lynette Finch, 1999, pg.104).
Propaganda was used much more strategically and frequently during World War II. One of President Roosevelt’s speech writers, Robert Sherwood, headed up a committee in 1941 whose aim was to ‘fight a war of words against the axis’ (Roseberg, 2008, pg.--56). Between the years 1946-1974, even as the CIA conducted its own covert propaganda efforts, the United States Information Service (USIA) experimented with an array of cultural and educational programs designed to export and celebrate American life (Kammen, 2007)(Cited in Jennifer Horne, 2009, pg.184).
The growth of the mass media and the improvements in transportation led to the development of mass audiences for propaganda, increasing its use and effectiveness (Jowett and O’Donell, 2006, pg.97). Each of the mass media – print, films, radio and television, contributed its unique qualities to new techniques of propaganda (ibid).
The Institute of Propaganda Analysis proposed propaganda techniques which are simplifications of the tendencies of human mind as expressed through psychology. They include demonization, oversimplification, symbolic transfer and appeal to fear (Institute of Propaganda, 1980).
According to Eugene Hadamovsky, Third Reich’s most influential propaganda theorist, the aim of propaganda was the elimination of all serious resistance in the masses, in order that they may be provided with bread on the basis of the national will of the masses devoted to the cause (Finch, 1999, pg.102).
2.2 HOLLYWOOD
Cinema history is world history and since the end of World War I, this history was dominated by the United States film industry, viz, Hollywood (Wagnleitner, 1992, pg.5). Hollywood did very well to provide morale-building films for consumption on the home front and overseas, because during the war, entertainment was not only a luxury but also an emotional necessity. American films managed to develop a most potent combination of being able to entertain and propagandize at the same time, thus ‘getting the message across’ while also attracting the large audience that obvious propaganda and documentary films were rarely able to do (Jowett and O’Donnell, 2006, pg.117). Once the war broke out in Europe in 1939, Hollywood countered with a substantial number of light hearted films, which were deliberately designed as recruiting films for the still neutral U.S armed forces (Ibid, pg.116).
Hollywood studios, because of their prior experience at developing strong characterizations, were particularly adept in their war films depicting the inner strength of ordinary fighting men, usually in groups carefully balanced to underscore the various ethnic origins of America such as Irish, Italians, Jews and so on (Ibid, pg.119). Hollywood’s actors, directors and producers were at the forefront of international politics at a time when most Americans were still isolationists (Ross, 1999, pg.51). As for Warner Bros, fighting fascism in general and anti-Semitism in particular was a deeply personal commitment. Warner really wanted to do was alert the nation to the danger Hitler posed to democracy at home and abroad (Ibid, pg.51, 54).
Studio bosses like Darryl Zanuck demanded the total destruction and unlimited prohibition and elimination of their strongest rival, the German film industry (Wagnleitner, 1992, pg.7).
Hollywood per definition also became one of the most powerful weapons of the anti-communist propaganda offensive (Ibid, pg.9).
2.3 WORLD WAR IN MEDIA
William Randolph Hearst is famously quoted as saying, "you furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war". Propaganda is a very integral part of media coverage of war. During World Wars, the media consisted of the print, newsreels and radio.
The primary vehicle for many persuasive appeals is the mass media (Pratkins and Ronson, 2000, pg.3). Newspapers provided a continuous source of propaganda in our society (Jowett and O’Donnell, 2006, pg.108). During the World Wars, newspapers were the major source of information for the general public and, as such, were used for propaganda purposes rather extensively (Ibid,pg.108).
Carefully selected photographs illustrating German atrocities were fed to the American media and the power of moving images to stimulate reality became a weapon in the propaganda arsenal (Kula, 1985, pg.172). By careful selection, the BBC and British film documentaries achieved a ‘propaganda of fact’ that dominated public opinion in the wake of the allied invasion of Europe (Ibid, pg.174). Goebbels, boasted that his newsreels, which were expanded from 10-20 minutes in length, were more popular than the features produced (Ibid, pg.173).
All parties to the conflict between 1935 and 1945 exercised complete control over all media (Ibid).
By the beginning of World War II in the summer of 1939, approximately 25 countries were broadcasting radio internationally in foreign language (Jowett and O’Donnell, 2006, pg.131).
It was a common view shared by Prime Minister Curtin that, the rapid capitulation of the French to the Nazi invaders was primarily caused by the successful impact of German radio propaganda in France (Finch, 1999, pg.100).
Media propaganda thus must furnish an explanation for all happenings, a key to understand the whys and the reasons for economic and political developments (Ellul, 1965) (Cited in Black, 1944-45, pg.95).
2.4 PROPAGANDA IN FILMS
Film was an important medium for propaganda during World War II (Jowett and O’Donnell, 2006, pg.119). War propaganda films attempted to capture the sense of vulnerability while featuring individual resourcefulness (Finch, 1999, pg.96). Elmer Davis, Director of the American Office for War Information stated quite frankly that the ‘easiest way to inject a propaganda idea into most people’s minds is to let it go in through the medium of entertainment picture when they do not realise that they are being propagandised (Ibid, pg.100). Among the film-makers recruited for this program in creative propaganda were Frank Capra, John Ford and John Huston working on behalf of the United States military during World War II (Horne, 2009, pg.185).
Both Hitler and Goebbels understood the importance of film as a means of political communication and as a big step towards the final solution (Hornshoj-Moller, 1998, pg.5).
Films used as propaganda changes popular opinion and support to the governments. A poll in November 1936, reported that 95% of Americans were opposed to US participation in any potential war. Three years later, a Gallup poll found that 42% of the public thought it more important to investigate American war propaganda than to investigate the spread of Nazism, Fascism or Communism in America (Carr, 2001, pg.172)
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