Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Blog post for December 1-3
This week, review the chronology of films and events from 1940-1945 in Rentschler's Appendix. Find one event, film, industry event, or political happening to explore however you like. If you respond to a film, please post on the film blog; otherwise, please post on the reading blog.
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Banned Films:
ReplyDeleteThe list of the banned films in Rentschler’s appendix is very interesting and somewhat mysterious. The increased number of films banned as the war progresses establishes the increasing paranoia in the ministry of propaganda that the war was not going well. The ministry of propaganda needed to be extremely careful in what films were shown to the public so I assume that the process of banning the films was taken very seriously. Goebbels success relied on the people’s response to the film and if he felt that the people somehow whether it be a conscious or subconscious disconnect from the Nazi party, would be increasingly important as the Nazi’s began to lose the war. My question is what the specific criterion is that causes films to be banned? The appendix provides little analysis on why these films were banned, which made me curious. . The success of Nazi cinema was reliant upon the masses hypnotic response to the films. My belief is that that as the war progressed and Nazi Germany became on the brink of collapse, the ministry of propaganda grew more selective of what films the public was allowed to see. The criteria for Nazi films become stricter as the number of banned films increases during the years. Goebbels says “the moment a person of propaganda, propaganda is ineffective”. Perhaps Goebbels and the ministry of propaganda grew more paranoid and conscientious about adhering to the laws of successful propaganda making. After the war, the criteria for banned films drastically changed as the allies took control of UFA and banned films that promoted the Nazi ideology that Goebbels and his ministry of propaganda worked so hard to achieve. The appendix does not give any specifications on why films were banned during the Nazi regime. I wonder if the war would have turned out differently, or perhaps had been prolonged if the films that were banned were actually screened. How much of the success of Nazi cinema was reflected in the success of the war?
Alexis