Propaganda in 1984 v. American Anti-Japanese Propaganda during World War II
Background (Anti-Japanese Propaganda):
In order to rally support for the Pacific war and the defeat of the Japanese during World War II, propaganda against the Japanese was created. This social element of the war involved instilling the American people with a hatred for the Japanese, and a strong pride for the United States. This propaganda changed the American perceptions of the Japanese by supporting racial stereotypes against them.
The propaganda greatly exaggerated stereotypes like the yellow skin, enlarged buckteeth, broken english, and slanted eyes. It also portrayed the Japanese as animalistic monsters and murderers. The propaganda was distributed through the media, like in posters and on television. The piece of propaganda that will be compared is a banned Looney-Tunes cartoon which spread the stereotypes of the Japanese, and had the purpose of rallying the American people for support of the Pacific war.
Background (1984 Propaganda):
In order to rally support for the Pacific war and the defeat of the Japanese during World War II, propaganda against the Japanese was created. This social element of the war involved instilling the American people with a hatred for the Japanese, and a strong pride for the United States. This propaganda changed the American perceptions of the Japanese by supporting racial stereotypes against them.
The propaganda greatly exaggerated stereotypes like the yellow skin, enlarged buckteeth, broken english, and slanted eyes. It also portrayed the Japanese as animalistic monsters and murderers. The propaganda was distributed through the media, like in posters and on television. The piece of propaganda that will be compared is a banned Looney-Tunes cartoon which spread the stereotypes of the Japanese, and had the purpose of rallying the American people for support of the Pacific war.
Background (1984 Propaganda):
The propaganda in the novel 1984 by George Orwell allowed the Party to have political control over everything that the people do or even believe. Everything that the Party communicates is a meticulously calculated piece of propaganda that makes the Outer Party members think a certain way. This propaganda is presented in many different ways, but this analysis will focus on the public processions, rallies, and other events that occurred during the novel to spread misinformation. The investigation will focus on the 2-Minutes Hate, and the part of Hate Week where an official announces the switching of enemies of Oceania from Eurasia to Eastasia. The purpose of those two pieces of propaganda was to unite the Outer Party against two different common enemies.
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While the purposes of the propaganda in 1984 and the Anti-Japanese propaganda are similar, the means by which their purposes are fulfilled differ.
The audiences of both types of propaganda are similar: a large group of people, like a country or state, under the same governmental body. In the case of the Anti-Japanese propaganda, the audience was the US citizens, and in the case of the 1984 propaganda, the audience was mostly the Outer Party. The purpose of both pieces of propaganda was to rally support of their audience against a common enemy. In the case of 1984, there were two common enemies in the propaganda that will be studied in this investigation: Emmanuel Goldstein, and Eastasia or Eurasia. In the case of the Anti-Japanese propaganda, the enemy was the Japanese people.
The Looney-Tunes cartoon portrays a series of different skits or events that spread the racial stereotypes of the Japanese. One particular sketch, called "Incendiary Bombs: Lesson 1", portrays a Japanese man holding a steak to a bomb five seconds after the cartoon says, "Do not approach incendiary bomb after first five seconds".
The audiences of both types of propaganda are similar: a large group of people, like a country or state, under the same governmental body. In the case of the Anti-Japanese propaganda, the audience was the US citizens, and in the case of the 1984 propaganda, the audience was mostly the Outer Party. The purpose of both pieces of propaganda was to rally support of their audience against a common enemy. In the case of 1984, there were two common enemies in the propaganda that will be studied in this investigation: Emmanuel Goldstein, and Eastasia or Eurasia. In the case of the Anti-Japanese propaganda, the enemy was the Japanese people.
The Looney-Tunes cartoon portrays a series of different skits or events that spread the racial stereotypes of the Japanese. One particular sketch, called "Incendiary Bombs: Lesson 1", portrays a Japanese man holding a steak to a bomb five seconds after the cartoon says, "Do not approach incendiary bomb after first five seconds".
The scene eventually goes on to show the explosion of the bomb and of the man (Video). The propaganda uses the physical stereotypes of the Japanese, as well as their supposed stupidity, to fulfill its purpose. While the purpose of this cartoon, showing the Japanese in a bad light and gaining support for the war against them, is similar to that of the 1984 propaganda, its methods of doing so were different than the propaganda in 1984.
In order to gain support towards a common enemy, the Party in 1984 uses the Two Minutes Hate. Winston Smith, the protagonist, says that each time, the face of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People, flashes onto a large telescreen and verbally attacks the Party, while the people sitting in the audience jeer and yell at him.
In order to gain support towards a common enemy, the Party in 1984 uses the Two Minutes Hate. Winston Smith, the protagonist, says that each time, the face of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People, flashes onto a large telescreen and verbally attacks the Party, while the people sitting in the audience jeer and yell at him.
The point of the Two Minutes Hate was to have the Outer Party people be filled with an immense hatred for the enemy of the Party, Goldstein. This is very similar to the purpose of the Anti-Japanese propaganda, which was to rally the people against the Japanese during wartime. The Two Minutes Hate does not employ the methods of racial stereotyping and instilling fear into the people, which is what the Anti-Japanese propaganda does. Instead, it simply uses Goldstein's face and words to create a feeling of anger in the people. The novel shows the effect of this on page 13 with, "uncontrollable exclamations of rage were breaking out from half the people in the room." Both of these pieces of propaganda fulfill their similar purpose of uniting the people against a common enemy, but they do so in different manners.
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Another sketch in Looney-Tunes called "Japanese Navy: All at Sea" depicts a submarine moving in the water while the Japanese workers are still building it, all the while promoting the same physical stereotypes. The narrator says that this submarine was still three weeks ahead of schedule. This sketch shows the Japanese as being incompetent and foolish, which helps support its purpose of bringing the Americans together and against the Japanese (Video).
The warfare in 1984 involving Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia, is also a source of propaganda in the novel that has a similar purpose to that of the Anti-Japanese propaganda, but a different means of execution. During Hate Week, in a rally against Eurasia, a Party official suddenly announces that Oceania was never at war with Eurasia, and that Oceania was always at war with Eastasia. Page 181 talks about the frenzy everyone was in due to this announcment: "The banners and posters with which the square was decorated were all wrong!...It was sabotage! The agents of goldstein had been at work!" Every Outer Party member in the square riots due to the propaganda telling them that Goldstein's agents had sabotaged Hate Week.
This scene in the novel presents the fulfillment of the propaganda's purpose of bringing the people together against one common enemy, but doing so by simply stating the change in enemy, which is not how the American Anti-Japanese propaganda achieved the same effect. Instead, the Anti-Japanese propaganda uses the racial stereotypes to do so.
The warfare in 1984 involving Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia, is also a source of propaganda in the novel that has a similar purpose to that of the Anti-Japanese propaganda, but a different means of execution. During Hate Week, in a rally against Eurasia, a Party official suddenly announces that Oceania was never at war with Eurasia, and that Oceania was always at war with Eastasia. Page 181 talks about the frenzy everyone was in due to this announcment: "The banners and posters with which the square was decorated were all wrong!...It was sabotage! The agents of goldstein had been at work!" Every Outer Party member in the square riots due to the propaganda telling them that Goldstein's agents had sabotaged Hate Week.
This scene in the novel presents the fulfillment of the propaganda's purpose of bringing the people together against one common enemy, but doing so by simply stating the change in enemy, which is not how the American Anti-Japanese propaganda achieved the same effect. Instead, the Anti-Japanese propaganda uses the racial stereotypes to do so.
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While the ways in which they do this are different, the purposes of the Anti-Japanese propaganda and the propaganda from the novel 1984 are similar. They both show the purpose of uniting their respective body of people against a certain enemy: the Japanese for the American propaganda, and Goldstein and his agents for the 1984 propaganda. The means by which they fulfill this purpose differs on most accounts. The Anti-Japanese propaganda used mostly racial stereotypes of the Japanese, while the 1984 propaganda didn't need to do so. Their media were different as well: the Anti-Japanese propaganda used the media, through posters and television, and the 1984 propaganda used rallies, public gatherings and speeches. Overall, each type of propaganda uses different means to achieve the same purpose.
Entire Anti-Japanese Looney-Tunes video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh5ypU2Ykto
The bibliography is on the next page. Click on the three lines in the top left corner.
Entire Anti-Japanese Looney-Tunes video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh5ypU2Ykto
The bibliography is on the next page. Click on the three lines in the top left corner.