Walt Disney a Nazi?

Mosh

Mosh

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Well I finally got around to watching this cartoon: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2195704/w ... i_cartoon/ and I must say I'm not really sure what is wrong with it. Yes it is a little extreme for a children cartoon but at the time wasn't everyone watching cartoons? I saw it as a way of saying those who live in America are very lucky that they aren't forced to worship (which is what they were doing in the cartoon) a figure they don't like. From what I understand,that cartoon causes people to believe that Walt Disney was a Nazi but it really has an anti Hitler view. So my question here is, does any one here think that Walt Disney was a Nazi and this cartoon was supposed to be Pro-Hitler or is it an Anti-Hitler cartoon? I really don't see any other evidence to support the accusations of him being an Nazi so I would say that he isn't.
 
Yea I know about the freemason thing but so were most U.S. founding fathers.
 
There was a DVD set Disney released a while back (On the fron lines)
http://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-Treas ... B0000BWVAH

There is nothing pro-Nazi in this IMO, Walt Disney himself was not a big fan of Jews .. I am not excusing it, but that was not an un-common view at the time and generally extended not letting Jews into country clubs, not mass murder.

Disney is a really interesting person to read about, if you look at the construction of Disneyland, I think that is a good microcosm of his world view, he was a mad who believed in a combination of small town American values, a frontiersman spirit, yet at the same time technological progress.  

The most significant "Nazi" activity Disney did was to essentially de-Nazify German scientists like Von Braun by featuring them on Wide World of Disney and their importance to the rocket/space program.
 
Next time I go to a bookstore I will look for a biography on him. From the docs I've seen on him, I have always noticed him as an interesting character, but never a Nazi.
The Knife Master said:
Next time I go to a bookstore I will look for a biography on him. From the docs I've seen on him, I have always noticed him as an interesting character, but never a Nazi.
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I am also watching "An Education For Death" right now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQqCeEG5hs0
well I finished it and it was a haunting look at the life of a Nazi soldier. A side of the story that I don't think is covered much.
 
This is clearly an ANTI-Nazi PRO U.S cartoon. I don't see where the confusion lies... And NO, he was not a Nazi as crazy as some of his ideas were...
 
I think it's pretty obvious that that cartoon is anti-nazi war propaganda. Just like this one, which in my opinion, is a lot better. ;)
 
The Knife Master said:
Yea I know about the freemason thing but so were most U.S. founding fathers.
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I'm editing this comment since I had got your post all wrong. Sorry. I think you mean it's not that strange for "important" personalities to wind up being Freemasons. I hope that's what you meant, lest I misunderstand you again.
 
"Commando Duck" is the best one. Donald surrounds and wipes out a Japanese air field!

There are lots of Disney propaganda cartoons. Here's a boring one about paying taxes to support the war effort.
 
This was from a time when cartoons were more than just for children, had a message behind them and was shown in movie theaters for children and adults alike. The US Army and Government payed Disney to use the cartoon characters, that were already famous then, as propaganda during the war to keep morale and support high amongst citizens. From around 1941 to the end of the war, the Disney studios were basically controlled by the army and government and they didn't make a proper feature film again until they made Cinderella in 1950 when they had their creative freedom back.
 
SixesAlltheway said:
This was from a time when cartoons were more than just for children, had a message behind them and was shown in movie theaters for children and adults alike. The US Army and Government payed Disney to use the cartoon characters, that were already famous then, as propaganda during the war to keep morale and support high amongst citizens. From around 1941 to the end of the war, the Disney studios were basically controlled by the army and government and they didn't make a proper feature film again until they made Cinderella in 1950 when they had their creative freedom back.
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I think you are making this a bit more nefarious than it was, Disney and many others in Hollywood joined the war effort in ways that made sense.  Disney made cartoons, but he made politically aimed cartoons before the war, the 3 Little Pigs for example was geared towards the depression, it is certainly not just cartoons  Frank Capra did the Why We Fight Series which was solely for the army, I think only one episode was shown to the general public.

Cartoons now are certainly not all for kids and have messages (see most any cartoon on Fox, many cartoons with environmental/economic messages, etc). 
 
Everyone made propaganda cartoons. Warner Brothers made 'em too.

In addition to its customary cartoons, Schlesinger's also produced a number of special projects for the war. In 1942, Schlesinger released a three-minute fund-raiser directed by Bob Clampett in which Bugs dances and sings an Irving Berlin song called "Any Bonds Today?" After dressing as Uncle Sam and doing a blackface Al Jolson, Bugs is joined for the finale by Porky and Elmer. From 1943 to 1945, all of the Warner directors contributed to a series of more than twenty-five cartoons starring Private Snafu, a serviceman who lived up to his name (an acronym for "Situation Normal: All Fouled Up"). Commissioned by the United States Army, the black-and-white Snafu cartoons were included in wartime editions of "The Army-Navy Screen Magazine", a film program shown exclusively to American soldiers. The three- or four-minute cartoons consisted of instructional tales in which Snafu would commit a blunder or infraction, then learn the consequences of such errors. Topics included the importance of not leaking information and the value of caring for one's equipment. Because of their desire to develop a rapport with their military audience, these films tended to be a bit more risque than typical theatrical cartoons - there were frequent "cheesecake" shots and an occasional "hell" would be heard - even though their storyboards had to be approved by the Pentagon. Schlesinger artists also worked on some never-seen Navy cartoons starring a character named Hook.
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Source: this book.

Schlesinger is Leon Schlesinger, the owner of the animation studio. His company made all the Warner Bros cartoons. In 1945, Leon sold out to WB and retired. He had a lisp; Sylvester's voice is a parody of it. Daffy is the exact same voice, they just sped up the tape.
 
I kinda laughed when he -hiel-ed to the pictures of Hitler on the conveyor belt.
It's weird, but it has some charm to it.
 
bearfan said:
I think you are making this a bit more nefarious than it was, Disney and many others in Hollywood joined the war effort in ways that made sense.  Disney made cartoons, but he made politically aimed cartoons before the war, the 3 Little Pigs for example was geared towards the depression, it is certainly not just cartoons  Frank Capra did the Why We Fight Series which was solely for the army, I think only one episode was shown to the general public.

Cartoons now are certainly not all for kids and have messages (see most any cartoon on Fox, many cartoons with environmental/economic messages, etc).  
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Yes Disney helped the war effort but I really don't think Walt Disney had any intentions of making propaganda movies in those numbers and scale that was made during the early to mid 40s. What I am getting at is that the Disney company lost much of his creative freedom as the army and government, in the war years, payed the company to make propaganda cartoons only. Whereas before it had made movies like Dumbo, Fantasia, Pinicchio etc...At the time of the war, the Disney studios were controlled by the government and many of the staff animatiors had been drafted. I don't think Walt Disney himself had been so patrioticthat that he, of own free will, would turn his studios into a prpoganda machine for 5 years.
 
I am not sure that is quite right, a fair amount of Disney (as with most studios) produced movies for the war effort (as they were not excempt from being drafted like anyone else), Disney released Bambi in 1942, Saludos Amigos in 1943, The Three Caballeros in 1944, Make Mine Music in 1946, Fun and Fancy Free in 1947, Melody Time in 1948, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad in 1949, and Cinderella in 1950
 
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