Maus Club
All this talk of Disney’s inaccurate and highly partisan “docudrama” on ABC got me thinking. I remembered that there’s a long tradition at Walt’s house of pretty aggressive propagandizing. Snooping around, I stumbled on to this extraordinary piece — now banned — explaining the dangers of letting children be indoctrinated by an infallible state machine. (That’d be the Nazis for those keeping score at home.)
I’ll leave it to viewers to conduct their own structural analysis (and decide at what point they get gruesomely offended; cause it’ll happen). But it’s worth remembering: in a hot political moment, entertainment is propaganda and propaganda is entertainment.
UPDATE: Some interesting backstory from BenA in the Hullaballoo comments section.
UPDATE II: The New York Times weighs in on ABC/Disney’s “Path to 9/11″… and, yeah, pretty much Clinton did it.
September 7, 2006 at 8:22 am
Propatainment? Enterganda?
September 7, 2006 at 8:46 am
Corddry used the term “infoganda” for a slightly different thing. I think when the budget for a movie like this tops $30 million, it becomes an extravaganda.
September 7, 2006 at 2:08 pm
I can understand why that film is now banned, due to historical innaccuracy. Hitler had a clear policy that stated, “No fat chicks”.
BTW: you’re forgetting in your earlier post about education, Colin, that in the same fell swoop Congress cut funding for the hot lunch program and Headstart. They luvs them sum ejamukashun.