During World War II, the entertainment industry changed to help the war effort. Often the industry became more closely controlled by national governments, who believed that a supportive home front was crucial to victory. Through regulation and censorship, governments sought to keep spirits high and to depict the war in a positive light. They also found new ways to use entertainment media to keep citizens informed.
Government censorship of mass media was enforced because of fears of threats to national harmony and security. The most popular forms of entertainment were radio, film, and music. Together these aimed to keep citizens entertained, informed about the war effort, and motivated. Broadcast radio was an especially powerful communication tool.
Radio In comparison to television, radio was a much more affordable form of entertainment. Because of this, the radio was the most popular form of entertainment during World War II. Radio stations fueled propaganda and reached a countless number of citizens. Many shows popularized and quickly gained influence in certain countries. Radio broadcasts, like other forms of entertainment at the time, were regulated by the government and were pushed to keep citizens informed about war efforts and to encourage citizens to help the cause. Radio stations, along with other media outlets, were major fuels of propaganda during World War II.
An example of a popular radio program is Tommy Handley's It's That Man Again, which continued airing throughout the war in Britain until 1949. Comedian Tommy Handley utilized his radio broadcasts to keep citizens informed about the war efforts and to keep the spirits of Britain high during this time of hardship. It's That Man Again garnered substantial influence - up to 40% of the British population listened to this show during World War II. The show's last broadcast occurred on January 6, 1949, with Handley passing away only three days later. To further demonstrate the show's influence, two memorial services were held in his honor, with thousands of listeners present at the funeral grounds.
It's That Man Again was hosted on BBC, a broadcasting service program still widely known in Britain today. Like BBC, other broadcasting companies also attempted to keep civilian spirits high and expressed certain opinions on the war. Hosts of radio programs took sides regarding the war; for example, the Voice of Russia, the government's international radio broadcasting station, expressed the country's opinions and eventually targeted the United States. Radio programs were broadcast in up to twenty-three different languages, which widened the appeal of these stations.Anthony Rhodes, "Propaganda: The art of persuasion: World War II", 1976, Chelsea House Publishers, New York
Film
The film industry during World War II was an important source of communication to the people on all sides. At this time the cinema was the most popular form of entertainment to the people. It was used to entertain, lift spirits, motivate and inform the audience. This made film an important means of distributing propaganda. Governments used film to influence the public to support the war effort in their everyday lives and to justify their actions. Film was a powerful force which unified the nations. Cinemas provided for a good place to watch information films. New films that showed in cinemas were often informative of a country's war efforts or the progress of the war itself. Furthermore, the government released additional films that were designed to model the desired human behaviors and actions during the war. These government films often suggested methods of coping with the loss of families and homes and to inform the audience to caution the presence of enemy spies.
Though Television had first been publicly demonstrated in London in 1926, only few people owned television sets because of its price and scarcity. Since most citizens did not own televisions, they relied on cinemas to keep informed and educated. Cinemas of Europe and the United States were mostly regulated by the government. Films made during this time period were more realistic than escapist, in contrast to entertainment during the Great Depression.
Hollywood (United States) The USA entered the Second World War in December 1941 and the entertainment industry was used to shape opinion and foster support. The main focus that the US wanted to make on films was their own historical phenomena and a spread of US culture. The war films made focused mostly on the "desperate affirmation" and the "societal tensions". Many films main focus was about the war; they wanted to make sure that they explain the objectives. The US war films were good and bad, many of them showed the different lives of the people during the war. The importance of these films and as studies have mentioned, is the influence behind these films. Furthermore, war films showed a lot of information about the war and the life of their families just like the film Since You Went Away. When the US government noticed the content of the feature films they became more interested in the political and social significance messages in the film. This shows how Hollywood wanted to raise two important production of films together with war films. With the growth of the film industry came the growth of the influence of Hollywood celebrities. Hollywood stars appeared in advertisements and toured the country to encourage citizens to purchase war bonds to support their country in the war.
Propaganda The influence of the film industry during the Second World War made it the ideal tool for both explicit and implicit propaganda. Hollywood was controlled by the government through the United States Office of War Information (OWI). In June 1942 they formed The Bureau of Motion Picture as the Hollywood branch of their operations. Nelson Poynter coordinated communication between these two agencies and published a comprehensive Manual for the Motion-Picture Industry. The agency worked with film makers to record and photograph wartime activities while regulating its content. This was often met with hostile reaction from the major studios and producers.
The first Hollywood film to depict Germany under Nazi rule was Hitler - Beast of Berlin. It was shot in under a week showed the brutal treatment of resisting heroes in concentration camps at the hands of vicious Gestapo officers.
In 1941, the US entered the war and more films were made to reinforce an image of the Nazis as "Army officers as impeccable aristocrats, cold, aloof and efficient, Gestapo men as clever and merciless…. And the German soldier as efficient, disciplined, and unswervingly patriotic". This was a strong image of a military regime which did not respect the individual or democracy.
Hollywood did not just focus on stereotyping Nazis but also in raising the moral of the people. Movies that depict "war" reinforced the message that the war would not be permanent and that a better world and society would be created in the end. Hence, they were aimed at keeping the moral of the nation high and convincing the people that the war justified and righteous. For example, movies like The Story of G.I. Joe, Dive Bomber, So Proudly We Hail! and Sahara all displayed the humanitarian principles of the allies in contrast to the brutality of the enemy and gave justification to the public to fight the war. Film historian Arthur F. Mclure states that these motivational films had two purposes: "to give unity of purpose for the war itself and to give strength of purpose to the people on the home front". Propaganda not only was used to create an impression of an evil Nazi enemy but also to instill in the people the justification of the war they were in and Hollywood provided this in its film production. Hollywood believed that "the role that films should play in time of war was a bone of contention within the industry" which describes the conflict between patriotism and art was ongoing throughout the war.
Censorship The film industry cooperated with the OWI and included suggested ideas within films. The FBI remained constantly suspicious of Hollywood and kept an investigation of all activities. The agency worked to display the war in a positive light and censored negative content, pictures of American casualties were banned from being published until 1943.
The Bureau of Motion Picture (BMP) also prevented the re-release of Gunga Din due to "glorification of British Imperialism" that was thought to undermine the unity of the Allied powers.
In 2008, documents published by the National Archives leaked to the public regarding the involvement of numerous Hollywood celebrities with the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Some 750,000 documents reveal that famous American public figures were actually spies for the Office of Strategic Services. These celebrities include director John Ford, chef Julia Child and baseball player Moe Berg, who were hired to gather information by the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Britain The film industry in Britain during World War II was highly important to the country and had a huge impact on the citizens. Two days after Britain declared war on Germany the government ordered that all public entertainment places to close which included "4300 cinemas". Within two weeks, this was revoked and far from being afraid to go to the cinema the attendances grew steadily. "Cinemas thrived in wartime, and attendance figures surged upward from an average of just under 20 million weekly admissions in 1939 to over 30 million weekly admissions in 1944 and 1945. In a country with a population of approximately 48 million people. This is a clear indication of the part that films played in the lives of the ordinary people to either escape reality. Statistics show that the Wartime Social Survey, conducted in 1943, found that 32% of Britons went to the cinema frequently (defined as once a week or more) and another 38% attended occasionally (defined as once a fortnight or less)". Therefore, more than half of the British population were regular cinema goers. There were many reasons why the cinema was so popular. During this time everybody was employed but food was rationed and not everyone especially women wanted to spend their time in pubs. Therefore, a cinema was a secure and warm place to go to where a person could escape their own homes which often had lodgers living with them and spend their money.
Propaganda Propaganda was also prevalent in the British film industry movies such as In Which We Serve, The First of the Few, Went the Day Well?, Pastor Hall, One of Our Aircraft Is Missing, Journey Together, The Silver Fleet and The Way Ahead were made. The film Miss Grant Goes to the Door, showed audiences how to recognize German spies, how to hide Ordnance Survey maps from enemies, and how to be of aid to soldiers and sailors – women were encouraged to knit socks and mittens for sailors. This film further reminded citizens that ‘’Cromwell’’ was the code word to signify the invasion of Britain. Some of the propaganda films made in Britain were sponsored by the government to be featured films with a message motivate the audience. Even Though television had been invented it was in its infancy and very few people had a television set. The only home entertainment for most people was a radio or a gramophone.
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