In addition to dressing fox in socks and cats in hats, Dr.
Seuss’ list of achievements includes writing for an Academy
Award-winning film.
“Design for Death,” which won Best Documentary in
1947, will be screened along with Kamei Fumio’s
“Fighting Soldiers” at the UCLA Hammer Museum’s
Propaganda Film Night on Thursday.
The screenings are presented in conjunction with the exhibit
“A Letter from Japan: The Photographs of John Swope.”
Both films are World War II propaganda, with Japan as their subject
matter, and have remained relatively unseen.
“Not many people got to see (“˜Design for
Death’) because the war was already over. The war had ended
by the time this thing really hit,” said James Bewley, head
of public programs for the Hammer Museum.
The film supports the American war effort by portraying the
Japanese people as victims of their leaders.
“It is government and religion and cultural issues that
have transformed them from decent people to vicious killers,”
Bewley said, describing the film’s message. “It’s
pro-Japanese people.”
“Fighting Soldiers,” however, was not so
well-received in its home country. Filmed during the 15-year war
with China, director Fumio used actual footage of soldiers during
battle and documents realistically the pains of war.
“He was sent by the government to make this film as sort
of a morale boost for the Japanese war effort,” Bewley said.
“They’d go out and document what’s happening, and
they’d show it to the troops and they’d rally behind
it.”
However, the film never got the chance upon its completion in
1939.
“It was viewed as an anti-war film by the Japanese
government,” Bewley said. “It was basically locked up
and it was not until 1975 that they found a print of it.”
In a modern light, the film is seen as more of a documentary of
war than a failed propaganda piece.
“It doesn’t have a real heavy-handedness to it. It
lets the horror of war speak for itself. It presented things very
honestly,” Bewley said. “They said it was anti-war when
really it’s a very realistic portrayal.”
He explained that the film documents the effects of violence
rather than the violence itself.
“(There are) scenes where people are just crying their
heart out and sobbing, and it’s pretty effective,” he
said. “When you see the impact of it on people who are
experiencing it, it can be quite moving.”
Propaganda Film Night is designed to accompany an exhibit of
photographs by Swope from 1945 post-war Japan. The films, like the
photographs, rely on images to convey the message (“Fighting
Soldiers” is in Japanese with no subtitles).
“Both the films and these photographs convey and expose
the power of an image and how much information and what a strong
message an image can convey to a great audience,” said
Carolyn Peter, curator of “A Letter From Japan” and
assistant curator of the Hammer Museum.
And like the films, Swope tended to avert his lens away from
gore.
“There are only a few disturbing images,” said
Peter. “Interestingly, the prisoners of war and the Japanese
people that he photographed look relatively well, in good
condition. Especially the POWs ““ you wouldn’t expect
them to be looking well.”
Swope’s photographs were also likely used as propaganda.
Swope was in Japan for three and a half weeks in May of 1945 on an
assignment from the U.S. Navy.
Hired as part of an elite group of photographers, Swope’s
official assignment was to take photographs of the POWs as they
were being released from their prisons.
“These images were used kind of as promotional materials,
as PR back on the home front through newspapers and
magazines,” Peter said.
But Swope went out beyond his assignment, photographing the
Japanese landscape and people as they coped with the effects of
war.
“He had been in Japan 15 years before in 1930. He had
Japanese friends and had traveled through Japan, so he had a
connection to Japan that predated the war, predated the idea that
these were the enemy,” Peter said.
Seeing images from past wars will likely cause viewers to
contemplate the current war and the idea of wars in general.
“In his images and his words, he says pretty blatantly
that, “˜God, I hope that this never has to happen
again,'” Peter said.
While the form and messages of propaganda have changed, its
worldwide presence has not. The screening of these films and the
display of these pictures comprise a unique chance to see part of
the evolution of propaganda around the world.
“They’ve been so rarely seen. I’m sure that
students would get a lot out of it, and anybody who is interested
in what’s happening today. In this time, we are certainly
used to propaganda as it relates to war. (But) it’s not like,
“˜Here’s my propaganda film’ ““ sometimes
it’s very subtle.” Bewley said.
“You can start to identify what’s being put out
there about this war that we’re in right now, sift through
and find the truth. And that should be the power of the
documentary.”