The Animated Story

Donald Duck and the Nazis

Before you read this post...go watch the video.  Honestly.  I want you to hold on to the images while you read this.  

When I was a teenager, around 18, I was introduced to Joseph Campbell's book The Power of Myth.  Looking back, I think I might have been a tad too young to fully understand it.  It was assigned as summer reading for my AP English class (note: AP = Advanced Placement.  AP classes gave you an edge because most colleges accepted AP credit towards your college degree.  So AP classes = college class in high school), along with The Odyssey.  Despite my (ever amazing and why-are-you-teaching-high-schoolers-and-not-the-chair-of-an-Ivy-League-English-department) teacher's faith in our abilities to comprehend Campbell's text, I couldn't get past three or four pages without passing out in boredom.  Some ideas sunk in, but others would only be vague notions in the back of my head for a few years.  

And then I picked the book up again.  I skimmed through to my favorite bits, stories that were lodged in my mind, ideas about religion and Catholicism and the spiritual state of the US that I just couldn't shake.  

One thing that struck me the most was when Campbell noted that America does not have a unified mythology.  According to Campbell, myths are more than just fancy stories of other peoples' gods from long ago, myth is a powerful thing that helps the individual to understand their place in the world.  In America, the Christian mythology is the the most common and while it does have a code (10 Commandments), a social structure (attending Church/Mass), and the ever-important rites of passage (Baptism, First Holy Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Funeral), it is certainly not the operating myth in American society.  Campbell concluded that this lack of mythology, especially the lack of distinct rites-of-passage was the reason why so many teenagers suffered from depression, neurosis, and an overwhelming sense of meaninglessness in their lives.  

YES! I thought when I read that passage.  For me, the awkward, unseemly, embarrassing, halting transition from childhood to adulthood that was the agonizing limbo known as "adolescence" absolutely needed to be done away with.  At 18, the American government says you're an adult, but technically you still live at home and you're still in high school.  At 21, society says you're an adult because you are old enough to responsibly consume alcohol (which...sorry, but....BAHAHAHAHAAAAAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAHAHAAAAA!  Okay, done.).  At 25, you reach your final rite of passage when car rental companies say you're old enough to rent a car.  Disjointed, right?  Meanwhile, there are Indian tribes where when a girl gets her first period, the tribe says, "You're an adult now.  Behave like one."  I think the girl has all of two seconds to be confused and lost before society shunts her into her new role as a grown woman.  

Look, I'm not saying I want society to dictate my life for me, I'm not a freedom-hating nazi or something.  But my brain is chaotic enough as it is, it would have been nice to have had more...direction growing up than just "You're a teenager now!  Here's hoping you survive the emotional rollercoaster of the next seven years!"  

By now I have totally lost you.  What does this have to do with Donald Duck and the Nazis?  

At this point in the story I'm roughly 19 or 20 and I begin formulating some ideas as to what the real American myth is.  And then it hits me: Disney.  Campbell argues that Star Wars is the major mythology and since "Jedi" was actually a religion in the British census recently, I definitely agree.  But there are so many others: Star Trek, comic book heroes, cowboys and Indians.  Yet the mythology that taught me about life and taught me my function was definitely Disney.  As a toddler I was Ariel.  I was swimming around, making my dad do Sebastian's voice, searching for my prince.  From about 10 or so onward I turned into Jasmine: smart, plucky, brave, and independent but still searching for my prince.  Now?  Dammit, I'm MULAN.  Brave, fierce, intelligent, kind, loving, and all around fantastic - in the movie she saves all of bloody China and gets the guy as a bi-product of her awesomeness!  

Disney as the American Myth has become a favorite theme since it allows me to examine my own culture and society, to see how it functions, while immersing myself in the worlds I have loved and cherishes since I was only a toddler.  Today, the "Disney" label extends beyond the Princesses or any of the classic movies to include the Pixar movies (Toy Story 3.  Having Andy grow up with his audience was a stroke of genius and there was not a dry eye in the theater of 20-somethings) and Studio Ghibli (Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away to name some favorites).  

So, it's interesting for me to see these old war cartoons, especially coming from Disney.  It makes me realize exactly how deep Disney's hold on the American identity really goes and fascinates me all the more.  Once upon a time, it wasn't just Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but Hitler and (I kid you not) menstruation.  So isn't it strange that today, when you turn on the Disney Channel, you get Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place mixed in with Tangled and Kim Possible.  Makes me wonder where Disney is taking us with this.  And trust me, I plan to find out.  This is going to be my doctoral thesis, dontcha know.  

If Nazi Donald Duck isn't enough here's Education for Death, another Disney propaganda short.  

As a final side-note, I should mention my passion for all things animated often crosses with my interest in all things weird.  One amazing find I discovered was the National Film Board of Canada.  The animation section is filled with odd, peculiar, haunting, brilliant, hilarious shorts.  Don't be afraid to wander through the kid's section, either!  Another gem was Rock and Rule (link is very sketchy, but gives a good impression), a weird Canadian film made in 1983 whose main antagonist is Mick Jagger.  The latest gem I've discovered is Cool World.  It was made in 1992 and is a cross between live-action and animated worlds a la Space Jam and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (don't deny it, if you're a 20-something you watched and loved both these movies).  I haven't actually seen any of the movie yet, but it's on my to-do list.  

WHEW.  I think it's time I quit babbling and went to sleep.  

¡Buenas Noches, mis amores!




Arg, not done.
Salvador Dalí + Disney = Destino (2003)
Need I say more?  Absolutely beautiful.