Enacting or Encoding the American World War II Agenda-War Propaganda in Hollywood Movies of WWII Years

Cinema as a tool of propaganda assumed significance during WWI and continued to remain an important tool in the arsenal in the ensuing years. Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia and Vichy regimes used cinema to further their political agenda. This research analyses the manner in which the art and craft of cinema reconstructed or deconstructed the World War II to further the American political agenda among its citizens and soldiers, against the backdrop of instructions issued by the government. It will examine the manner in which political connotations were ingested into the films, how it was used to distinguish between enemies and allies of the US and to explain why US were contributing in a significant manner to the war effort. This research attempts to study feature films based wholly on war as well as soft core ‘seemingly apolitical feature films of escape and diversion’ . The research finds that cinema through its entertaining form has been used to show not only how WWII was fought but how America fought it- bravely and without bowing to its enemies. All three movies emphasize why America found it imperative to fight the war, depicts the enemies of the Allies and explains why they had to be vanquished.

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