49th Parallel: the art of propaganda

• Published in: Queen's quarterly 2016-12, Vol.123 (4), p.572
• Main Author: Mackay, Robin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Actors; Anti-German propaganda; Art and society; Bands; Canada (World War II); Canadians; Criticism and interpretation; English language; French language; German language; Lean, David (1908-1991); Motion pictures; Movie criticism; National identity; Nazi era; Politics; Pressburger, Emeric (1902-1988); Propaganda; Psychosis; Siblings; War; War movies; World War II; Yiddish language
• ISSN: 0033-6041

Just as the filmmakers address American isolationism, so they do not shy away from addressing a potential political cleavage within Canada. This was a French-English division on participation in the war effort that would see the country nearly torn apart by the debate over conscription later in the war. The lead Nazi, Lieutenant Hirth, played by Eric Portman, tries to exploit this division by claiming French-Canadians will be "liberated'' when Germany wins the war. Not only does [Johnnie] reject the premise that he needs to be freed, his response when told he has met Germans for the first time is to say "I Canadian, he Canadian, he Canadian," referring to himself, a French-Canadian, the Scottish factor of the Hudson's Bay post, and his Inuk helper. Now this needs to be taken with a grain of salt as the Inuit were barred from voting in federal elections at that time, but the point is made - while the Nazis are obsessed with classifying people by their race and their politics, everyone who calls Canada home gets to say "I am Canadian" One was to mock Nazis and satirize their pompous and overbearing manner. In You Nazty Spy! (Jules White, 1940), a Three Stooges short released in early 1940, the Hitler-like character, played by Moe Howard, spouts some Yiddish while the slogan of his country is "Moronika for Morons," a reference to the Nazi slogan Deutschland den Deutschen ("Germany for Germans"). Later in 1940, the Charlie Chaplin classic The Great Dictator was released with Chaplin playing the dual role of Adenoid Hynkel, Dictator of Tomania, and his look-alike, called simply "a Jewish barber." The fun with names continues with Jack Oakie playing Napaloni, Dictator of Bacteria. The satiric elements of the film were so successful that some elements (such as the duelling barber chairs) were borrowed for the Bugs Bunny cartoon Rabbit of Seville (Chuck Jones, 1950). It is interesting to note that in his 1964 autobiography Charlie Chaplin wrote: "Had I known of the actual horrors of the German concentration camps, I could not have made The Great Dictator, I could not have made fun of the homicidal insanity of the Nazis"2 In his rousing oration, Hirth conveys his belief that this small band of Germans in a foreign land is a kind of advance guard. He believes this because he presumes that they are all bound together by "blood" as "brothers" By his way of thinking, all considerations other than racial ones are secondary. In his reply, [Peter] rejects such a narrow vi