Anti-Communist Propaganda

Am I really the only person here who sees the anti-Communist subtext in this great cartoon?

The Pilgrims were the first Americans, and they represent people who made America the most powerful country in the world. So powerful it fought and won two wars between 1941 and 1945.

The Russians were our allies against the Nazis in Europe, but a lot of people never trusted them, and believed they would go back to being our enemy once the war ended. Which they did.

Jerky Turkey was made and released one month before VE Day in 1945. We see the Pilgrims/Americans lining up for food rations, while one of them goes hunting for his own food, a turkey. And who does he encounter? A bear, which is the national symbol of Russia. For America, it's the eagle. For Russia it's the bear. Look it up. And what is this bear's name in Jerky Turkey? Joe of course, for Joe Stalin.

Back to the Pilgrim out hunting for a turkey. The turkey, seeing an easy mark, offers himself to the pilgrim, which launches a series of rapid-fire gags that consistently outwit the befuddled and frustrated pilgrim. Eventually the two make up and decide to "eat at Joe's," following the advice of a clapboard-wearing bear advertising his steakhouse that appears throughout the film.

When they march single-file into Joe's steakhouse, the door closes, loud thuds are heard, and the bear comes out grinning and picking his teeth, as the swallowed-whole turkey and pilgrim sulk in the bear's stomach.

The cartoon ends with the pilgrim holding a sign that says "DON'T eat at Joe's." A subtext of "don't trust Joe Stalin or the Russians" oozes out of every frame of Jerky Turkey.

This is the most obvious "political" cartoon plot I've ever seen. As soon as the war ended, Stalin lived up to his reputation and started taking over every European country he could. Jerky Turkey predicted it.

Most of my friends who have inferiority complexes are absolutely right.