Merrie Melodies and social control

This is not a review or a hate thread against any of your favorite cartoon pals.

In this thread i wish to discuss several cartoons dating from the early 40’s to the 50’s.

These cartoons are workf of art and were brilliantly produced.

The first cartoon i with to discuss is “The blue Danube” which can be seen here:

The blue danube is the second cartoon.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sukE_rhsv2Y[/youtube]

Now many of you might be confused about what there is to discuss in this cartoon.

When i was a kid i watched this cartoon and absolutely loved it, now when i look back on it what do i notice?

Well, it’s interesting that the “ugly duckling” (black for some reason) happened to gain acceptance into the swan group through military service against a german vulture.

The 4F that got stamped on the ducklings butt was a war refrence. that was the label unfit military recruits were given.

I mean, he turned into a friggin fighter plane (an allied one).

I’m not saying this is racist, just that it is war time propaganda which plays on social norms (racial inequality) in an effort to eek out more of a commitment from the masses.

This is a childrens cartoon but i imagine many adults would have watched it aswell.

The government does everything it can to be the best war nation it can be, and they know that getting to the child can mean gettingto the parent.

The government went into schools and got kids to collect tinfoil from cigarett packages for war metal.

The thing was, they buried the useless shit in a field, they just wanted the kids to be excited and enthusiastic about the war effort.

This cartoon my friends, is a subtle yet potent example of social control through mass media.

Some people deny that there is even any war agenda in the cartoon whatsoever.

What do y’all think?

(more cartoons to come )

I think you’re being pretentious

there’s no deeper meaning here

So you say that the bird being german was a coincidence (it’s not an overly german vulture, but you can see the stereotype in the hair style).

The 4F that got stamped on daffy, that wasn’t war related?

and how about when he morphed into a an allied fighter plane?

And in the end it just so happens daffy is black and earns the swans acceptance through military service.

When this came out, in the 1940’s, there was a lot of social inequality. And black men were heavily counted on to enforece ranks as becoming a soldier was a way to gain a high level of respect.

Can you explain any of this or shall i continue as i have been?

okay, let’s say it does have some deep meaning

so what?

it doesn’t fucking matter anymore

this was a long time ago

It’s a philosophy forum bike_seat…what do you expect?

Wonderer, I think it’s extremely interesting, but unsurprising…I’m sure they have the top minds in the country, and maybe the world, working on psychological ways to make Americans fiercely patriotic.

What does it matter?

Would you want to know the path out of a maze? or how to comprehend cynical jokes made about you?

okay, let’s say i just convinced you that it does have some deep meaning

Does that mean you would have internalized their agenda?

If they employed techniques like this in the 1940’s, imagine what they are using now.

This is about questioning a government that thinks it knows better than it’s people.

Surely you are interested in identifying control methods used on you by the government?

Or would you rather relax, trust them all, and come here to rag senselessly on my thread.

And this is in the 1940’s…

you would be suprised how nasty patriots can get.

I go into chat rooms under the name “DemocraticCommunist” and they think i am being sattiricle.

If you can believe that the government was this concerned about getting it’s populations war morale high in 1940, suddenly the 9/11 consipracy theories become a lot more plausible.

I think you sound like a loon

thinking some vast governmental conspiracy about mind control and subliminal messaging

you sound like a loon ignoring me.

Propaganda is very real, i can assure you. It started out in war time.

When america was moving into several countries on its way to europe, it would use the media to portray a good image of america, so that they would be recieved well when the troops got there.

It’s very important that the troops believe in what they’re fighting for in order to be more effective. Morale is very important.

Propaganda became a war time standard.

When the U.S is fighting a war, and it experiences losses, it will control the media so as to edit out the great losses, and be sure to make it look like they are winning.

They will show ten victories and one loss, where there were ten victories and twenty losses.

They do this so that the population doesn’t get cold feet and pull out of the war.

this is not a conspiracy theory, this is known fact.

It’s a known fact that the PR department in the U.S is an organisation that uses propaganda to control the opinions of the public.

“using propaganda for peace”

Edward bernays was frueds nephew, and used some of his theories of psychoanalysis to develop ways to control the population, just like in this cartoon.

The government literlally does not trust the population, and therefore needs to control it for its own good.

this is not a conspiracy theory.

These are the fundemental principles of the effect of mass media on a population.

What is lunacy is failing to even consider the possibility that your opinion might be being influenced intentionally.

Yes, because no government has tried to influence the way people think…no…the U.S. never experimented with subliminal messages…

This would have been a popular treatment if the cartoon was produced during or right after the war. Cartoons of this vintage are full of war references. Cartoons now are very multicultural/racial/ethnic. That’s just what’s popular now. War references were popular then - the war was the defining event of a generation. Doesn’t take a government propaganda machine for this - the producers of the toon were just playing to the masses.

Swans are white - so this duck is black (contrast) - I don’t see any other racial cues. Perhaps today they would have made him blue, just so no one would suspect. Hero stories have been around for a while. Kids love’em. So do grownups.

I think you’re reading a lot into this.

But let’s say it is propaganda.

So what?

We’ve all seen US government propaganda.

There was a lot of it then.

I’m not sure I see what you’re driving at.

Look at the eyes…

I’m just trying to get people toa ccept that propaganda exists, and perhaps i am reading to far into teh intent of the creator, but it’s quite sure that this is a pro war cartoon. propaganda.

Those big dum german vultures got dead…

what am i driving at?

just trying to get people to open their eyes…

Does anyone think propaganda doesn’t exist?

Almost the whole country was pro-war.

Ahem

You would be really suprised.

Wonderer, I believe it’s possible there was some collusion in some fashion which involved those earlier cartoons. In the “Rocky and Bullwinkle” weekly cartoon in the sixties, there was political enuendo infused wherein adults who happened to watch the show picked up on it. If any children did, it would have been a small fraction.

And now for a less subtle examlpe

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TUPUbvO0eU[/youtube]

the problem with your argument is that most kids don’t see it the way other’s might

for example, if someone showed a five year old boy a picture of a black man being lynched, he probably won’t know that the crime was committed because of his race or the reason, he’ll just see a man hanging dead (hey may not even see color)

to an educated adult, it’s obvious what he’s seeing

so with these cartoons, they just don’t have the lasting impression that you’re trying to prove

most kids’ intellect can’t grasp it

Yeah, but there was no secret plot here. And that wasn’t propaganda, it was a commercial.

Are you saying that propaganda is bad per se?

We hear propaganda at every time a national politician speaks.

'Twas ever thus.

look all i’m saying is that it won’t have an impression on most kids

Faust, the plot is to get kids enthusiastic about the war.

The blue danube preaches the idea of heroism as an incentive and social inequality as a drive.

It’s a simple story but it can still teach children things.

Propaganda is bad because it circumvents public opinion. It’s anti-democratic.