Mark Scott Smith's Blog: Enemy in the Mirror, page 117

The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men is an enjoyable and interesting film, filled with great actors.

Still, just like the Japanese and Germans, American film makers usually produce WWII films that make American soldiers seem almost too “honorable” to be true. 

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Generation War – Germany

The German TV mini-series “Generation War,” now presented as a feature film in the USA, follows five friends from 1941 through WWII.  Although the film has received mostly favorable reviews, some critics balked, describing it as a continuation of “the self-deceiving lie” that the average German was a victim of Nazi rule, a “work of apologia” or a film projecting a “strange queasy zone between naturalism and nostalgia.”

 

 

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The Rise of Japanese Nationalism – 永遠のゼロ。

The motion picture 永遠のゼロ。 (The eternal Zero) released in December 2013, was adapted from a novel about a young man searching for information about his grandfather’s WWII special forces duty. The ultraconservative author of the novel,  Naoki Hyakuta was recently appointed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the governing board of the public broadcasting network NHK.

Recent nationalistic remarks by the Japanese government have further increased tension between Japan and the USA.

 

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Almanac Singers with Pete Seeger – February 1942

Before the Nazis invaded Russia, a small mixed chorus called the Almanac Singers was using its talents to criticize conscription — already enacted by Congress.  One of its songs had as its theme the vicious isolationist catchphrase, “Plow under every fourth American boy.” Another referred to the Selective Service Act as “that goddamned bill.”  Last Saturday at the premiere of the government’s morale broadcast, “This Is War”, the Almanac Singers, now all-out for democracy and conscription, sang a number called “Round and Round Hitler’s Grave.

New York Post  February 17, 1942.

In 1940, Millard Lampell, Lee Hays, Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger formed an anti-war, anti-racism and pro-union singing group known as the Almanac Singers. As members of an American Popular Front (composed of liberals, leftists and Communists) they put aside their pacifist sentiments to join the fight against fascism.

Pete Seeger died on January 27, 2014.

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Japan Attacks Darwin Australia – February 1942

 

 

Attack on Darwin 1942; Wikimedia Commons

On February  19, 1942 Japanese bombers attacked Darwin Australia. Although the main attack was on the harbor, a second wave struck many city buildings and killed ~243 people. Many Australians thought the bombing raid was a prelude to a Japanese invasion and its psychological impact exceeded its military significance.

 

 

 

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Japoteurs – Superman 1942

Creating a neologism from the words saboteur and an ethnic slur for Japanese, the 1942 Famous Studios cartoon ”Japoteurs” was typical of American propaganda during World War II.

 

 

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Der Ewige Jude – The Eternal Jew 1940

Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels established a film department in 1930 to ensure that the German film industry promoted Aryan philosophy. In 1937, the Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda) hosted an exhibition of ‘degenerate art” in Munich entitled Der ewige Jude (The eternal Jew).  Shortly thereafter,  a book  of 265 photographs captioned with anti-semitic remarks was published.

In 1940, the motion picture Der Ewige Jude, consisting of feature and documentary footage combined with film shot after the Nazi occupation of Poland, was presented as a “documentary.”

 

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真珠湾攻撃「攻撃 – Japanese war film 1942

Kajiro Yamamoto‘s 1942 film Hawai Mare oki kaisen (The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya) reproduced the attack on Pearl Harbor with a miniature scale model.  The special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya would later be involved in the creation of the extremely popular Godzilla films and the Ultraman TV series.

 

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Return of German Military Power?

Bundeswehr; Wikimedia Commons

Constitutionally mandated to maintain only a relatively small defensive force, Germany has recently made moves to expand its military power.  Federal President Joachim Gauck stated last week that Germany must stop using its past as a “shield” and use its armed forces more frequently and decisively. This suggests that longstanding German aversion to the use of military power may be shifting. Is Japan undergoing a similar consideration?

 

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The Battle of L.A. – February 1942

The Battle of Los Angeles – Santa Monica/Culver City

On the morning of February 25, 1942 searchlights scanned the sky and air raid sirens wailed as anti-aircraft batteries in Inglewood, Santa Monica and other south bay Los Angeles locations opened fire on unidentified objects. Falling shrapnel and unexploded shells struck sidewalks, driveways and several homes. A blackout was ordered and civilians were told to stay indoors. Five deaths were reported in the area due to traffic accidents and heart attacks. No aircraft were ever identified.

 

 

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