Essay About Effects Of Propaganda Films And Producer Joseph Goebbels

Effects of Propaganda Films on Ww 2
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The effetc
s of film on WWII propaganda
Without the advent of the medium of film to wage a war of propaganda
both the Axis and the Allies of World War II would have found it difficult to
gather as much support for their causes as they did. Guns, tanks, and bombs
were the principal weapons of World War II, but there were other, more
subtle, forms of warfare as well. Words, posters, and films waged a constant
battle for the hearts and minds of the masses of the world just as surely as
military weapons engaged the enemy. Persuading the public became a
wartime industry, almost as important as the manufacturing of bullets and
planes. Both sides launched an aggressive propaganda campaign to galvanize
public support, and some of these nations foremost intelletc
uals, artists, and
filmmakers became warriors on that front.
Propaganda in the broadest sense is the technique of influencing human
action by the manipulation of representations. These representations may
take the spoken, written, pictorial, or musical form. Since the cinema uses all
four of these types of representations, a filmmaker would seem to wield a lot
of power as a propagandist. If he so chooses to use his power to its fullest
potential. The essential distinction lies in the intentions of the propagandist to
persuade an audience to adopt the attitude or action he or she espouses. This
is ever so prevalent as Hitler gained support from his nation to exterminate
the Jewish people from Germany and Europe alike. He adopted such support
by using his Nazi propaganda films as a weapon of mass distraction and
manipulation of the people of Germany. If he had not idealized the German
soldier as a hero, and bestowed nationalism in his people, and blamed the
economic problems of German on the Jewish race then he never would have
been able to accomplish what he had in such a short amount of time. The
most famous Nazi propaganda film is Der ewige Jude (“The Eternal Jew”).
“Der Ewige Jude” was engineered by Hitlers Minister of Propaganda.
It was created to legitimize the exclusion, and the ultimately the destruction,
of an entire people. It depicts the Jews of Poland as corrupt, filthy, lazy,
ugly, and perverse: they are an alien people which have taken over the world
through their control of banking and commerce, yet which still live like
animals. The narrator tries to depict the Jews behavior as rat like, while
showing footage of rats squirming from sewers and leaping at the camera.
Using the montage editing technique so as the juxtaposition of the shots
would imply to the viewer to connetc
the rats with the Jewish people. A very
simple and effetc
ive technique that is still used today. The films most
shocking scene is the slaughter of a cow, shown in bloody detail, by a
grinning Rabbi- and it is followed by, of all things, three innocent
(presumably German) lambs nuzzling each other. Which is yet another
example of the editing techniques that Pudoukin discussed.
Hitler also provides the emotional climax of the film, with footage of
his speech to the Reichstag from 1939. When preceded by sixty minutes
describing the Jewish problem, and followed by thunderous applause, Hitlers
prophetic warning takes on even greater significance: “If the international
finance-Jewry inside and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the
nations into a world war yet again, then the outcome will not be the victory of
Jewry, but rather the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!”(Adolph
Hitler). The importance of this groundbreaking propaganda is often
underestimated. Someone might characterize the film as a X-ray of the
decision making process that led to the Holocaust. It can also be argued that
the film is seen as the official promulgation of Hitlers decision, and that it –
together with the feature film Jud Sub- deliberately was used to prepare both
perpetrators and bystanders for the extermination of the Jews.
The producer Joseph Goebbels knew all to well how to create a film
that would not only grasp the publics attention but also a film that would
transform them into a flock of sheep, upon which he could lead them into
what ever belief he wanted. The masses of German people would stand
behind Hitler no matter what happened. Why wouldnt they? German
propaganda films depicted Adolph Hitler as a kind, family man. Everyone
has seen the pictures of Hitler walking around with little Aryan children.
Across the lawn of a house, or through a