For this class, it was focused on the UPA (United Productions of America), which was founded by Zach Schwarts, David Hilberman, and Stephen Bosustow in 1943 as the Industrial Film and Poster Service. The style of UPA films were to keep it simple in order to save money as this was during the animators strike. So backgrounds would feature no line art, only silhouettes.
There were a lot of war films that were mentioned in this class. Such as “Looney Tunes: Point Rationing of Foods” (US Gov. Film) (1943) and “Hell-Bent for Election” (1944) both directed by Chuck Jones for the United States government. I would also like to talk about this certain war film that was only shown to soldiers of the US Army. This animation that was also directed by Chuck Jones which was all about a gooft soldier named and titled “Private SNAFU.” SNAFU would stand for “Situation Normal: All Fouled Up.”
Take note that this is a product from its time, so it does have plenty of stereotypes and racism. Especialy in regards for Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. These were created for US Soldiers, it was also exclusively shown to them, so all the references and imagery are very adult themed. However, the purpose of these films were to inform and educate the soldiers during WWII. Reading wasn’t a requirement to join the military so many were illiterate. This would be the easiest way to teach the military. A fun fact is that Dr. Seuss even wrote for this series. The video above is the episode that he wrote. This was also voiced by Mel Blanc who was best known for his role as Bugs Bunny.
Julia Reymundo
ANIM223 - HISTORY OF ANIMATION - FALL 2019 