The effects of film on WWII propaganda Without the advent of the medium of film to wage a war of propaganda both the Axis and the Allies of World War II would have found it difficult to gather as much support for their causes as they did. Guns, tanks, and bombswere the principal weapons of World War II, but there were other, moresubtle, forms of warfare as well. Words, posters, and films waged a constantbattle for the hearts and minds of the masses of the world just as surely asmilitary weapons engaged the enemy. Persuading the public became awartime industry, almost as important as the manufacturing of bullets andplanes. Both sides launched an aggressive propaganda campaign to galvanizepublic support, and some of these nation’s foremost intellectuals, artists, andfilmmakers became warriors on that front.Propaganda in the broadest sense is the technique of influencing humanaction by the manipulation of representations. These representations maytake the spoken, written, pictorial, or musical form. Since the cinema uses allfour of these types of representations, a filmmaker would seem to wield a lotof power as a propagandist. If he so chooses to use his power to its fullestpotential. The essential distinction lies in the intentions of the propagandist topersuade an audience to adopt the attitude or action he or she espouses. Thisis ever so prevalent as Hitler gained support from his nation to exterminatethe Jewish people from Germany and Europe alike. He adopted such supportby using his Nazi propaganda films as a weapon of mass distraction andmanipulation of the people of Germany. If he had not idealized the Germansoldier as a hero, and bestowed nationalism in his people, and blamed theeconomic problems of German on the Jewish race then he never would havebeen able to accomplish what he had in such a short amount of time. Themost famous Nazi propaganda film is Der ewige Jude (“The Eternal Jew”).“Der ...
