What the heck?



Well, Donald Duck was in a Nazi Movie. How did this happen? Why? How was Donald Duck placed into a Nazi Movie, and Walt Disney was alright with this and that's alright. i think I missed something.




Hey Ho, Let's Go

reply

[deleted]

Oh. I guess that would explain it. I still wonder why Donald Duck was involved. Or any other cartoon character. I just got a different impression from the description.

Hey Ho, Let's Go

reply

[deleted]

I just find it hard to see Donald Duck as a Nazi, or any other Walt Disney character as a Nazi. Even in a dream and called a "Nutzi". Even called a "Nutzi" is too closely related for me. I wonder what the justifcation was about with that. I wouldn't want my product associated with Nazi's or any given enemy of North America, but maybe that's just me.



Hey Ho, Let's Go

reply

[deleted]

Yeah, you said it all right that's for sure except for the smarter part. I was going to say too that if your troops are already grouped in one area fighting people, then finish, it would seem to me that it would be easier to move them from one spot to another, you don't have to group them up and have supplies to ship to them (at least less anyways) Also, as a Canadian observer, I think that George Bush based his call on to invade Iraq mostly on his Dad's unfinished business and wraping it up for him. But we are going off subject. I still think it is kind of weird that Donald Duck would be a NUTzi, that's all. It's not huge issue with me, but I wouldn't have made the same call as the people at Walt Disney.


Hey Ho, Let's Go

reply

Uhh so you're comparing WWII American propaganda to Bu$h's current s#$% ? Nimrod...Saddam was no Hitler and no threat but Hitler was no Saddam. US democracy at that time was better than Nazism...but today...?

reply

You are so hardcore for making fun of America, may I fellate you?

Did you come up with deMOCKracy on your own?

reply

Not only is Donald portrayed as a Nazi during most of this film (the nightmare section), but an interesting this is that I've never seen as many swastikas in one place as any frame from this film. Donald has swastika cereal, a swastika alarm bell, swastika wallpaper, swastika patterened clothes, the trees is his garden are cut into great swastika shapes, etc etc etc, and in the middle of it all, wholesome Donald Duck is walking around quacking "heil hitler". It's hilarious. A once contemporary political symbol used in political satire looks strange in such a situation when it later becomes the symbol of unrivaled evil.

Remember, it was AFTER (they lost) the war that Hitler and nazism became so hated you should not even mention them unless in a hateful voice. DURING the war, the whole thing was just another political enemy we were at war with. Noone knew about the holocaust yet, and Hitler's ideas were extreme, but not at all alone in their extremity. At the time, the most disgusting thing about Nazi Germany was the military threat (Japan, now that was another thing, though...).

Actually, Hitler moustaches were the height of fashion in both Germany and the US during the 30s and well into the war, in the US mostly among respected well-to-do citiziens. The political link was no greater than that between bin Laden's beard and Jerry Garcia's. When the image of defeat and a little later pictures of Holocaust victims began to emerge, though, feelings changed about anything that was a reminder of Hitler.

So, all in all, if you lived in the 40s, Donald Duck as a quacking Nazi wouldn't really make you think of antisemittism at all.

reply

Donald Duck is still Donald Duck, the fact that he acts in Nazi-Germany does not necessarily change his character. Neither is Donald dreaming that he is a Nazi (like a posting says). Donald plays his part almost the same way as he plays his part when he fights against Japanese.

Living in Nazi-Germany and being a Nazi is not the same!!

reply


Okay okay point taken. I guess there was alot of people that didn't agree with the Nazis. I never would have figured so many people would have taken it so seriously. I just have to say thanks to that




Hey Ho, Let's Go

reply

it won an academy award...tahts saying somethign at least

reply


It's hard to belive that someone can't picture any disney character as a nazi, living as close to dineyland as I do I've know quite a few people who have worked for disney (including one high level executive) and they all seem to refer to the management an nazi's. And to the person who said that Sadam was no threat forgets that he was a tyrant and a huge threat to his own people. I'm not going to even comment on the fact that he said that the current US government is as bad as nazi germany....grow up!

Too crazy for boystown; too much of a boy for crazytown.

reply

"I'm not going to even comment on the fact that he said that the current US government is as bad as nazi germany....grow up!"

Hitler also depended on ignorant rubes who believed that their country had "good intentions", even if it "sometimes makes mistakes". Who was it that said "those who fail to learn from history.."?

PS: Bush has tortured more Iraqis in Iraq than Saddam ever did. I hope that he opens a "secret prison" near where you live, so that European or Chinese soldiers can someday walk you and your neighbors through it.

Oh yeah, and this movie was about as funny as other Disney cartoons of the era.. for what that's worth.

reply

"Neither is Donald dreaming that he is a Nazi (like a posting says)"

Yes he is haven't you ever seen this film. At the end he wakes up and is in America you can download it anywhere.

reply

I think he was talking about it not being Donald Duck as the charakter but Donald Duck the actor.

By the way, i have heard that some think Walt Disney was a Nazi but its was not so. He was part Jew.

reply

So was Hitler, actually..

reply

true, his father (?) was a Jew, and he treated Adolph quite bad, and that's part of why Jews in particular became Hitlers target...

reply

You're only jewish, if your mother is! So Adolf was no jew!

reply

Hitler's great grandfather MIGHT have been Jewish, but in reality it is unlikely. Most modern historians admit they can't rule the fact out, as his great grandfather is unkown, but at the same time there is no real base for the claim.

reply

[deleted]

Do more research, there is plenty of evidence nazi's participated in mass genocide, first of all the survivers, second of all, all the burried and burned bodies. You may not want to accept it, but history is history, deal with it

http://www.holocaust-history.org/hungarian-photos/jpg/12-1142.jpg

reply

I can´t believe that anyone is still believing that the holocaust is a lie. Where did the six million jews disappear, if they weren´t slaughtered by the Nazis? Have you ever seen videos of Concentration camps, with hundreds of corpses lying in heaps? Have you ever talked with someone who was in a Camp and has seen the horror? Such a statement in a public place could bring you in jail here in Germany.

reply

Actually, this movie never implied that Hitler was a coward, rather that his followers (the Nazis) were. Also, it makes no reference to the Holocaust, because that whole narrative wasn't worked up until after the war. The dominant Casus belli during the actual war was that Hitler was "trying to take over the world". To be brutally frank, saying that he was "trying to kill all the jews" would have turned more people towards Hitler than against him in 1940's America. Furthermore, the political message of this film is even more simplified than typical, with the main point apparently being "In America you are richer and work fewer hours. Yay America!" Honestly, even with the war situation being what it was, it was highly unlikely that anyone bought a ticket to the film just to watch this short. :)

reply

Have you people even watched the short? Donald was having a nightmare! When he wakes up he's in America, glad to be American, he says: "I'm glad to be a citizen of United States of America".
You know what's sad? That this short was made in 1940's and people got it, they understood the point of it, it even won an Oscar! And now that we live in the XXI century, in the so called age of information, we can't critizice or speak our minds because we are forced to be politaclly correct, and that simply means to use euphenisms and lie, instead of having an opinion of our own.

Bottom line: The short was a joke. Donald it's not a nazi and Walt Disney wasn't either for that matter. So, get over it and move with your life. Geez!

reply

The niceties of parantage meant nothing to Hitler. If you had ONE DROP of Jewish blood, you were marked for extermination.
May Hitler burn in hell for all eternity!

reply

I can't recall what I was reading this from, anyway.. It was his grandmother along with his father who were Jewish, I think. Hmm, now that I think of it, I think it was something about the various Jewish influences he had. There were some foreign heads of state/diplomats/&tc that Hitler's staff would try and hide the fact that they were part Jewish, and his CO in WW I was Jewish, along with, among others, his personal physician, I think, and barber, although he wouldn't let anyone shave him due to not wanting anyone with a blade near his throat. The house where Hitler grew up along with his grandmother's grave were converted into a tank training ground, to hide his ancestry or whatever. It was actually a pretty interesting article, too bad I can't remember more or where it was. :(

As for 'Der Fuhrer's Face' the cartoon, I found it to be pretty good. Just so many parts about it show you just how much of a 'Nutsy land' it is. From the morning ritual of being forced out of bed at bayonet and 'heiling' the portraits of the Axis leaders and then his 'feast' at breakfast consisting of rock-hard bread, 'Aroma of Bacon&Eggs,' and his secret and closely guarded bit of coffee. Then there's the whole shell factory scene, ending with Donald being a tad 'shell shocked' and going into a psychotic state featuring lots of crazy artillery shells, as well as a Donald der Fuehrer picture, makes you wonder how long it took them to choose where to put the moustache. The music in the background definitely makes it as good as it is. The band is also a funny part, especially when it highlights the various members to show you who they are supposed to be, and you get Goering with the flute and shaking his booty. Actually, if you were to compare anything from this to modern day things, look how they censor out 'Hell' (When der Fuehrer yells "I GOTTA HAVE MORE SHELLLS!" We HEIL! We HEIL! and then we make more shells! If one of these shells should blow him right to *CLANG*) Actually have another example for that, from a war bond jingle 'Buy more stamps and bonds they are really swell, cause they buy the bombs to send the Axis to - and you know what we meant to say, so buy more bonds today, and we'll keep our country free!' Compare that to what is said, or allowed to be said I should say, in our movies, television, and radio. Not even counting the Internet, as that is such a haven of decadence there is really no compare. Ahh, how I yearn for the good ol' days! :)

reply

The film's got great sense of rhythm, just like the Daffy Duck and Roadrunner toons of that golden age of cartoon shorts.

reply


Cool, look at all the post on the topic I started

I think I had a dream like this once, but I don't know. I might have just been drunk

reply

[deleted]

I've seen the film a few times. He dreams to be in Nazi-land. But even there he is Donald Duck and not a Nazi. Living in a Nazi-land doesn't mean to be a Nazi (and to be in Hitler's party and to share his opinions).

reply

You're like, really stupid onetobeseen.

reply

I ain't stupid. I am just some random guy who doesn't like Nazi's and thought it was weird that Donald was portraying one. Don't call me stupid. It had to be said.


I think I had a dream like this once, but I don't know. I might have just been drunk

reply

While it's certainly safe to say you don't like Nazis (or would that be Nazi... I'm not sure what the plural is) and certainly fine for you to like or dislike whatever for your own reasons, you almost sound as if you don't like this purely because Donald is acting "as a nazi", and you don't like Nazis.

The purpose of this propaganda film was both to make fun of nazis, and to villainise them. If you listen to the song, none of them like Hitler, one line even mentions "we'd leave if we could." They're all being forced to work, just like Donald is being forced to work in the ammunition factory.

The message being portrayed is "Nazi = bad people who treat their workers like slaves."

Is it propaganda? Sure is. But I still thought it was fairly funny. My only complaint would be the Japanese soldier looked more like a chinese stereotype than a japanese stereotype (and no, I'm not approving of stereotypes, simply pointing out that inaccuracy).

reply

Point taken! Anyway's, I don't really care if Donald played a Nazi or one of the Allies. I just thought it was weird that Walt Disney would let his product do that. But it was propaganda and the thing to do at the time. It was meant in humour. But some people would not like their products used in a negative way, such as an actor portraying a rapist or a murderer, they don't agree with the principle. One might say that someone like Robin Williams might turn down a role because he feels it flatters Jeffrey Dahlmer etc. But I guess some people don't feel the same way.
It was war time and Walt Disney's call and a different time. An analgy could be made between this current war and WW2 and have Donald Duck portray someone in Irag or Afganistan. Some might allow that or not do that.

I guess it is a matter of opinion I guess. I should see the humour in it and also the fact it wasn't unflattering to Donald, but really looks weird nowaday's, but that's what history does.

I am so glad that so many people had an opinion on this and thx to everyone involed for writing.

P.S. Wikipedia has a great article about the show. It actually won awards





I think I had a dream like this once, but I don't know. I might have just been drunk

reply

If you didnt like this cartoon then you wont like Disneys "Education for Death" eather. ;)

reply

I think the "Japanese soldier" is ment to look like emperor Hirohito of Japan.

reply

Donald is forced to be a Nazi because he is in Nazi Germany. He is not a nazi in the sense that he agrees with their philosophy.

reply

um has anyone actually watched this cartoon? and through to the end? the answer is there.

reply

Not defending Hitler by the way but...Hitler wasn't really the brains of the operation

Himmler was...

Himmler was more realistically the mastermind of most of the atrocities

Hitler gave the stamp and smiled and fiery speeches...basically they kinda worked in a weird way like Dick and George...except you know...just like Nazi's

and plus...Disney was an Anti-Semite and I do believe he was a fascist supporter of Franco

I am not sure on this though

reply