Nazi Germany
A SMORE by Adam Ohab surrounding the situation
Who, What, When, Where, and Why's
Nazi Germany was the Nazi-controlled, totalitarian nation of Germany during the second world war. It was lead and ran by Adolf Hitler himself. At one point of time, its borders stretched from France to Moscow. Following the German defeat of the first world war, economic failure, and harsh punishment from the allies, the Germans were desperate to regain what they lost to the allies, and then some.
The American and Allies media perspective (#1)
Following the surprise attack of Pearl Harbor on America in December of 1941, anything related to the Axis powers ( Germany and Japan) was seen as pure evil through the lens of the American media and people. Yes, the Nazis were carrying out the Holocaust, but the American people didn't know about the concentration camps until they liberated them. The media and Hollywood had portrayed Germany as a brutal and barbaric country during world war 1, and intensified this historical criticism during the second world war. Even Walt Disney joined in on the propaganda.
Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi (1943) - WW2 Animated Propaganda Film by Walt Disney
The German Media perspective (#2)
Since the German media was state-ran and mostly contained propaganda, the view of the German media just did their their job to justify the actions of Germany. They saw America as a powerful but flawed country, and portrayed their fascist government as superior. (as seen below, the German media portrayed America as a KKK-ran, imperialistic enemy.) The German media was also used to convey the message that the German race was superior to all others, and the world was rightfully theirs. The German propaganda portrayed surrounding European countries as theirs, but just with other people living in them, who needed to be replaced with Germans. Simply put, the only right way to live was the German way.
Media Bias
Looking back, there was a lot of bias on each side of the media because they were waging war against each other. Both did their best to use pathos to convey feelings of nationalism and patriotism, whilst denouncing the other country. But the assumptions of the American media wasn't as far fetched as the German, propaganda-driven media. Both sides were surrounded by racism, but the entire philosophy of Nazi Germany was based on racism and racial superiority. The media that wins the medal for most bias goes to Germany for the fact that it was created and ran by the fascist government to broadcast propaganda. Not saying that America isn't guilty of this too, they say history is written by the victor for a reason.
Cultural criticism
It isn't more obvious that both sides of this media war used cultural criticism as a weapon against each other, From mocking languages, to stereotypes, the different criticisms of each counties cultures was highly critical. They both clashed to prove whose way of life would look better on Europe, trying to persuade countries to join their side in the war. Though, in hindsight, the Nazis were trying to make a culture of their own based on their Nazism philosophy. As seen above in the Nazi propaganda against America, they chose a KKK mast to represent the face of america to associate us with the Klan. Which is much less appealing as compared to the constitution-backed and freedom fueled culture of the United States.
Donald Duck der Nazi
Historical Criticism
A lot of the arguments made in the media back then do have to be seen through the lens of historical criticism because so much has changed since then. World war two did take place before the civil rights movement, so a lot of American war-time propaganda and media coverage of the war was highly raciest. Not as much against the Germans, but highly against the Japanese; the majority of posters exploited the Japanese stereotypes to make them seem racially inferior to Americans. Also, both countries agendas of media coverage was based on imperialism and world-wide conquest, something that is barely still in existence today because of the presence of nuclear weapons. But the hypocrisy of accusing the other country for imperialism is abundant in both countys' media coverage of the war.
Works Cited
"BBC ON THIS DAY | 6 | 1944: D-Day Marks Start of Europe Invasion." BBC News. BBC, 1944. Web. 04 May 2016.
TheBestFilmArchives. "Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi (1943) - WW2 Animated Propaganda Film by Walt Disney." YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web. 04 May 2016.
"American Propaganda during World War II." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 04 May 2016.