By Madeline Wiener
Introduction:
Fairy tales have been around for a long time and have been used to make socio-political commentaries. Propaganda has also been around for a while, consistently being used to spread certain ideologies. For this reason, it is no surprise that propaganda and fairy tales would eventually intertwine. As is widely known, the 1900s was a time plagued by war, and it became a prominent aspect of daily life for citizens around the globe, eventually affecting almost every industry in the economy. During this time, the economy focused on aiding the war effort, which resulted in various companies making propaganda. During World War II, fairy tale usage in propaganda became more widespread. This essay intends to focus on the manipulation of fairy tales in World War II propaganda while analyzing the original stories about the three little pigs and Sleeping Beauty and discussing the use of these fairy tale stories in wartime propaganda. The utilization of fairy tales in World War II propaganda made by the Allies and the Nazis was successful because general audiences felt comfortable around fairy tales, which resulted in audiences letting their guards down and becoming susceptible to the messaging of the propaganda, which tried to influence children and adults to participate in the war effort. By utilizing fairy tales in propaganda, World War II emphasized the good and evil influential abilities behind fairy tales, which have often been deemed childish throughout the years because of the utilization of fairy tales to put children to bed. It is crucial to understand the implementation of fairy tales so that those in contemporary times can begin to understand the societal impacts fairy tales can have on society.
The Three Little Pigs and the Animated Allied Fairy Tales:
In Joseph Jacobs’s “The Story of the Three Little Pigs,” a big bad wolf is looking for his meal when he comes upon the houses of three pigs. The three little pigs each build their own house out of various materials; due to the low amount of effort and thoughtfulness two of the three pigs put in when building their homes, the big bad destroys the two houses and eats the pigs within them. The third pig, who has absorbed the knowledge of the two other pigs, understood how to build a more secure house. The big bad wolf could not blow down the brick house because it proved too strong for the wolf. After the big bad wolf fails to blow down the house, the third pig tricks the big bad wolf numerous times and kills the big bad wolf during one of his tricks. The story leaves readers with a lasting message about sacrificing childhood, growing up, and becoming more intelligent and hard-working. If unable to leave childhood behind, like two of the three pigs, the result is death.
In 1933, Disney produced an animated short, Three Little Pigs, for entertainment. The concept of the story is like the written tale; however, in this story, neither the pigs nor the big bad wolf dies. The wolf receives punishment for blowing down the houses of the two childish pigs by falling into a pot of boiling water and burning himself. However, the two more childish pigs, who received refuge from the most mature of the three pigs, do not come out of the story having learned a lesson. After the wolf runs away after being burnt, the two childish pigs sing a song, which they had sung throughout the entire animation: “Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf” (Disney 7:57-7:58). The immature pigs mockingly sing about their lack of fear towards the big bad wolf, because they have survived the big bad wolf. In response, the most mature of the pigs creates a knocking noise, and the two other pigs cower in fear, which proves the two childish pigs still fear the big bad wolf. In the Disney version of the story, there are no real consequences. The wolf gets to live and will likely continue his behavior, and the immature pigs get to continue being childish. The original message of the tale is lessened and does not have the same fearful impact it does in the original story. No real consequences come from the pigs’ refusal to grow up, and because of that, the original message of the story becomes less important. The animated version seems more for entertainment purposes and less about teaching lessons.
In 1941, Disney utilized the story of the three little pigs to produce The Thrifty Pig to highlight a propagandistic message. The animation has two parts: the first part is the story of the three little pigs with political undertones, and in the second part, the animation becomes more overtly propagandistic. This essay will focus on the first part of the animation. The story setup is similar to the earlier film, Three Little Pigs. The actual visuals of the propagandistic tale are almost identical to the original animation. However, in this retelling, the wolf is a Nazi. Below are the two cartoons, with the Three Little Pigs animation shown on the top (Disney 3:31) and The Thrifty Pig shown below (Disney 1:23):
Similarly to the past stories of the three little pigs, in the story of The Thrifty Pig, the Nazi wolf destroys the houses of the two childish pigs; the two pigs did not buy war savings certificates, which resulted in their misfortune of no longer having houses. Upon going to the residence of the third pig, the wolf struggles to blow down the house. The residence of the mature pig is sturdy because various war savings certificates strengthen the house, which solidifies the safety of all the pigs from the big bad Nazi wolf. The animation ends with the pigs singing: “We’ll be safe from the big bad wolf If you lend your savings” (2:51-2:54). The cartoon encourages the general population, which is represented by the three little pigs, to buy war savings certificates because they help in the war effort and protect the homes of people from Nazis. The story focus is narrowed down and becomes more like what the original tale hoped to imply about the message of sacrifice. In The Thrifty Pig, viewers are encouraged to sacrifice; however, the sacrifice is in finances, not childhood. The Thrifty Pig encourages its audience to give up some of their finances for the war effort.
Effective propaganda is identified as successful when the propaganda achieves its goal. The Thrifty Pig was successful propaganda because it led to the purchasing of numerous Canadian war savings certificates. In 1941, fifty-two million war savings certificates and stamps went to the selected federally funded debt operations (McIvor 70). However, in 1942, following the release of The Thrifty Pig and other propagandistic films made by the Disney company, the selected federally funded debt operations targeting war savings certificates and stamps increased to eighty-two million dollars (McIvor 70); this increase shows that fairy tale propaganda was successful at relaying wartime messages. Furthermore, the utilization of fairy tales by the Allies within propaganda was successful in appealing to a large audience. The propaganda was successful at targeting children, who would discuss what they had watched with their parents. However, the propaganda also experienced success at influencing adults more directly: “people ‘let their guard down’ when they saw cartoons because they were expecting to be entertained, not recruited for war. Using Disney characters to advocate serious patriotic messages was successful because the characters are traditionally non-threatening” (Raiti 156). The characters within the propaganda made by Disney were fairy tale characters that various individuals had grown up hearing stories about. People were familiar with the fairy tale characters utilized in the propaganda, which made people feel a sense of safety. The cartoony imagery and comforting characters that people had grown up with made the adults watching the propaganda feel secure. The vibrant colors and fun music juxtaposed the dreariness of war. While viewing seemingly childish cartoony tales, adults experienced a transportation experience back into their childhood bedrooms. Adults would become more susceptible to the propagandistic message because they assumed they did not have to be alert towards propagandistic messaging. After all, the propaganda was just fairy tales, which adults assumed were safe from the domain of war because it is an accepted belief that war is an adult topic, while fairy tales are childish. Due to the accepted belief that fairy tales and wars were topics directed towards different audiences, it created an interesting juxtaposition when used simultaneously.
Disney sent a broad message to audiences by utilizing the three little pigs and other fairy tale stories in its propagandistic films about supporting the Allies. Along with selling war savings certificates, propaganda sent messages about numerous war-related things. Various other fairy tales continued to be used in propaganda to spread the message of the Allies. However, the Allies were not the only ones to utilize fairy tales in the propaganda they made. During World War II, the Nazi party also utilized fairy tales within their propaganda to spread their ideologies.
Sleeping Beauty and the Literal Nazi Fairy Tales:
The Brothers Grimms’ story, “Briar Rose,” is about a Wise Woman who curses a young girl. The girl is cursed to prick her finger on a spindle and die on her fifteenth birthday. Another Wise Woman changes the curse, so the young girl only sleeps for a hundred years. Despite the precautions taken to avoid the curse, the girl pricks her finger on a spindle and falls into a hundred-year slumber, along with the rest of her kingdom. After a hundred years of slumber, Briar Rose awakens to see a prince; the kingdom awakens alongside Briar Rose. Not soon after, “the wedding of Briar Rose and the prince was celebrated in great splendor and the two lived out their days in happiness” (Brothers Grimm 133). In the story, Briar Rose falls asleep as a young girl; when she wakes up, she faces adult responsibilities, such as getting married. Similar to the story of the three little pigs, the message of this story is about growing up and leaving childhood behind. However, when reinterpreted for propaganda, the tale became much more political, with the original message about growing up being entirely lost.
During World War II, the Nazi party utilized various fairy tales by adapting them to fit their ideologies because they were using them as a form of educational material. Children learned about the ideals of the Nazi party using the fairy tales, which had heavy-handed political undertones. One of the stories the Nazi party adapted was the tale of “Briar Rose,” which was viewed as representative of German culture because the adapters of the tale were German. The fairy tale was a symbol of nationalistic pride. The Nazified version of the tale has many of the same characters, including the characters of the evil Wise Woman, the prince, and Sleeping Beauty. In the retelling, a witch representative of democracy replaces the Wise Woman; a knight in shining armor depicting Hitler replaces the prince, and the sleeping beauty character comes to represent Germany. Depicted below are two pictures; on the top is the Disney portrayal of the Nazified adapted fairy tale (Disney 4:26) in its film Education for Death, and below is Hitler portrayed as a knight in shining armor (Axis History Forum):
In the Nazified version of Sleeping Beauty, the evil democratic witch curses Germany. This moment represents the actions taken by the Allies when they punished Germany for the actions they had taken during World War I. Helpless and in need of saving, Hitler comes to awaken Germany and save her from the evil curse democracy put on the country. The adapted fairy tale portrays Hitler as the savior of Germany, as he defeats democracy and rescues Germany. When children read about Hitler saving Germany, they come to an understanding that they should be placing Hitler on a pedestal and believe that they should regard him as a savior. The Sleeping Beauty story produced by Germany is supposed to rally support among the school children in Germany in favor of Hitler.
The Nazis utilized “Briar Rose” and various other fairy tales when making propaganda because they found them to be successful educational materials. However, unlike the fairy tale propaganda the Allies used, which appealed to audiences of all ages, the fairy tale propaganda created by the Nazis created only appealed to children in the German education system and was not used outside of the classroom. Nazified fairy tales, such as the Nazi Sleeping Beauty story, were read by the youth within the German education system during World War II. The goal of fairy tale propaganda in Germany was to indoctrinate German children into the Nazi belief system. Overall, the utilization of adapted fairy tales and other means of education was successful; “From their first days in school, German children were imbued with the cult of Adolf Hitler. His portrait was a standard fixture in classrooms. Textbooks frequently described the thrill of a child seeing the German leader for the first time” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). From an early age, the utilization of fairy tales within propaganda instructed children in Germany to idolize the Nazi party, more specifically Hitler. The Nazi party practiced the extreme conditioning of children, which resulted in children never having the opportunity to hear differing perspectives on politics.
Conclusion:
Fairy tales have a long history of being utilized to communicate issues prevalent in society. They have served as a form of entertainment and moral teaching. Hence, fairy tale usage in war propaganda comes with little surprise. The utilization of fairy tales within propaganda became highly prevalent during World War II, being used by the Allies and the Nazis. The versatility of fairy tale propaganda allowed it to be the perfect method to influence the thoughts of children and adults. For many years, people have disregarded the fairy tale genre, and a belief has grown that fairy tales are only for children. However, fairy tale utilization in propaganda shows that this tale type is powerful. The fairy tale is capable of being used for good and evil purposes, as demonstrated by the propaganda created by the Allies and the Nazis. People must be aware of the influence of fairy tales because of the ability people have to twist the genre into something evil. World War II was a significant event demonstrating a fairy tale’s power. The fairy tale genre has immense power, and it is crucial to understand this power to avoid the weaponization of fairy tales ever again. By understanding the genre, the evil utilization of fairy tales is avoidable.
Works Cited:
“Axis History Forum.” Nazi Distortion of the Sleeping Beauty Fairytale – Axis History Forum, https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=250794.
Brothers Grimm. “Briar Rose,” The Classic Fairy Tales (Second Edition) (Norton Critical Editions). W. W. Norton & Company, 2017, pp. 130-133
“Education for Death.” C-Span, 14 Sept. 2019, https://www.c-span.org/video/?464005-2/education-death.
Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales (London: David Nutt, 1890), no. 14, pp. 68-72.
McIvor, Craig R. “Canadian War-Time Fiscal Policy, 1939-45.” JSTOR, The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science , Feb. 1948, www.jstor.org/stable/137653?seq=1.
Raiti, Gerard C. “The Disappearance of Disney Animated Propaganda: A Globalization Perspective.” Animation, vol. 2, no. 2, July 2007, pp. 153–169, https://doi.org/10.1177/1746847707074703.
“Three Little Pigs – Silly Symphony Walt Disney 1933.” YouTube, YouTube, 13 Aug. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=leAh00n3hno.
“The Thrifty Pig | 1941 | WW2 Era Cartoon.” YouTube, YouTube, 24 Dec. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8fjvfmnMqc.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Introduction to the Holocaust.” Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust.
