Toonstalgia: Donald Duck and the Nazis

Toonstalgia

Donald Duck has a nightmare where he's a Nazi

You can skip this part.

I am afflicted. Every time new cracks form in the veneer of sanity and decency, I get these violent chills. I know it's a somatoform expression of the overwhelming emotions but it's unpleasant. My hope, my fears, my anger, my heart, my head, my soul physically hurt. I hope the things I'm doing help. I can't do nothing. I promise you, I will never shut up. Even if I have to communicate with carrier pigeons, I will never shut up.

Normally, I seek out topics to take me out of it. Tonight, not so much.

The subject of Nazis has been on my mind for obvious effing reasons. I keep thinking about the Marvel/DC Crossover where the Joker met the Red Skull. Even the Joker hated the Red Skull because he was a Nazi. "I may be a criminal lunatic, but I'm an American criminal lunatic!" This is a little insight into where my brain is right now. The Joker is a psychotic serial killer and even he hates Nazis (although I'm not sure if the crossover is canon. Probably not now if it ever was.)

The Cartoon in Question

I watched @theLindsayEllis deconstruct Der Fuehrer's Face and learned about the Donald Duck cartoon that would never be shown on Disney Channel today (hopefully).

"When the Fuhrer says we never will be slaves. [Bleep]"

I bleeped it in the quote because I don't want to write the next part of that line without a good reason. It's a curse word in my mind. If you want to hear it, watch it. That feeling of profanity made this whole cartoon a bit more unfun than the rest I've watched. I can watch offensive cartoons and view them with an academic interest but this cartoon is just triggering to me.

It's a well done cartoon. The content is somewhat critical of the Nazis (Eff Nazis. Eff every Nazi bastard) but it's critical in a fairly benign way. It's not funny and I don't know if it ever was. The song was a popular parody and that seems to be what the cartoon was known for at the time.

The short was originally called "Donald Duck in Nutziland" but changed to "Der Fuehrer's Face" after the record became a hit. It sold 350,000 and lead to $60,000 in war savings bonds being sold by October 22, 1942.

In attempting to answer this question, "Did they know what was happening?" I looked to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to find my answer, "On November 24, 1942, Wise held a press conference to announce Nazi Germany was implementing a policy to annihilate the European Jews." So there's my answer. Perhaps they didn't know the full extent of the horrors. The violence being committed against the Jewish people was being covered in the American press.

It's natural to try to refract the horror of the world through the lens of parody. Some things just aren't funny.

To cleanse my brain, I will be watching Dough for Dodo and trying to find a break with the lingering cloud of doom. I'm sorry, dear reader. This was kind of a downer.

Resources

Der Fuehrer's Face, a Disney Cartoon

https://www.ushmm.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Fuehrer%27s_Face

The Evening Times, October 22, 1942, Page 6

I, Writer: Level Up Writers

Level Up Writers

I am willfully stretching myself. Work, write, write, write, sleep. Then start again. Why 3 writes? Because I have 3 major projects demanding my attention (aside from little issues demanding my attention).

Writing is my life but it's doesn't get first dibs on my time. It gets dibs on every spare minute. The spare minutes become fleeting when my nephew comes over and wants to sit on my lap so he can watch me play Lego Batman.

When everything is too hard and the world is absolutely effed, I write. Here are some things that have been helping me level up with my writing.

Things Helping Me

1. Twitter #hashtag games

For me, a hashtag game is a healthier goal than a word count. I find the game of the day and work until I have a sentence I feel is worth posting. This can be achieved by writing or editing preexisting text.

I used to be a firm word count person but for me the word counts were more compulsive. With a twitter hashtag game (@WriteEvents), I earn a sense of accomplishment even if I don't have the time to reach the word count that day.

2. Reach a Save Point

Finish a project and move on. A single blog article is an attainable goal. Finishing a project is the hardest thing for me. I'll own that. But I can get an article done. Every piece of writing makes me a better a writer.

3. Reach the Next Level

I'm not a terribly confident person but I have people who are confident in me. And yes, I know how lucky I am to have people around me who believe in me. This gives me the confidence to strive to create things so far outside my skill set. This is the best way to become a better writer. You can do it. It doesn't matter if the people around you believe it, I know it. You can write and you can become a better writer. You just have to work.

4. Extra Lives

This part is not a commentary on reincarnation although I do have many thoughts on the subject. We writers have a million lives inside of us if we're willing to explore them. Just don't lose sight of the life outside. Yes, I want to write my damn book but I wouldn't trade having that kid sitting on my lap cheering my on while I smash Legos inside the game for it.

Looking for Weird - Toonstalgia

Toonstalgia: An Odd Cartoon Binge

On the Hunt for Weird to Watch

I'm already having one of those weeks. I have a list of problems and projects demanding my attention. I decided to procrastinate and work on a post about binge watching some cartoons. So I am doing something, I'm just not dealing with my problematic somethings. Anyway, cartoons here I come.

"Lullaby Land": Fail

I started with the cartoon short "Lullaby Land" and the song was so painfully annoying I shut it off within a few seconds. Skip it unless you're really bored and you're a completest who wants to watch every cartoon ever.

"Ziggy's Christmas"

I learned about "Ziggy's Christmas" on the "TV Crimes" Podcast with Mikey Neuman and Wil Wheaton. My hopes were high because I like bad, weird, insane stuff. The opening song of this cartoon is bad (but not as repugnant to me as "Lullaby Land"). I decided to power through to see what surreal mania the cartoon could offer.

Ziggy is a mess of a human being (Is he human?). The cartoon isn't that bad given what it is (a low budget Christmas special). The cartoon special is really bad for the part of my brain that demands answers to pointless questions like "Who keeps their snow boots in their dresser?" (Ziggy does but does anyone else keep snow boots in the dresser?).

"A Family Circus Christmas"

I also learned about this cartoon from "TV Crimes". The music continues the streak of terrible offenses to my ears. These kids are annoying but I made it through. The problem "A Family Circus Christmas" and "Ziggy's Christmas" share is they are hastily assembled animated specials with key images mined from the comic strips to please the fans. They're not actually good. I can accept the twisted logic of their universes but I cannot enjoy the poor quality. Not the poor animation quality but the poor scripting, the poor music, and the lack of joy.

8-Bit Cinema - The Big Lebowski

I still haven't seen the film. Although I've seen enough commentaries on the movie that sometimes I feel like I have. A cartoon adaptation and a movie are completely different experiences. Even as someone who has never seen "The Big Lebowski", I enjoyed the cartoon.

I generally like cartoons better than movies because a short cartoon is a contained glance into a large universe. It's the same reason I like comics better than graphic novels. Even if the episode or issue is part of an ongoing story, I like the capsule of art and ideas and the overall aesthetic of condensed storytelling.

Looney Tunes: Marvin the Martian

I finished my binge with a few Marvin the Martians. The architecture of Marvin the Martian's world stands out (possibly caused potent nightmares when I was younger about a surreal mall where I would fall to my death). The architecture is so unique. Marvin's cartoons give a window into a larger world that I would love to understand better. W