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In Reply to: A sense of reality and desperation that I suspect... posted by Joe s on April 18, 2000 at 15:35:58:
In a sense, the out of place clean shirts, uniform pants with belts, and leather jackets Victor complains about in Stalag 17 have a long heritage. WWII was a terribly messy affair. Disorganization, incompetence, and simple stupidity at all levels. The U.S. military wanted us to see an orderliness which in reality wasn't there. It enlisted the aid of Hollywood and was largely successful. Films such as Stalag 17 are descendents of the propoganda produced during the war era. They inherit the veneer, which is part of the genre.Hogan's Heroes relentlessly transfers disorganization and incompetence onto the enemy.
I think thats the province of all goverments attempting to rally a population behind a war and maintain morale. The puffery of the movies lends itself quite handily to the purpose. The psychology of rallying public support for war is aided by the dehumaization of opponents or the depiction of them as oafs and fools making it all the easier to rationalize to the public why we should and will triumph - of course every country is doing the same thing with their popular media at the same time. Whose right? Whoever actually wins. They get to write the history books. Of course thats the cynics view (who me?).And dammit, yes it was messy. But what war isnt?
Hogans heroes? I suspect the depiction of Germans as likeable oafs (those silly Nazis, what are they up to now?) had more to do with cold war politics and depicting a necessary ally in a positive light rather than as cold blooded monsters.
joe
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