World War II and Popular Culture

World War II touched virtually every part of American life, even things and then simple as the nutrient people ate, the films they watched, and the music they listened to.

Primary Prototype: (Image: US Department of Defense force.)

Globe State of war II touched virtually every role of American life, even things so simple as the food people ate, the films they watched, and the music they listened to. The war, especially the endeavor of the Allies to win information technology, was the bailiwick of songs, movies, comic books, novels, artwork, comedy routines—every believable course of entertainment and culture. Moreover, in many cases these works and their creators were actually part of the war endeavour.

Writers, illustrators, cartoonists, filmmakers, and other artists used their skills to keep the public informed most the state of war and persuade people to cooperate with the government's Dwelling Front end programs—like scrap drives and rationing. In short, World War Two and the pop culture of that era are interconnected; the story of one cannot be fully told without the story of the other.

Poster advertising Warner Brothers' Confessions of a Nazi Spy, 1939.

Poster advert Warner Brothers' Confessions of a Nazi Spy, 1939.
(Image: Courtesy of Warner Brothers, Inc.)

The prospect of another world war began creeping into the American imagination even before the assail on Pearl Harbor. Authors John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway and playwright Maxwell Anderson each wrote fictional portrayals of wartorn Europe, while Hollywood turned out movies about risky trips beyond the submarine-infested Atlantic, daring attempts to rescue loved ones from Nazi concentration camps, and nefarious spy rings lurking right under America's nose. These stories reflected the growing anxiety in America about the state of war and how it might bear upon their lives. In 1939, for example, Warner Brothers released the film Confessions of a Nazi Spy based on actual FBI investigations into German espionage in the United States. Some people worried that the movie was likewise political and risked damaging the fragile neutrality of the United States in Europe. Others praised the movie as patriotic because information technology helped alert Americans to what was considered a very real danger. "I feel I am serving my land," pb thespian Edward Thou. Robinson told ane interviewer later the picture show'southward premiere. "The dangers of Nazism must exist removed for all time."

After Pearl Harbor, state of war themes exploded into virtually every artistic medium and form of amusement. Movies like Saboteur, Sahara, and Casablanca captured the wartime drama faced by servicemembers and civilians alike. Song lyrics often referred to the conflict, highlighting the ups and downs of both the battlefield and the Home Front. Some songs were upbeat, witty, and fun to dance to, like "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" past the Andrews Sisters. Others, like Walter Kent and Nat Burton's "The White Cliffs of Dover," were slower and more solemn, touching on both the seriousness of the war and the hope that peace would soon render. Fifty-fifty newspaper comic strips picked up elements of the war in their plots. Longtime favorite characters like Superman, Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, and Mickey Mouse all dealt with various aspects of the war effort, from raising victory gardens to dealing with rationing to fighting the Centrality powers on the front. A few comics like Nib Mauldin'due south Willie and Joe were created specifically considering of the state of war and offered readers a unique glimpse into the daily lives of American GIs.

For many wartime writers, actors, and artists, these contributions weren't enough. It was one thing to produce material nearly the war, simply many of them besides wanted to use their skills to actually help the Allies win. Soon afterwards Pearl Harbor, several organizations sprang upwards voluntarily to help the entertainment industry do exactly that. Hollywood's War Activities Commission, for case, helped smooth the fashion for cooperation betwixt the federal government, major pic studios, and thousands of theaters across the United States. The Hollywood Victory Committee organized appearances past phase, screen, television, and radio personalities at events promoting war bond sales, scrap drove, and military recruitment, plus shows to heave troop morale. By the terminate of the war, the organization had put on 7,700 events featuring 4,147 stars, 38 picture shorts, and 390 broadcasts for war relief and clemency. Writers and publishers got in on the action as well past forming the Quango on Books in Wartime. The system promoted books that would exist useful "weapons in the state of war of ideas" and arranged sales of suitable books to libraries and the war machine. In 1943, the Council launched its Armed Services Edition line of reprints of popular books and ultimately sold over 122 meg copies to the military at an average cost of about six cents apiece.

Actresses Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth serve food to soldiers at the Hollywood Canteen in Hollywood, California.

Actresses Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth serve nutrient to soldiers at the Hollywood Canteen in Hollywood, California.
(Image: Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-113250.)

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration recognized the powerful influence of the amusement industry early and looked for ways to harness that energy to encourage public support for the war endeavor. The Office of War Information (OWI) was the chief arbiter of this relationship. OWI worked with moving-picture show studios, screenwriters, radio stations, newspapers, cartoonists, and artists beyond the United States to produce films, posters, songs, and radio broadcasts urging everyday Americans to cooperate with the government's wartime programs and restrictions. Even though much of this piece of work was essentially propaganda, some of it became highly pop. In 1942, for example, the War Section asked the Writers' State of war Board to come with material to assistance recruit volunteers for the Ground forces Air Forces across but pilots. The Board's artistic artists responded with 52 nonfiction articles, 12 fictional stories, a novel, and fifty-fifty a vocal chosen "I Wanna Marry a Bombardier." The resulting surge of bombardier recruits was so large the War Department eventually had to ask the Writer'due south State of war Board to suspend their campaign.

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By the fourth dimension victory was declared in 1945, a whole new globe of war-related sights and sounds had get part of America's popular culture, some intended purely for entertainment, others as propaganda. Many of the more iconic symbols of this era—similar Rosie the Riveter, for example—are all the same with usa today. World War Ii continues to inspire artists, filmmakers, and writers, who have used the history and culture of the wartime era every bit the basis for some of the most highly-acclaimed films, books, and fifty-fifty video games of our time.

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