Jon22: The Website of Jonathan Dobres

I’ve always been a big fan of animation, both as a form of entertainment and as a medium of expression. I’m also interested in its history, and how society’s attitude toward animation has changed over time. In Japan, animation is viewed as a more versatile medium appropriate for all kinds of mature material, whereas in the US, cartoons are for kids. It wasn’t always that way, though.

Thanks to Youtube, you can see many World War II era cartoons now banned from general circulation. It’s understandable, since I can think of few things more disturbing than Donald Duck uttering the words “Good morning, Hitler!”

It’s interesting that even within the specific subject material of enemy defamation and war bonds, the big animation studios of the day still retained their distinctive styles. For instance, Herr Meets Hare, which has Bugs Bunny in a tussle with Herman Goering, maintains the Warner Brothers hallmarks of manic pacing and cross-dressing. Disney used Donald Duck to put together the somewhat less creatively titled The Spirit of ‘43, which, typical of Disney cartoons, starts off with a spring in its step and then ends up somewhere really, really dark. Not as dark as the outright propaganda animation, Hitler’s Children, also by Disney. Lastly, there’s a Popeye cartoon by Paramount–Spinach Fer Britain–that maintains the Popeye standard of utterly failing to please in any way, be it artistic or comedic.

It may be true that the more things change, the more they stay the same, but nevertheless history is important. Thanks to sites like Youtube, we won’t lose these historical materials any time soon.