You can learn alot about World War II from movies.
Apparently Hitler's number one enemy was Daffy Duck, whose
efforts at collecting scrap iron were destablizing the
Axis.
According to recently uncovered footage, Hitler addressed the patriotic salvage
warden by launching a secret Nazi weapon -- a torpedo containing a jackass that
eats tin cans. "Thaboteurs, I betcha!" Daffy spits.
Okay, it's no documentary, but to support the war effort, even Warner Brothers
cartoon characters were drafted. With funny titles like "Tokio Jokio" and "The
Ducktators," their animated military hijinx were meant to bolster morale on the
home front and among soldiers overseas. "Axis ducks take over a barnyard,"
reads one plot description.
Sixty years later, a different generation can watch seven of these World War
II-era cartoons in their entirety using technologies our grandparents never
dreamed of. Feel the cultural vertigo as a half century of change slips away.
Bugs Bunny sings "Any Bonds Today" wearing Jolson blackface makeup, and there's
also "Bugs Bunny versus the Nips."
Many, many things happened in the forties, and among the complex vectors were
scrap iron jokes and racial caricatures. But military confrontations pass, and
the world changes -- leaving future generations pondering
"Scrap Happy Daffy" and hopefully also reading some history books.
