Responses 1-10:

1) When engaging the perception of the Americans and Westerners by the Japanese, the sentiment is merely one of inferiority. The Japanese have viewed their culture as the chief culture in the world. They are the sun and everything revolves around it. The illustration of Roosevelt holding a banner of "democracy" and a club of "dictatorship" goes to illustrate that the Japanese view the idea of democracy as one of force, meaning that there is no choice for the Japanese to adhere to democracy, it is being inflicted upon them. The Japanese are evil because they are violating the liberal democratic ideals that the Americans have built their society and lives upon. The Japanese have illustrated the westerners to be ruled by the wallet. Americans soon depicted the Japanese as those people who were the evil aggressors in the world who wanted to conquer land and make the chief civilization one of Japanese roots. The Propaganda piece relies on the fact that Americans have a preconceived notion that the Japanese are bad and that the principle way of life is one of liberal democracy and capitalism. Being that the American society is dominated by a white majority, the propaganda illustrating white as inferior is a major factor. In my own opinion I think that propaganda did not play as much as a role as did the actual power and might of the United States did. As the dominant hegemon of the international system, the United States had the military capability and technological advancements to shape the world as it saw fit. While it took disregard of the Japanese people and culture, it did shape the new Japanese society. The propaganda was effective in that it illustrated what the Japanese thought of the United States. This in itself has a harsh impact. The impact instills hatred among Americans toward the Japanese people. As we view them as barbarians and self proclaimed ideal society, it grows support for our armed forces and our own stance in the war, uniting the American peoples behind the American banner to fight against those who feel we are inferior to them. The result of the World War II yielded a system which was dominated by the United States. Even though the Allied Powers as a whole won the war, it was the United States whose ideals and foundational societal principles which were imposed upon the global community and were the key elements of the emerging governance structure. Looking in hind sight after the events fo the war with Japan, there is no rational cause for such propaganda and hatred to have taken place. The incarceration of over one hundred thousand Japanese by the US was soley conducted by racial discrimination. The United States should not be severely offended that it was perceived as the enemy and as a barbarian by Japan. The United States was currently suppressing people in its own boundaries who were not of the Japanese race. The Americans too were advocating white supremacy as it was subjecting the black population to the wrath of the Jim Crow Laws. So, if the Americans feel as if their ideals and principles were attacked, they were with legitimate cause. What goes around comes around. Even today, the US mentality is to make the states of the world into liberal democratic societies. - Who is the barbarian today? The answer to that lies in the mirror we stare into every morningÖ (The liberal democratic states of the international system.) ~Eric W. Underhill~11/20/2002 2) In American Propaganda, the Japanese are often depicted as monkeys or apes. One cartoon in the book “War Without Mercy” had the caption, “Men or Beasts?” and showed a monkey hanging by it’s tail looking at it’s reflection in a mirror. The reflection was that of the steriotipical Japanese male’s face, with glasses and big front teeth. The text of the cartoon says, “To size up the Japanese hasn’t been easy at this great distance. One opinion is that they are no more than monkeys; another that they are human beings, after all, though in a state of arrested development. Nicosia Osmena, son of the Philippines President, who has had to live with them for three grim years, offers a compromise theory. To him the Japanese is the Missing Link.”. This, in my mind, sums up a lot of what American propiganda was saying, the Japanese are no more then a bunch of dirty rotten monkeys. I feel that even as far as propaganda goes, this cartoon goes way over the line of decency in propaganda. Another cartoon shows an ape with the text, “Murderers of American Fliers” on it’s chest, and a hand holding a gun to it’s head with the word “Civilization” over it. This was made in responce to Japanese executing captured American fliers. This is another cartoon that crossed the line of decency. I am almost ashamed to be an American when I know that these cartoons were printed in national newspapers and magazines. These cartoons do however get their point across very effectively. It makes the Japanese seem so unhuman that it would be totally fine to exterminate them because they are just apes that have no respect for human life. The Japanese propaganda, on the other hand, attacks the politics and political learders of the US, and Brittan. It shows Roosevelt and Churchill beeing exposed by Japanese plane for what they really are. Roosevelt, being clothed in money, is shows to be a horse holding a dagar, and Chruchill, clothed in death, a beaver. Another cartoon shows a demonized Roosevelt sitting on the head of a weeping Lady Liberty while holding a banner that says democracy and a club that says dictatorship. Under him are 4 figures, an “antiwar” sailor, “military action”, shown as a tied up woman, a striking worker, and a Jew inflating a ballon of profits. This shows that while the US government claims to be doing one thing, on the inside they are actually doing the opposite and because of that, they are evil, just like their demon leader. Another cartoon shows a southern asiatic being liberated by the Japanese and chasing off a Dutch woman while being illuminated by the sun with the words “Co-Prosperity Sphere” printed on it. This is a cartoon showing that the Japanese are the good guys, chasing away the Europeans who are the bad guys. These cartoons, are in my mind, more tastful then the American cartoons. The Japanese are not attacking the Europeans in general, they are attacking the leaders and politics of the Europeans. Altogether, the cartoons from each side both get their point across. The Japanese are all dirty primative apes that deserve to be killed, and the Europeans are lead by evil men who need to be stopped, by the Japanese, before the other people of the world suffer like those in their own countries and those of other countries. The Americans saw the Japanese as evil beasts, the Japanese saw the Americans as being led by evil people, and it’s Japan’s duity to save the world from those gready and powerful leaders. America attacks the Japanese people as a whole, Japan attacks the politcal leaders. All in all, the Japanese were fighting the European leader’s armies, and the Europeans were fight the Japanese people as a whole. --Jason Wright 11/22 3) Although I agree with some aspects of Eric’s and Jason’s analyses, I don’t believe that the propaganda is meant to imply that the Japanese were fighting against European leaders while the Americans were intent upon exterminating the Japanese people. Rather, each side was rallying against what it saw as the most despicable thing about the other—Americans who saw individual freedom as their defining trait demonized the collectivism typical in Japanese society, and the Japanese decried that same individualism in favor of duty to country, family, and emperor. Likely, both sides saw their defeat as likely being followed by the death of their culture, and with good reason; one need only look at the lands occupied briefly by Hitler’s Germany to see what might have been the result of an Allied defeat, so don’t dismiss the importance that was placed on victory. Americans and Japanese both tended to believe that defeat in the war would mean the erradication of their culture and the installment of their enemy’s way of life upon their people. Is it therefore surprising that they went to such depths to stir their people into a wartime frenzy?  Most of the American propaganda obviously assumes that the audience is predisposed to view the Japanese as inferior. Was there was a certain degree of racial superiority felt among white Americans and Europeans with regards to the Japanese? Certainly. However, I would assert thatAmericato a certain extent held its racial degredation within its own borders—remember, the same American citizens who supported the Jim Crow laws that Eric mentioned in his post cheered quite loudly when Jesse Owens and other black atheletes defeated Hitler’s Aryan “supermen” in more than a dozen events at the 1936 Olympics. In other words, Americans have historically viewed themselves as a nationality as being superior to all other nationalities, leaving racial divides as a secondary distinction. It therefore seems that the hostility which was eventually brought to bear against Japanese Americans, including placing them into internment camps, was mostly the result of Japanese behavior towardsAmericaduring the war and not merely general racism.              As for the Japanese propaganda, the depiction of foreigners as devils, demons, or animals is a key theme—although, as has already been pointed out, it tends of focus on specific leaders. Part of the reason for this may be to emphasize whatJapansaw as the undesireable trait of American individuality. It may also be partly for the simple reason that it is difficult to physically distinguish between the British, Americans, and other Allies in cartoons. (Remember that the Japanese were very obviously different from the Germans in cartoons, soAmericadidn’t run into this problem when making charachiture depictions of their enemies.) However, notice the the way in which the Japanese soldier reaching down to shake the hand of the Indonesian worker has light skin himself; the idea of racial superiority was certainly not lost on the Japanese, and while they may have changed the paradigm a bit by considering themselves superior to white people, they joined the Europeans in seeing themselves as racially better than the darker-skinned islanders. --James Samans, 11/23/02 4) Japanese and American propaganda during World War II reveals much about each country’s stereotypes, prejudices, and goals of the war. Propaganda was designed to motivate citizens to support the war effort by dehumanizing the enemy, often depicting the opposing side as monsters, and showing them committing terrible atrocities. Examining the propaganda is retrospect is nothing short of comical, but at the time it was meant to be taken seriously and had some success in motivating people to support the war effort. The American propaganda depicted the Japanese as beasts and reptiles. The picture entitled, “This is the Enemy” shows a Japanese man carry a naked and presumably raped white woman over his shoulder, holding her by the ankle while she hangs limply over his back. The Japanese man resembles a reptile in his face, and his body posture resembles a Neanderthal with his hunched back and bent knees implying that he would be marching on with his prize in a sluggish and awkward manner. His skin is intentionally discolored to emphasize the racial difference between Japanese and white people. In the background are several other women; 2 are being hung and another one is being tortured and abused by a Japanese soldier. The shock of seeing something so terrible must have incited anger and outrage in many Americans who saw this poster, especially women. This depiction of Japanese soldiers makes them look subhuman and lacking in any morals whatsoever. Japanese propaganda similarly degrades Americans, specifically Roosevelt, but emphasizes more that they are buffoons and not simply pure evil. The picture entitled, “Grieving Statue of Liberty” President Roosevelt sits on top of the Statue of Liberty’s head holding a banner that says, “democracy” and simultaneously burning it with a torch that says, “dictatorship.” He has a horn on his head, and is sitting there naked. His feet are clearly those of a beast, and his naked, hairy body makes it clear that he is not civilized or modern in any manner. Hanging off each spike on the Statue’s crown are stereotypes of American foolishness and overall create a scene of chaos. The impish Jew inflating a balloon with the American flag on it represents our country’s commerce and how it is being run by crazy, little Jewish men (no offense to any Jewish people reading this). The striking American worker adds chaos to the scene and shows his preoccupation with his own needs over those of the country (fighting in the war and defending democracy). The hung and bound woman represents US military inaction. Her immobility and the representation of the military as a woman show US weakness and passivity in terms of military action against Japan during the early months of the war. The drunken sailor sitting on the spike behind the bound woman with a prostitute in his arms shows the amorality of the US sailors who indulge themselves in sinful pleasures and have no morality about their behavior. This symbol was particularly offensive to the Japanese because of the problems of reckless American sailors who would drink and create havoc in Japanese trading ports during the 1800s when American citizens had extraterritoriality rights in Japan. In the midst of all of this, Roosevelt is not paying attention to what is occurring on the different spikes of the Statue’s crown. He is instead too preoccupied with burning the banner of democracy. This scene represents American foolishness and peels away the veneer that America is a strong, united nation. This created sympathy and pride in the Japanese viewer who saw their strong, united nation as being able to battle and defeat the much larger and more economically powerful nation that is disjointed and plagued with chaos and amorality. It also reinforces Japanese thoughts that they are the superior race and that Americans are a bunch of foolish buffoons lead by a bigger, stupider leader. All propaganda, either American or Japanese, rely on certain preconceptions and knowledge of its citizens. Japanese propaganda used characterizations of President Roosevelt to get its messages across, and ridiculed and stereotyped Americans to show their foolishness and contradiction between ideology and reality. The foolishness and recklessness of Americans is shown in much of their propaganda, often depicting them as far less superior and civilized than the Japanese. Images of the sun appear throughout Japanese propaganda, and this symbol is recognized by Japanese citizens as the strength, glory, and unity of Japan and its people; the spirit of the land and its polity. The Americans, by contrast, showed the Japanese as beasts and monsters, depicting them committing atrocities and making them appear to have no morals or civilized behavior. By making them appear as brutes, the US effectively dehumanized the Japanese, created moral outrage in Americans, and justified its fight against the Japanese. Although the effectiveness of propaganda during World War II on motivating and gathering citizen support is debatable, the thoughts and intentions behind the slander is clear: its purpose is to dehumanize the enemy and justify its fight against the enemy. --Craig Wilhelmy, 11/23/02 5) An enemy is defined as anyone who harms or attacks another person or group of people, such as a military opponent. When this occurs, one automatically puts up the defense and places themselves on guard. As soon as an opponent crosses over and becomes an enemy, the term evil immediately follows. Enemy and evil go side by side, walking hand in hand. Evil things should be stopped and any person or military group who is evil needs to be stopped. In times of war, stopping the enemy means killing the enemy. To kill the enemy, one needs to know your enemy. To know your enemy is to know how to control them. The enemy is always depicted as something less than human. This makes the killing much easier emotionally. For example, the Japanese are often depicted as apes, vermin and little men. Propaganda has proven to be effective in capturing the enemy depicting its true weaknesses and disadvantages. This form of deception deals with a strong campaign strategy filled with persuasive appeals. Propaganda is not only for manipulating one person, but it is done to influence the majority of society. This helps to shape the attitudes of everyone all at once. As soon as the majority of society starts to think and act the same, propaganda has truly been achieved. This works best when appealed to one’s emotions such as the heart. When people take things to heart, emotions stir up and strategies are designed to work. For example, the Japanese and Pearl Harbor. Before Pearl Harbor, nobody took the Japanese serious. Nobody thought they were capable of having any sort of military advantage. After the events unfolded at Pearl Harbor, the war took an entirely different perspective. The Japanese were able to create conditions of fear among its enemy result! ing in strong hatred. Americans took it personal and therefore felt the strong emotions that went along with such fear and hatred. Propaganda helped to spread such ideas of retaliation resulting in a stronger commitment to winning the war. Propaganda is meant to spread a message or messages to the vast majority of the population at once. When done correctly, propaganda can be extremely successful. Both the Japanese and Americans utilized propaganda and both countries depicted the enemy as less than human. They obviously differed in the way they portrayed the other, or the enemy. Americans showed the Japanese as apes, vermin and little men. Apes because they parade around the jungle, vermin because they are compared to an epidemic or a plague that needs to be wiped out and finished and little men because what is a little man but less of a man such as a child. Children need to be controlled, therefore in the eyes of the Americans, the Japanese need to be controlled and ultimately eliminated. The Japanese portrayed Americans as arrogant white, Anglo-Saxons as often shown in gangster or Wild West movies. Was has never been positive, but when a country involves itself in war, the nation is brought clos! er together. Members of the country often stand by their leader and their military in hopes of being protected. Americans and Japanese were both involved in war but because of the different propaganda messages being swayed around, each country had different reactions and feelings towards war. --Robin Klein 11/24/02 6) Propaganda from America and Japan during the Pacific war may have differed in content, but the basic premise was the same. The goal of propaganda was to elevate ones own superiority or the enemy's inferiority to rally support for the war effort, or dehumanize the enemy to make them easier to kill. Notice that I say elevate superiority, because I believe the perception must be there already. The propaganda targets the audience, namely the citizens, that are already full of the seeds of hate and racism. Propaganda plays on peoples existing fears, prejudices, emotions, and perceptions through various methods. Often time the propagandist will create imagery that references folklore, or mythology, along with deep seated roots of racism and superiority that exist in the culture of the audience. To address propaganda's role in the outcome of the pacific war I believe it contributed more than you might think. To see this it is necessary to generalize propaganda. Yes we were looking at cartoons, but propaganda is a bit more general than political cartoon imagery in magazines. As I see it the word can be attributed to anything that plays on peoples emotions and ideas to further a cause of some sort. This "general" propaganda existed in peoples everyday life, from discussions on the street to radio broadcasts, it was everywhere. So what does that have to do with America's success? It was because America was a huge military and economic force right? Well you must consider what had driven the economy out of depression and built up a powerful economy. What was behind these were the American people, who were working because of the beliefs and ideals they possessed. This patriotism, nationalism, and mobilization was due to peoples emotions and ideals, which are affected greatly by the general propaganda. As discussed in class, the result of this propaganda, the racism, dehumanization, and hate, made the war brutal. Would the terror bombing and war crimes have occurred if both sides were not so driven by this hate? How much did the propaganda increase the feeling of hatred? I suppose its mere speculation. --Aaron Paquette 11/24/2002 7) The propaganda used during WWII played an important role in gathering support for a very brutal war. However, it was also this propaganda and support which caused the brutality. Dehumanizing the enemy was easier in the Pacific War because racial opinions already existed for the Japanese. They were seen by Americans as uncivilized and savages. By using the propaganda to increase this perspective, it was easier for Americans to kill with vengeance and without remorse. The first picture, with the gun of civilization pointing to the savage ape depicts this observation. After a few early victories this uncivilized people were shown as gigantic. This is depicted in the second picture. It was hard for Americans to believe that they could win so they had come up with an excuse. They changed to a belief that they are superhuman, rather than backwards. The U.S. helped them become civilized and this enabled the savage monsters to turn into superhuman monsters. The last picture of the American propaganda depicted the evil Japanese as raping murdering savages. Attacking women was viewed as a weak and uncivilized action. The Japanese depicted as these savages only serves to enrage the public. The Japanese representation of the Allies in their propaganda was different than America’s depiction of the Japanese. The Japanese depicted the U.S. and Allies as mischievous, and poking there noses in other countries business. The Japanese used a lot of propaganda to support their cause as well. The final picture on the website, depicted the Japanese helping the Asian people get out from under control of the European nations. --Matt Pleasanton, 11/24/02 8) Propaganda in any countries were used to motivate people to support the war, and at the same time propaganda were also used to show the validity of what the government and the soldiers were doing in the war field, such as murder, atrocities, and other horrible things. As discussed in class, all propaganda show the idea that the enemies were deserve to be eliminated because they were inferior, evils, or inhuman. Propaganda dehumanizes people in the enemy countries, in other words, propaganda obscure each individual who actually lived in Japan or the United States. People, who were actually conducting the war, were not ordinal Japanese or American but upper class government officials or soldiers. However, the propaganda leads people to support that all the Japanese people were inhuman and barbarians, or that all Americans were overbearing and ruling the world under the principle of democracy. In addition, at the war time, it would be rare for ordinal citizens to see their enemies. The Japanese people would not know how America people look like, and American people would not know how the Japanese look like. Under this kind of situation, people would be likely to believe what they were told through the propaganda because the propaganda might be the only source about their enemies. I think that Japanese propaganda was trying to valid their superiority and the validity of their actions by illustrating what Americans and British were doing was evil. “Grieving Statue of Liberty” shows how the principle of democracy confuses the society, so the purpose of this propaganda is that Japanese army must prevent the bad influence of democracy. Japanese propaganda American and British politicians were evils, who were implanting democracy and individualism all over the world; therefore, Japanese army was committed to save the world from the evils. American propaganda treats Japanese people as subhuman and as a whole. I think that Americans thought why the Japanese could develop their technology and engineering was due to the United States and European countries. For Americans, the Japanese behavior, acting as if they were so powerful, looked silly because their industrial development were originated in Westerners’ assistance. Not only the physical differences, but also this idea might help to depict Japanese people as apes meaning that animals could easily forget Americans’ help and betrayed them. I think that propaganda of both countries were successful on motivating people to support the idea that the enemies were deserve to be killed. Because propaganda defined enemies’ images so strongly, propaganda would not even allow people to have questions, such as “are Japanese really like monkeys?” or “are Americans bad?” Propaganda just fueled hatred against their enemies, ignoring the process of ending up the war, atrocities, and hatred. --Tomoko Yamada,11/24/02 9) World War II propaganda played a large role in igniting a fire in the stomachs of both the Americans and the Japanese. These six images gave each side many reasons to dislike the other more and more. The Japanese enemy is being characterized by the American propaganda as brutal. The first image clearly demonstrates this. Here the Japanese individual is being portrayed as an animal or beast with the good hand of civilization doing justice, getting revenge for the Japanese killing of American pilots. The first and third images have a great deal in common. They both attempt to instill a rage in the American when viewed. They both rely on the feelings of the American viewer. For example, in the third picture a potentially raped American woman is being slung around the back of an angry Japanese soldier. There also appears to be two women in the background, (likely American women) hanging limp and deceased. It is obvious that these images were created to anger the American or in other words, get them emotionally involved. I think that the Japanese on the other hand take a different approach. This is visible in the picture entitled, "Horse's Legs, Badger's Tail." Here the Japanese planes are exposing the allied powers for what they actually were on the inside; probing deeper into each individual with the goal of finding the truth. This exposes Roosevelt as money-hungry while portraying Churchill as a figure promoting death. The picture showing the "Grieving Statue of Liberty" portrays several Japanese stereotypes of Americans. The most prominent of these pictures is of President Roosevelt. He is sitting on the Statue of Liberty promoting democracy or the American way of life while ruling over all those below him as a dictator. I think that this is where both types of propaganda differ. The Japanese propaganda, rather than relying on the emotions of their people, attempt to expose the enemy for what they perceive them to be, this being a deceiving, dishonest society. I believe that these images share a common ground in that they are attempting to expose the enemy to their culture through their perceptions of that particular culture. However, the ways in which they do this and the devices that they rely on to do it are different. --Josh Miller, 11/24/02 10) Power politics at there fiercest fueled by racial prejudices on both sides.  This was the essence behind the propaganda machines for both the Americans and Japanese people who both saw themselves as a superior race that would inevitably triumph in this war.  For the Japanese it was there divine right to lead the hierarchy or races in the world and to spread their enlightened culture to all those willing to be bestowed upon. Americans on the other hand, could not properly comprehend how a race such as the Japanese could differ so much in there cultural beliefs and outlook as compared to the dominant culture ties between Europeans and Americans.      The Propaganda mills of the Americans played upon the racial sentiments held by the general populace. A culture so unique and different from one's own was looked at as vile and evil.  Japanese to Americans were all alike, cookie-cutter beings that were less that human, savages worthy of extinction. To reiterate this point in one particular propaganda piece, Japanese were characterized as apes, willing and able to terrorize and kill with no remorse as if acting on instinct rather than a civilized manner. One the other side we have the hand of civilization representing the western cultures holding a pistol of vengeance about to put the ape out of its misery. Other propaganda pieces play heavily on the image of the Japanese superman, in response to Americans who at first deemed the Japanese army inferior and were stunned by the sudden swiftness and accuracy they carried out early objectives in the war and hand America some decisive defeat! s. This is shown in a piece comparing a giant Japanese soldier as a Goliath against the smaller marines. Being physical and cultural different made the Japanese enemies in the eyes of Americans. They were seen the total opposites willing to be underhanded and treacherous to further their cause.      Japanese propaganda had a different approach. Unlike that of the americans with focused on the Japanese race as a whole, Japanese propaganda made light of the hypocrisy of politics and political leaders of Western civilization. Specifically targeted by Japanese were Roosevelt and Churchill. In a specific piece both are characterized as shape-shifting beast, with Roosevelt clothed in money and Churchill clothed in death. Japanese stereotypes focused on American culture rather than attacking the people/race outright. Such images as the jew inflating a balloon of profits in the shape of the American flag and "military action" as a bound women. In another piece, Japanese show there benevolent side as they are depicted liberating Indonesians under a the sun inscribed with the words "Co-prosperity sphere" ridding them of European rule! yet still showing them in a inferior dress. To make these pieces of propaganda effective, they relied on preconceived notions already instilled in the minds of the masses. Both sides used propaganda to further the fear that if they were to lose to war, their culture and civilization would cease to exist as they had known it. While both used propaganda as a rallying point for their respected causes, it is plan to see in American propaganda a trend to dehumanize Japanese as a whole while Japanese propaganda focused on specific people and american ideals. --Jarrod Bell, 11/24/02

Responses 11-19:

11) The propaganda produced by Japan and the United States during the Second World War attempts to destroy sympathy for the enemy and increase support for their own nation. Both sides use imagery from within the propaganda to show the enemy as a devious animal who cannot be trusted and must be destroyed. These descriptions of mistrust and deception are the most obvious elements seen in the war propaganda created by both sides, and help to maintain the stereotypes each nation had regarding the other. The similarities between the Japanese and American propaganda are very interesting since the two nations viewed each other as extremely different groups of people. The most obvious image projected from American propaganda is the idea that the Japanese are simply a group of primates who somehow got lost on the evolutionary path to human status. This is reinforced in the image “Uncivilized Brutes” regarding the Japanese execution of American pilots, which shows the hand of “Civilization” pointing a gun at the Japanese “ape.” This propaganda is intriguing because it portrays the division of the Japanese people and “Civilization”, implying that the Japanese are sub-human. Another example of the dehumanization of the Japanese is found in the image “This is the Enemy,” in which an ominous Japanese soldier is carrying a naked white woman while hanged people and a soldier bayoneting a prisoner are seen in the background. The center of the image is the threatening Japanese soldier, who looks more like a snake or other reptile than a human being. He is hunched over carrying the white prisoner like a beast would carry a recent kill. This dehumanization of the Japanese soldiers is intended to present them as animals worthy of death by the American soldiers. The Japanese propaganda is similar to that created in the United States in the way that Americans are depicted as deceptive beings that use misinformation and treachery to subdue other nations. Kondô Hidezô’s “Horse’s Legs, Badger’s Tail” was an interesting example of this Japanese perception of the “West.” In this piece of propaganda, Roosevelt is depicted as a hoofed horse while Churchill is seen as a sly badger, hiding money and death, respectively, within their priestly robes. This is interesting because the image portrays how the Japanese saw the leaders of the Unites States and Great Britain as money-loving, devious monsters that change their shape in order to best suit the moment. Another noteworthy piece of Japanese propaganda was “People of the Southern Region,” which shows the powerful Japanese soldier releasing the Indonesians from the control of the Dutch. The bright, powerful sun shining over the land depicts Japanese beliefs that by controlling other Asian people they were enlightening them to the deceptions of the West. The amicable friendship displayed in this image, however, was also a part of the Japanese propaganda. The propaganda produced by Japan and the United States during the Second World War went a long way in perpetuating the prejudices between the two nations. The main purpose of the various images reviewed here is to force the opinion that each nation is inferior in all ways to the other. Of course this is not true, but the propaganda projected to the world during the war displays the innermost relationships between the two nations with vastly different histories and cultures. Although we see this propaganda as sixty year old racial discrimination, we must also try to place ourselves in the time when the United States and Japan did not really know that much about each other. This lack of information about the true nature of each country is readily visible and a main reason behind the propaganda. --Kevin Woerner, 11/24/2002 12) Propaganda can be of vital importance when fighting in a war, or when conflict is involved within different nations. The way that the opposing side is presented can greatly influence the public’s perceptions. The general public many times may not have actually interacted with the population of which the conflict is with. The effectiveness of propaganda depends greatly to the degree to which the general public can be swayed in their perceptions. If there is a naïve audience, or one that is looking for direction, it can be the most successful. When there is conflict, many times the population is looking for what to believe, and thus propaganda can be valuable. Japanese and American propaganda during the Asia Pacific War can be analyzed in great detail in many different aspects. How the enemy is personified is of great importance. This can be in part because in can depict a specific message to the public. American propaganda of Japan during this time frame can be seen in many different lights. This genre showed the enemy as being animalistic, mostly of apes and rodents. Thus by this personification, it dehumanizes Nihonjin, and can put forth the belief that they are uncivilized, and monster like. In addition to dehumanizing Nihon, it also can attempt to portray them as ‘evil’. This can especially be illustrated in the frame where the Nihonjin was carrying the naked white woman. In this, the man’s facial features look almost like a rodent. He has big eyes, long whiskers, and is hunched over, and appears deceptive. He also looks as if he is laughing. In the background there are people hanging with flames, as well as a person being dragged with chains. The Nihonjin appears that he is ruthless, and willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. He also has a naked white woman draped over his shoulder. The naked woman depicts Americans. With this is the caption, “THIS is the enemy”. This basically portrays that these are inhuman people that can image in acts that American may believe to be unthinkable while the enjoy it. This image is to push the viewer that this should not be stood for. The viewer is also directed to identify with the woman, who could easily be someone’s mother, daughter, wife, or sister. Anger could easily ensue. Japanese propaganda of the United States during the same time period also had similarities as well as differences of their American counterpart. The Japanese, like the Americans, also portrayed their enemy as animalistic, inhuman and uncivilized, and monster like. In the frame where Churchill and Roosevelt were in the main part, it appeared that they were basically sinister and full of deception. This illustration hopes to depict the enemy as evil backstabbing monsters. Basically, it appears that the two men are overbearing, huge featured people, but not horribly wretched monsters on their upper torsos. When their clothing is lifted by Japanese planes, it reveals their true colors, which are only interested in money and death and destruction. It is because of the Japanese fighter pilots that this discovery is made. The Europeans and Americans appear to be wolves in sheep’s clothing, which is treacherous and backstabbing. These differences in their portrayals of their enemy can be illustrated as a continuation of how they viewed the war and what the point of the war was. For the Japanese, the war was supposed to be about “Asia for Asians”, and freeing Asia from the wretched, monster like Europeans. They felt that they should pave the way for the rest of Asia and aid in saving them. Liberation was also not complete liberation from rule. There would still be a hierarchy of which Japan would be at the pinnacle. Because of the view of “Asia for Asians”, many illustrations depict Japan as the protectorate of Asia and helping them from the horrors of the rest of the world. Many American images represent Japanese as thoughtless, followers, which engage in behaviors to hurt others with joy. To the Americans, they were forced in the war by merciless Japanese aggression. They viewed the war as defensive action against a horrible aggressor. Many of the images shown are that Americans must engage in this behavior to help people. It appears that the Americans are attempting to depict that they must combat horrible practices done by others and aid in world peace. Propaganda can be a vital tool in maintaining spirit and enthusiasm while in a crisis situation. It can also be incredibly important in directing mobilization, resources and patriotism. --Liz Clune, 11/24/2002 13) When examining both American and Japanese propaganda it can be noted that both portrayed different images of the enemy while keeping the essence of the characterization the same.  At times American propaganda depicted the Japanese enemy as not even a man, but a monkey, incapable of conducting a war against civilized western powers, namely theU.S. In time, this image of a monkey involved into a bloodthirsty ape out to destroy the ideals which were indispensable to the American way of life such as truth and justice. So, the most intelligent thing to do is obviously to eradicate the uncivilized brutes and what better way to motivate them then the image of the Japanese Ape-man staring down the barrel of the pistol of vengeance, held of course by civilization.      This image was modified however when those uncivilized ape-men began scoring impressive victories in the Pacific andSouth East Asia. The image of the Japanese had now evolved to that of a super-man, while the American soldier took on the role of David, who as we all knew ended up slaying Goliath.                                                            Japanese propaganda is not much different in that any image can be successful as long as it represents the message. The American message was one of theJapan being a threat to its way of life and the very existence of its culture. The Japanese on the other hand conveyed the message of cultural superiority and a destiny that included world domination. The west was trying to get in the way of this destiny and if they succeeded the results would prove dire for the Japanese and their culture.Whether it be the demonic images of Roosevelt and Churchill, clothed in money and death respectively represented in a propaganda cartoon or Roosevelt sitting atop the weeping statue of Liberty with his doctrine of democracy in one hand and club of dictatorship in the other joined by his compatriots, the “anti-war” sailor, “military action,” a striking worker and lets not forget the buffoonish Jew in a cartoon of their own, the concept of the Japanese propaganda is clear; westerns and western values are evil (and in many cases are in direct opposition to Japanese values).       One of the big differences between Japanese and American propaganda is that American propaganda on average focuses on the Japanese people as a whole and for the most part calls for their eradication while the Japanese focus more on the evil and demonic nature of the leaders of the western powers.Japan also depicts itself a great and benevolent country in propaganda not featuring any western nations, for example in the cartoon depicting the liberation of Indonesia. Japan made attempts to strengthen national pride without the use of imagery pertaining to the conflict with America. America in contrast featured the enemy in each of its cartoons.       Reasons for war also accounted for differences in propaganda. ForJapan the war was about a country that was aware of its greatness and ready to fulfill its destiny. That’s why the majority of the cartoons focus on the evil westerns who if not defeated would prevent Japan from achieving its destiny. For America on the other hand, this war was about revenge and that’s exactly the message sent through the propaganda. The indication was clear that America was out to eradicate the “Asian hordes”       One large similarity between the propaganda of the two countries was the sentiments already existent among the populations respectively. InAmerica, already present was a sense of racial superiority over a lesser nation, and it didn’t hurt to have a direct attack on the country either. A vague knowledge of the enemy among the masses played a part as well. American’s knew they were better then the Japanese and that vengeance must be exacted upon the Japanese, which was all they needed to know. The Japanese on the other hand, had a culture that proclaimed superiority and a destiny featuring world domination. They too felt they were better then every other culture and that was all they needed to know. Both countries already possessed these strong feelings at the onset of the release of the propaganda.       That fact poses an interesting question; was it the propaganda which spurred on and increased these feelings, or were the national sentiments (forJapan conquest, for America a reaction of hatred for Pearl Harbor and feelings of vengeance) so strong that propaganda was a natural outcome of these intense emotions? Keep in mind, any images could have been chosen to represent the message and when it comes to war time propaganda, it doesn’t matter how offensive or taboo the images or slogans might be as long as they successfully rally the country around a cause. The fact that these images were chosen makes them truly significant as historical documents in that they weren’t as much a representation of the message being delivered by the propaganda as they were a representation of the intense national sentiment that existed in both nations. --Benjamin Tannenbaum, 11-24-02 14) During World War II, the Japanese referred to themselves as the leading race of the world. While the "Color War" between Japan and the west stood out as the leading source of propaganda, it did not affect Japan's Asia conquest. During the Japanese Co-Prosperity sphere, they believe they had an esteemed whiteness that dated back to the ancient times. A "Pure Self." This esteemed whiteness was witnessed in the cartoon "People of the Southern Region." The darkened skin, tattered wardrobe, and primitive tools exemplified the people of Indonesia as a laboring class who worked out in the sun. These examples lead one to believe that the Japanese see these people as a group of slaves, and of primitive life. However, shown primitive, the Indonesian still remains human. The idea for a Japan Co-Prosperity Sphere could not have been believed among the people had the Indonesian been represented as not human. In the Cartoon, the East Asian Co Prosperity Sphere, or the purifying sun that accompanies the Japanese general to the Indonesian shores. Before the Japanese, the Dutch had influence in the area. This sphere of influence that is happening purges the Dutch from the islands. Here the West is depicted as a white woman fleeing the scene. Relaying the idea that the West is weak, and that all of Asia will prosper now that the sun has purified the land form the West. The Indonesian man is portrayed as a slave, and is much smaller in size than the Japanese man. The Indonesian man is working outside under the hot purifying sun that has now greeted these lands. However, peaceful the handshake appears, the cartoon still depicts a separation of power between the two nations. Justifying to the Japanese nation that they are the leading race of the world and will create prosperity among Asians. --Scott Bleile 11/24/02 15) Upon reflecting on these images of American and Japanese propaganda from World War II, one is immediately struck, at least in my opinion, by the tremendous differences in the way in which the Americans and Japanese viewed not only each other, but also themselves and the conflict itself. The American propaganda seems to rely solely on the most base and unattractive sentiments of the population at the time in order to motivate them in a fight that I am quite sure most of them were already steadfastly engaged in, especially in light of the attack on Pearl Harbor. In each of the images presented here, the Japanese are depicted, as they often were, as apes, animals that lack any semblance of humanity. This type of portrayal not only served to vilify the enemy and fu! rther civilian morale in the war effort, but also did much to justify and intensify publicly the racial sentiments that had existed previous to and during the war effort. Also, I find the last American image of the apelike Japanese man carrying off an innocent American woman interesting in that it not only appeals to the racist attitudes of Americans toward the enemy, but also appeals to one of humanityís most basic drives, sexuality. Thus, it is quite clear that these cartoons do not offer any insightful politically or historically based arguments that justify a war with Japan. Instead, it presents the idea that no truly sound or rational argument was needed in this battle to exterminate or wipe out the Japanese race. It was enough for the Americans that the Japanese were just as they had thought, vile, inhuman creatures who must be annihila! ted. No logic or rationality beyond these instincts was necessary. (Quite an interesting point actually when taken with the arguments that the Japanese were the most illogical and irrational race in the world.) On the other hand, the differences in the Japanese propaganda reminds me of the differences one sees today between American advertising as compared with, say, British advertising. Just as British advertisements are much more powerful in their subtlety and appeal to a more intellectual mind, the Japanese propagandaís power lies in its appeal to political subjects and insights into the hypocrisy that is obvious when anyone takes a close look at American foreign policy, or Western foreign policy in general, even today. These images are grounded not so much in the dehumanization of the American and British races as a whole, but provide interesting arguments about the faults, flaws and duplicity of American and British leaders and their policies through the perspective of the Japanese. Thus, the Japanese felt the need not to appeal to manís most basic drives, instincts, and fear of all that is different from oneís self, but rather needed to justify their cause through their own perspectives on the faults of Western leaders and their actions in Asia and also through their own visions of what their proper role in Asia should be.  Thus, it is clear that while the purpose of propaganda may have been universal at the time, it is interesting to look at these images and to see what governments and journalists deemed to be the best and most effective ways to build up civilian morale during the war. In my opinion, it speaks more to the differences in character and apparent motivations between the Americans and the Japanese themselves than it does to the perceived differences between each side and its enemy. --Jessica Lee, 11/24/2002 16) I believe that we all agree that the purpose of propaganda is to belittle the enemy. To display the opponent as inferior, build upon previously inflicted stereotypes and expose the enemies’ weaknesses and disadvantages. Although the focuses of Japanese and American propaganda differ in their narrow scope, the broad implication being displayed by both races is the same, that the other is lesser and should be exterminated. The narrow scopes focus on the stereotypes, to the Americans, the Japanese should be killed because of their viciousness while to the Japanese, the Americans should be killed since they are less intelligent. Both cultures emphasize their enemies’ stereotypes using animals. If the opponent is portrayed as an animal, a lesser, inferior, and non-human target, it is much less disturbing to kill them. Depicting the Japanese as apes and gorillas likens their physical form to their savage and animalistic ideology of war, so surely they should be exterminated. The Japanese also use animals to dehumanize the Americans, however, the animals chosen to portray Americans, such as the horse and the beaver, are not feared but rather simply lesser, perhaps stupid, animals that are humiliating to be likened to. The Japanese also use propaganda to reveal the Americans as money and death crazed individuals who hold the flag of democracy but allow such foolish ideals to be bludgeoned with the club of dictatorship. Robin’s response says that propaganda is effective in capturing the enemy by depicting true weaknesses and disadvantages. I agree that the propaganda implies that the enemy is weak and/or disadvantaged, however, I disagree that this propaganda depicts truth. Instead, it seems that truth is replaced by emphasizing stereotypes, perhaps based upon inklings of truth, but definitely not entirely truthful characterization is displayed. The propaganda is stereotypical, and stereotypes may be based upon tiny bits of truth but are exaggerated and emphasized so extensively that they become stereotypes, and result in humans turning into animals, at least in the minds of those who are sucked into believing them. But we are sucked into believing them, and that is why propaganda is so successful in uniting countries into hating their enemies. I think an interesting, and actually very disturbing, part of wartime propaganda is the hypocrisy that results. In the American made cartoon of the stereotypical Japanese man with the victimized white woman slung over his shoulder, we again portray the Japanese as evil and inhuman and give ourselves another reason to kill him. How dare he victimize innocent white women? But, this is hypocritical, it is not as though rapes and murders occur only during wartime, nor are they race specific crimes. Is it not equally despicable for an American to murder or rape one of his “own kind”? Since we are at war, however, we call our enemies to the table for horrible, vicious behaviors that occur regularly among members of our own country, but now these behaviors give us reason to respond with equally horrible actions, since they are so animalistic and they are our wartime enemies. Further hypocrisy is also demonstrated by the U.S. in our own superiority complex. It is wrong for the Japanese or the Germans to feel superior to another race of humans, however, we are subjecting our own Americans to Jim Crow laws because they are African Americans, and to encampment because they are Japanese Americans. Furthermore, the U.S. refused citizenship to Japanese people, but then imprisoned them for being Japanese. Ironically, many of the people who are seen as inferior in such instances may actually be just as American as any one of us, just as American as the white woman slung over the shoulder of the Japanese soldier, just as American as the many American soldiers killed in battle. All of this propaganda reveals a feeling of superiority from both sides, and aren’t these stereotypes and feelings of superiority often the causes of war to begin with? --Caitlin Grant, 11/25/2002 17) World War Two was a total war in many ways. Not only did it require the mass mobilization of the resources of most of the industrialized nations of the war but also the dehumanization of the opposing the nation. To this end, both sides employed extensive propaganda to bolster the righteousness of their own cause while portraying their opponent in a less than favorable light. There is an interesting difference between the methods of propaganda of the Japanese and the Americans. The Americans view the Japanese as a wild dog and ape or an animal. The Japanese are seen as something to destroy and eradicate. The Japanese are not viewed as a human opponent, but a vicious killing machine, they are seen as race that will kill or be killed and are incapable of reason or logic. The portrayals of Japanese in the propaganda pictures reinforce this belief. The Japanese are shown as a wild animal, a large brutish giant and a sadistic killer. None of the faces of these figures have any traces of intelligence or humanity, there are faceless, brutish and demonic. In general the Japanese are portrayed as an unfeeling, unthinking mass of barbarians, deserving only scorn and eradication and unworthy of a place in the civilized world. Conversely the Japanese use different forms of negative propaganda against the Americans. Although they often attack the American’s as “white devils” and attack their bombings as “inhuman” the Japanese propagandist are much more interested in portraying the Japanese as saviors against western oppression rather than a fight against a subhuman race. The Japanese were proponents of “Asia for the Asians” and painted the world as a fight for the survival of the Asian race against western aggression. They paint the Americans as arrogant imperialists and the Japanese as the superior savior race of Asia. For the Japanese propaganda served more as a platform for justification of expansionary goals rather than the justification for the eradication of an aggressive vicious enemy. --Brian McAlpine, 11/25/2002 18) In examining the various examples of propoganda from the website and from "War Without Mercy" I am no longer shocked at the bloody nature of the part World War II in Asia. The two sets of images "us and them" can effectively evoke strong sentiments of hate, fear, and superiority. The American Propoganda most effectively portrays the idea of moral and cultural superiority on the part of the westerners. The Japanese propoganda effectively depicts the duplicit nature of western politics. One of the main aspects worthy of note in the American cartoons is the creation of Japanese with animal or ogre bodies. In the three examples on the website, the figures of the Japanese are an ape, and ogre, and a something resembling a snake. As discussed in class, this dehumanization of the opponent contributed to the bloody nature of the Pacific theater. Feelings of American moral and cultural superiority are also depicted within these illustrations. The picture of the "Japanese" ape with the gun-toting hand of civilization pointed at it seems to place the west in the role of moral judge. Ironically enough, "civilization" has a gun to avenge the uncivilized execution of an American in the Phillippines. In the second illustration shows a young western boy growing up to defend his people against the ogres, in this case Japan. The moral deliquency of Japan is perhaps best revealed in the cartoon of the neaked white woman being held over the shoulder of a Japanese soldier. These images all obviously contributed to the American resolve to combat the inhumanity of the east. After looking at the western-made cartoons, the Japanese drawings struck me with their political nature. These depictions seemed to focus more on the hypocritical characteristics of the west. The effectively reveal the Japanese attitude that Americans and westerners in general are driven by money. The second cartoon is the most blatant. The supposed proponent of liberty and freedom is sitting atop a discontened Statue of Liberty with his weapon of choice, a club of democracy, in hand. The third piece of Japanese propoganda was the most interesting. It seemed almost Western in nature. It depicted the benevolent Japanese helping the lower Indonesians. A striking example of hypocrisy is evident with the sun. The sun is supposedly depicting the benefits of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, however the utilisation of the sun can be interpreted as showing the role that Japan intended to have in this sphere. The central role of the sun (ie Japan) alludes to more of an Asian sphere under the guidance of the more advanced Japanese. In conclusion, wartime propoganda played a critical role in the death toll figures of World War II in the Pacific. Both Americans and Japanese artists played off of stereotypes and fears. "War Without Mercy" even tells how the rumors the Japanese spread about the brutal American forces caused many families to simply kill themselves to avoid the alleged atrocities at the hands of the Americans. Though their pictures were different, both sets of propoganda created the sentiments of hate, fear, and superiority, and effectively perpetuated the war. --Megan Crossan, 11/25/2002 19) War propaganda is a commonly used tactic to sway nationalism and popularity during the bloody tragedy of war, as was the case in the Pacific War. The depictions of race and deception are most common elements in this wartime propaganda. These illustrations only further the stereotypes both Japanese and Americans had for one another. In the Japanese propaganda the enemy, the American, is shown as a tyrant who preaches democracy. The American enemy is not to be trusted because he claims to be one way and is actually another. Both the Statue of Liberty picture and the Roosevelt/Churchill illustration depict this. The enemy is a shape-shifter, pretending to host certain civilized ideals then acting barbaric. The Americans try to stir support by making to enemy out to be a monster. The enemy is a giant who tries to stomp on our soldiers and rape our women. The enemy is a beast who must be shot because he cannot be civilized. The Japanese are un-human so Americans should feel no pity over their destruction. The illustrations use a lot of animal figures to get their point across. Relating humans to animals in most cases demoralizes them, which was the objective. The Japanese use money as a way to demoralize Americans as well. The world leaders of the enemies and the Jews, which were abundantly immigrating to America, were considered fat cats, who cared nothing for people but only for their own self-interest. Americans used race or color as a means to gain support. Japanese were always colored yellow given exaggerated features to make them look extremely different. It is common knowledge that people tend to fear what is different because they do not understand it. This was the goal of the American propaganda writers. They hoped that fear and ignorance would drive their audience to see these “different or unusual looking” people as evil. The Japanese propaganda writers attempted to make their audience carefree about the killing of American enemies by showing them how little Americans cared about Japanese. In both cases the illustrator is assuming that they have an easily influenced audience who will be driven by fear and anger. For Americans the war seemed to be about ridding the world of dangerous beasts that would affect our peaceful civilization. The shooting of the ape symbolizes this. Through Japanese illustrations about the war it seems for them it was a matter of maintaining their ways. The Japanese seemed to be saying that they did not want those Western values and ways pushed on them, they could figure things out peacefully themselves. --LESLIE LLOYD 11/24/02

Responses 20-27:

20) The American and Japanese propaganda images in World War 2 were a necessary part of justifying the war effort to the average person. The images from the different countries have a lot of similarities but there are also some key differences in the way they fulfill their goals. Propaganda also reinforced the racial aspect of the fighting. Both countries attack the enemy in their propaganda, and extol the virtues of home. In the American image "The Heroic Role," the American soldier is called a hero for killing the Japanese soldier. In the Japanese image "People of the Southern Region" the Japanese hand is reaching out to the native man, and shining light (civilization) on the otherwise dark land. The Dutch woman flees from the brightness. Both countries also use exaggeration and shock value in their propaganda. The American image "This is the Enemy" shows a Japanese man hauling off an American woman, presumably to rape her. The Japanese image "Horse's Legs, Badger's Tail" asserts that Western leaders Roosevelt and Churchill are shapes shifting demons. The American propaganda pieces characterize the Japanese people as both sub-human and super-human. The Japanese are seen in propaganda images as ape-like, often drawn as apes to the point that a caption or some other indicator is needed for the viewer to figure out that the monkey in the image is supposed to be a Japanese person. If they are not pictured as apes, their features are distorted to make them ugly or comedic. Picturing the enemy in this way makes for the feeling that the "Japs" aren't really human and killing them en masse is okay- actually necessary, for they are animals that are prone to atrocities. While the Japanese are sub-human, they are also super-human with massive strength. In "The Heroic Role," the American soldier is facing a Japanese soldier many more times bigger than he. This image makes for a definite parallel between the American Japanese battles and the battle between David and Goliath in the Bible. America's David is doing battle against Japan's Goliath, and America (like David) will emerge the victor. The Japanese images, however, mostly ignore the average citizens and attack those in charge and the system of government and society in place. This is probably because of the importance Japan places on its government, especially the emperor. "Horse's Legs, Badger's Tail" portrays Western leaders Roosevelt and Churchill as evil. On the outside they look harmless but underneath, Roosevelt is cloaked in money (a hit at American capitalism) and Churchill is cloaked in death. The image "Grieving Statue of Liberty" points out a key flaw of American government. Roosevelt holds both the banner of Democracy and the club of dictatorship, which is a major contradiction. The way the propaganda is made speaks to the way people felt about the war on different sides. Americans were fighting to rid the world of the Japs, and the Japanese were fighting the Western powers whose governments posed a threat to Japan. --Megan Gillen, 11/25/02 21) Propaganda on both sides of the war invoked images of the enemy as something cruel and incompetent. American pictoral propaganda leaned toward endorsing an exterminationist policy toward the Japanese, whereas Japanese propaganda set out to show that the enemy was not fulfilling its obligations to the world, was unfit to rule, and as such needed to be overthrown. In both cases, there was much propaganda which was not graphically depicted which also heavily influenced thought, but this essay deals only with selected political cartoons presented in military and civilian publications. In American Propaganda, there is a pervading theme of the Japanese as savage beasts. In ten of fourteen cartoons in the insert, they are depicted as apes or ape-like, with represented in other cartoons as lice, dragons, Satan, and death. In none are the Japanese depicted as humans on par with any Westerner, as conceived in America. The first cartoon, which pictures a gorilla with blood dripping out of its mouth about to be shot, is a good example of this. Part of the image is that “civilization,” which represents the United States specifically among Allied forces, is bigger, stronger, and more technologically advanced than “those monkeymen.” The Japanese are implicated as “Murderers of American Fliers,” ignoring that Americans also shot down Japanese pilots, both in planes and in parachutes. The “Heroic Role” cartoon also portrays the Japanese as savage, showing them overrunning a horribly undermanned American-held position. The “Jap Hordes” are ape-like in appearance and bear other physical traits often associated with mental retardation. The ogre symbolizing the hordes wields a katana while the smaller real Japanese soldiers have real guns. Both weapons are being used to kill American troops in the Philippines who appear to be begging for mercy. In most of Western folklore, giants and ogres are large and powerful, but slow-witted and easily defeated with ingenuity. Examples of this include Jack and the Bean Stalk, The Hobbit, the Cyclops in the Odyssey (who was meticulous but never saw Odysseus’ attack coming), and David & Goliath. The latter brings in the religious implications of the war, further entrenching an “Us vs. Them” mentality. The third picture, of a Japanese man drawn like popular depictions of Satan (or a dog) carrying off a white woman, also suggests the savagery of the Japanese. In the background, two more women are being hanged and and a fourth is being bayonetted by a Japanese soldier. This shows the savagery of the Japanese in graphic detail rather than implying it. Even on a domestic level, little gets a man more upset than when his woman is insulted or stolen. The idea of a “savage” stealing off with a helpless white woman represents a direct threat to the American way of life, for how does a society survive without its women? It also invokes the image of helpless non-combatants being slain, implying that the Japanese are of lax or nonexistent moral character in so far as that they do not respect their opponents, and that they have no mercy for the helpless. The foreground picture tells of an incident, while the background establishes that this is a pattern of behavior on the part of Japanese troops. The American imagery of the savage beast encouraged the mode of thinking that the Japanese had to be exterminated. It relies on the assumption that the audience agrees that the Japanese are subhuman, faceless, and certainly defeatable. These pieces were used to whip up even more enthusiasm for the war among Americans, who were assumed to be mainly white, share a common folklore, approve of America’s role in the war and the world, and share a general feeling of cultural superiority over the ape-like Japanese. “Americans” in this case did not contain issei and nissei, pacifists, and racial minorities which, while substantial, were viewed by majority white America as subhuman. Imagery in Japanese cartoons focuses in general on the idea that Westerners are untrustworthy, hypocritical, and unfit to control Asian colonies. The image of Western leaders as demons and hegemons is common and entrenches the idea that the West is interested only in its own gain. In “Horse’s Legs, Badger’s Tail,” Churchill and Roosevelt are pictured as Catholic priests (ironically, neither was particularly fond of Catholics), who are cunning figures from folklore clothed in death and money. These animals, interestingly enough, are wearing Dutch wooden clogs as they flee, implying that the Dutch are also in on this buffoonery. Churchill appears drunk in this and most other cartoons in the insert, which is intended to degrade his credibility to the Japanese populous. While it is true that Churchill was a lush, the Allies were not advertising this and Churchill acted capably despite it. That Churchill and FDR are acting overtly under Christianity and really for the dollar is intended to cause distrust for the Church in Japan, as for other Western ideas. The imagery in the “Grieving Statue of Liberty” is extremely rich. FDR is a demon, ready to club anyone he sees fit in the name of democracy. The disorder of the American military forces and populous is implied with the other caricatures. Military action is depicted as a woman, implying a feeble and haphazard approach. The effort to act militarily is further hampered by its bonds of pure white cloth. The woman’s dress has a hemline which is conspicuously high, suggesting a nation promiscuous in its use of force, loose in planning and morals. The drunken sailor with a geisha implies troops’ disinterest in the war, showing that they would much rather be visiting Japan’s bars and brothels than fighting for their fatherland. This suggests a severe lack of discipline on the part of the sailors and that the Americans are not driven to win like the Japanese are. The striking worker represents social unrest within the United States. The idea that American workers are not willing to make sacrifices to benefit their country is a potent sign of the ultimate powerlessness of the U.S. against the united, self-sacrificing Japanese. Finally, the Jew is a symbol of American wealth. He is rich, but fat and stupid (as per the dunce cap), and is so unattractive and undesirable. He is the keeper of American wealth, making sure that it grows to be the most it can be. The money bag is poorly disguised as an American flag, implying that such a stupid man is not capable of hiding his intentions and the abuses used to keep the profits pumping. Poor Lady Liberty is so ashamed that these fools are using her as their representative that she is grieving, eyes shut so she can’t see any more. The behavior of the U.S. thus appears shameful even to its own dear concept of liberty. The implication to the Japanese is that the U.S. is weak, disorganized, and undisciplined. How could the Japanese even begin to consider that they could lose against such a pitiful foe? It is assumed that the readers of this and the previous cartoons have some awareness of American culture and politics, but not with the outrage and determination that the Pearl Harbor attack ignited in America. In “People of the Southern Region,” the magnanimous Japanese strike a deal of co-prosperity with the “backward” natives of Indonesia while the purifying sun chases the ineffectual Dutch woman (who can only gape) away, like the master of the house chasing a thief off into the night. This cartoon deals with Japanese ideology concerning other Asians and the role of Westerners in caring for them. In effect there are two others here: the Indonesians and the Dutch. The main assumptions are that the Dutch are doing a bad job taking care of the Indonesians (who cannot care for themselves) while the Japanese, by virtue of their geographic Asian-ness, better understand the Indonesians and can do better than the Dutch. The Japanese are depicted as a brilliant helping hand from above, leaving no question that the Japanese should feel better than the Indonesians after reading this cartoon. The whiteness of the hand implies that the Japanese had developed some sort of color-based hierarchy of races in which “white makes right” and Japanese whiteness is better than any other flavor. It is assumed that the reader understands (or will be easily convinced) that the “Co-Prosperity Sphere” is the best way to take foreign relations. Implicit in this are the ideas that the Dutch really are doing a bad job managing the natives and that Indonesia should be kept under colonial rule since the natives cannot possibly govern themselves. Both American and Japanese cartoons show a country on a righteous path with the enemy country as an obstacle to that honorable end. They differ in approach to the obstacle and the apparent goal of the war. American cartoons emphasize the need to kill the savage and immoral Japanese before the “apes” could get to American women and children to exercise their brutality. The imagery of the cartoons concentrated of dehumanizing the Japanese and showing that they deserve no better than animals. The goal of the war in these cartoons seems mostly to “kill Japs” to prevent such an uncivilized and brutal people from expanding their control and bloodlust further. The Japanese cartoonists prefer to discredit their enemies on different grounds. They see the Allied nations, especially the U.S., as lands of hedonism and plutocracy, full of discontent, undisciplined people willing to sacrifice their country for their personal gain. Allied leaders are depicted as demons, hypocrites, drunks, and hegemons in the effort to discredit their capability and efficacy. The point of the war evident from these cartoons is to secure an “Asia for Asians” which will ultimately profit the Japanese homeland while bettering the circumstances of colonized Asian peoples in comparison their experiences under inept Western rule. In examining the graphical propaganda, it looks like the Japanese have the better point. The premise that the Western powers were oppressing the natives of various Asian islands and the Japanese would make life better for them is an attractive. The practice of this policy, though, was drastically different from what was advertised. Instead, the Japanese tried to wipe out cultures and virtually wiped out peoples through war and overwork in its new colonies. The Japanese held the same attitude that the Europeans did toward their colonies: the colonizing nation, whether Holland or Brittain or Japan, saw itself as culturally, morally, and develeopmentally superior to the peoples it colonized. This is the attitude that led to colonial abuses (and, to a lesser extent, abuses of workers at home) and to the increased resentment of the abused people. I don’t think the Japanese knew how badly they were treating the Asian colonies in their “co-prosperity sphere.” Policy makers were so convinced that being Asian made them better colonists for Asian nations that they hardly ever evaluated their policies to see if they were actually beneficial. On the other side of the ocean, American pictorial propaganda was rife with images of the Japanese as animals and as savages which need to be killed. However, this propaganda was not the actual policy of the military, but a popular attitude of the time. Instead, militarists advised conducting battles as battles rather than exterminations of the Japanese inhabiting various areas. While some military officials were supportive of an exterminationist policy, the majority of the “kill ‘em all” mentality came from the field, where rumors flew wildly about the horror of being a POW for the Japanese and troops saw firsthand the attrocities of which the Japanese were capable. In turn, Americans turned around and did the same types of things, citing “He did it first!” as justification. In this war, no one was innocent. Just looking at these selected pictures, it seems like the Japanese have a better argument for their position and that Americans are the murderous beasts, but examing the practice of various policies in the field, we may be surprised to see that those who offered the better deal initially are more dogmatic in their control and equally racist as those from whome the colonies were liberated. Japanese and American war attrocities together remind us that sometimes we are as bad as the enemy. --Denise Birk, 11.25.02 22) The enemy is presented by both sides as inferior, barbaric, and distinctly different from the members of the society who produced the propaganda. The Japanese focused on their own inherent moral or spiritual superiority and hence their rightful place as the leader of Asia. The U.S. depicted the Japanese as less than human, through the use of cartoons portraying them as animals, or barbaric “supermen”; driven by an insatiable desire to take over the world. The Japanese focused on their inherent superiority by emphasizing what they perceived as their noble role of freeing Asia from the grasp of Western imperialism. While at the same time portraying what they perceived as the decadent and immoral nature of the West. Both of these themes can be observed in the images available online. In one image Roosevelt is depicted as “waving a banner of democracy, but brandishing a club of dictatorship”, an anti-war sailor and a striking worker, among other characters, accompany Roosevelt; emphasizing the hypocrisy of American foreign policy as well as America’s lack of discipline and commitment to the war effort. In another image a Japanese hand is seen bringing light and freedom to Indonesia, ostensibly freeing the natives from the Dutch. American propaganda often characterized the Japanese as monkeys or apes, a concept that did not begin with the Japanese and is used to portray the Japanese as primitive and barbaric. In addition, the Japanese were portrayed as vermin or insects, and hence in need of extermination. When the Japanese began their successful campaign early in the war, American propaganda began to portray the Japanese as a kind of “superman”, harkening back to earlier fears of the “yellow peril.” Whether the Americans portrayed that Japanese as subhuman or superhuman, they were never seen as simply human. Propaganda from both sides were published in an attempt to cast the enemy in a negative light, as intrinsically evil and deserving of whatever fate they might receive on the battlefield. By portraying one’s enemies as evil, or less than human, it becomes that much easier to kill them; both sides managed to accomplish this goal, aided in part by the extensive use of propaganda. It is important to note that American propaganda makes no distinction between the military leaders or soldiers and Japanese civilians. Instead, the entire Japanese race is portrayed as in a negative fashion, possibly leading to evens such as the internship of Japanese Americans. While the Japanese on the other hand tended to focus on Western leaders, although some attempts to criticize Western culture as a whole were used; but certainly not to the same extent employed by the Americans. --Brian Johnson, 11/25/2002 23) The enemy is being portrayed in many different ways at different times during the war. In the beginning the Japanese were seen as a backward-yellowed colored race. They were often seen as child-like, having no mercy and being sub-human. These stereotypes were very effective when trying to display the Japanese as an unequal “other”. Once the other side, in this case the Japanese, was seen as an inferior other it was easier to justify the mass destruction of people and places. This has been done before in the United States with the treatment with the Native Americans and the African Americans. All three groups were given stereotypes of being infants, incapable of forming human relationships and the most powerful stereotype, all being alike. This stereotype allowed the United States to use weapons of destruction and the mass killing of innocent Japanese, because a good Jap was only a dead Jap. The enemy is seen as evil by images of propaganda. The raping of American women, the superhuman strengthen of the Japanese killing, no mercy and uncanny fighting skills help form the image that the Japanese were an evil race. All of these characteristics help in dehumanizing the enemy so it is easier to fight and kill in war. To be an effective propaganda piece it must elicit an emotion from the viewer. Emotion is strongly emitted as seen in the picture where the Japanese are seen as ape and civilization is pointing a gun at their head. The caption, “Let the punishment fit the crime” forces the viewer to blame the Japanese for the events of war. The picture also calls upon the memory of Pearl Harbor, when the United States was innocently attacked. The pistol of civilization is really a pistol of vengeance and makes this picture a very powerful use of propaganda. The piece assumes that its audience already has a strong emotion about the other people being depicted and that they harbor the same stereotypes. If this is not in fact correct then it is hard for propaganda to elicit emotion, which is one of the main goals of its use. Both side used propaganda to rally support for their side in the war. Despite the side, the other people were seen as vicious people only out for the good of their own side. On the other hand, propaganda was used differently depending the side. The United States usually depicted the Japanese as being an inferior race and grouping the Japanese all together. Japanese propaganda usually focused on a key leader from the Allied side. The Americans were seen power hungry individuals motivated by money. To the United States the war was about stopping an inferior race before they gain world dominance. To the Japanese, the war was a way to assert their power in the world as a strong country and justified their actions by using the same methods as the United States did years before. --Holly Franklin, 11/25/2002 24) Size often dictates position. In most of the mobilizing propaganda, both Japanese and American, bigger means better. Easy to interpret size differences in these cartoons emphasize the perceived positions of power during the war. These pieces of propaganda rely on widely held stereotypes in order to dehumanize the enemy. Animalistic representations are the most common. In the first cartoon, the large hand of civilizations descends from above evoking an otherworldly emotion. The hand and gun combined are as large as the ape by itself, therefore, the person to whom the hand and gun belong must be at least ten times bigger than the ape. The hand holds the gun and the power. This idea is clearly conveyed by the size of the hand. The second cartoon uses size to express a different kind of power. As opposed to a vengeful power in the first picture, this artist utilizes size of the Japanese “ogre” to create a warning that depicts the Japanese as much stronger than had been previously thought. Japanese propaganda as well uses size differences to highlight who or what has more power. In “Horse’s Legs, Badger’s Tail” Roosevelt is shown as larger than Chruchill, indicating that the larger threat is coming from the United States. The cartoon “People of the Southern Region” has the same imagery as the American cartoon with a descending hand; coming from a higher, better place. This hand is one of peace promoting the Co-prosperity Sphere. The size of the hand indicates that the power is by no stretch of the imagination going to be equal in this situation. Used to mobilize not only the military but also the population, propagandistic cartoons rely on easily interpreted iconography. Both countries use animal imagery to demonize their enemies. The use of size to suggest power and prestige is also common to both American and Japanese cartoons. Using similar Japanese and American propaganda function in much the same way conventions to get the point across to a wide variety of people. --Giovanna Citti, 11/25/2002 25) Who wants to go into a battle and kill other human beings? After all, they are still people who have families and loved ones to look after. Where does the drive to kill them come from? The truth is, soldiers need to be pushed to perform these acts that under normal conditions are against moral standards. During World War II, like most wars, propaganda was used to inspire the nations. The images instructed them to do the “right thing” and destroy the enemy that does not deserve to live because they stem from a horrible nation. One such cartoon that was used is the "Grieving Statue of Liberty" by Ono Saseo. This cartoon depicts President Roosevelt sitting atop what is supposed to be a symbol of liberty, but instead is upset by its nation’s demonic leader. His club of dictatorship is trying to prove that our political system is simply a way for leaders to rule over the people with a fierce hand. In the opposite view, Americans depicted the Japanese as less than human. Why hesitate to kill another human that is barely human, but almost animal-like? Americans seem to concentrate solely on the common Japanese soldier, and showing how they lack the qualities of a real person. They are depicted as uncaring and savage, and as a race that is inferior to ours. The Japanese, however, concentrate on the nation by using our leaders as an example. They are more likely to depict Roosevelt as a horrible person rather than the everyday soldier. But however they illustrate their purpose, each nation stresses the fact that their nation is superior and should therefore win any battle, and its soldiers should not hesitate to help destroy such an uncivilized and unworthy race. The propaganda makes it just that much easier to point a gun at another human and taking their life. --Kelly Stafford, 11/25/2002 26) When talking about the enemy here, whether if it is Japan or the United States, one thing is for sure: Both tend to believe that one is much more inferior then the other. In the propaganda drawn by the United States it is assumed that Japanese are these outrageous creators who have nothing better to do then walk around like apes, killing our men, and raping our women. On the other hand, Japanese depict Americans to be all like their President, Franklin Roosevelt, waging this war only because we want money and how the war has warped American minds because all they do is follow a demon that has done nothing but ruin his people. Also they describe the Japanese as the rising sun over the Western colonies in the Pacific, liberating them and extending a hand forward to help. Most of the pieces of propaganda whether they are symbolizing the Japanese or Americans is relying on human emotions to be effective. Also they are hoping that by showing these images to you, that you will become enlightened and hate the enemy, because they are evil and will do everything in your power to help your country to stop them. The pieces assume that the reader knows very little about the other group of people, and that you will take what you are being shown as truth rather then just propaganda. Overall, Japanese and American propaganda is very similar in the fact that both countries are portraying the other in a very harsh light. Both of them show the other to be dominating, inferior, and beings that have nothing better to do with their time then to wage war against each other. However, both countries have different styles in which they do this. The United States depicts Japanese mostly in the same way, which is a random soldier, with Japanese characteristics, doing all these evil deeds. On the other hand, Japanese propaganda is centered on our leader, and what he is doing with the country and who we are all following him. What I get from these images is that the United States waged this war in order to save its country from being infected by a group of people who had no emotion or compassion, were as the Japanese fought this war to rid the world of imperialism of Western powers and to rid the United States of it's menace of a leader, Roosevelt. --Nicole White, 11/25/2002 27) During the Pacific War, the propaganda of both the US and Japan was quite different in defining “the enemy.” Each of the tactics left the people of Japan and the US fighting somewhat different battles. The Japanese seemed to be selling themselves to the people of Asia, persuading them with Pan-Asiatic slogans in a conquest to become “Japan the Leader of Asia, Japan the Protector of Asia, Japan the Light of Asia” (Dower 6). In their propaganda, the Japanese used ideas of superpowers to somewhat create their supremacy to all the other peoples of Asia. Propaganda such as “People of the Southern region” used disproportioned body images to represent the peoples of Asia. The Japanese had to create a superpower of itself, the only one that could protect Asia against Western invasion. However when the Japanese began acting as the dominant people, they in turn created a dominant, supreme race. Their behavior was comparable to the Nazis in some aspects, and they had gained a lot of hatred and left many dead in the process of becoming the “Protector of Asia.” However, this belief that the Japanese had the destiny to become the leading race was held mostly by the leaders of Japan, not the Japanese people as a whole. While this selling of itself to its people or continent was not an issue in the United States, it did have to have propaganda to make the cause and hatred against the Japanese just and right in the eyes of the citizens. Moreover in US propaganda, the ideals of the Japanese government we used, not the actual ideals or beliefs of most of the Japanese people, to create a race and culture that wanted to conquer the world. We were constantly in debate as how to portray the enemy. The editors of "Know Your Enemy" would go back and forth about who the enemy was, should they target the emperor or the military leaders, or should they focus more on the people in general. Dower revealed that the War Department would reject any films that attempted to portray the Japanese as “ordinary humans victimized by their leaders” because that would evoke too much sympathy for the Japanese. The decision to focus in such a way on the Japanese people has a huge impact on the outcome of the propaganda. By focusing on the people as a race, the problem will simply not go away once the leaders were conquered. They depicted the people as a whole as evil, not just the few dominating leaders. The use of animals not only dehumanizes the Japanese people, but also makes every Japanese animal like, not just the few that were controlling Japan. Nameless, generic soldiers were also used in the ads such as "This is the Enemy" that were shown the raping of our women. Evoking anger and hatred towards the Japanese that would make our citizens believe those Japanese must be stopped; where as the Japanese tended to focus on figures of power such as Roosevelt and symbols such as the statue of liberty to represent the stereotypes of a failed American culture. In the end, both Japan and America created their enemy, along with a lot of racism, by means of the propaganda each used in the Pacific war to fight their war. --Stacey Foster 11/24/02

Responses 28-:

28) American and Japanese propaganda during WWII, while trying to reach the same ends of turning their country against the enemy, differed in what they criticized about one another in many respects. Both sought to dehumanize and vilify the other, but what one side portrayed as an evil, the other praised as good. In the American propaganda shown here, the Japanese are displayed as blood-thirsty apes, giant viscous yellow monsters, and sinister villains who torture and rape white women. In the first image, the artist reinforces the American belief that the Japanese are an inferior race by displaying them as apes, much like racist allusions of African Americans as monkeys in American history. By displaying them as subhuman, they display Japanese culture as a backwards society thirsty for the blood of the civilized. Americans are shown as the righteous hand of civilization justly bringing vengeance to these animals for atrocities committed in the war, namely in this case the execution of American POWs. This cartoon plays on the American people's desire for revenge against the "inhuman" Japanese people who attacked at Pearl Harbor and who had killed so many American soldiers. The image of the obviously colored Japanese soldier carrying the limp naked body of a white woman goes even further to display the cruelty of the Japanese. Again they are displayed as subhuman an animal like, as the soldier's facial features resemble those of a cat rather than a man, and the image of the woman's body and of the bodies hanging in the background showed that there was no limit to the cruelty of the Japanese. The most striking American image, however, was the one that alluded to "Jack and the Beanstalk", not so much for what it said about the Japanese, but for what it said about Americans. In this the Japanese are shown as an inhuman monster, an ogre, illustrating the American view of Japanese as working as merely a collective horde. The cartoon praises American individuality by showing the little boy being read to by his mother growing up to be a heroic soldier fighting against the monsters he had heard about. This cartoon must have been very effective in bringing people to action because most American boys were brought up with the story of "Jack and the Beanstalk" and other stories of heroes, and many dreamed of becoming heroes themselves. The main theme in the Japanese propaganda was showing their way of life was superior to Western ways. In the image of Roosevelt with horses legs covered by a cloak of money and Churchill with a badger's tail covered by a cloak of death, the artist depicted the superiority of the West as merely an illusion. This cartoon shows Westerners as animal like, and shape shifting, alluding to a mischievous, deceitful nature. That it is Japanese planes that reveal the true nature of the West illustrates how the Japanese wanted to rid Asia of the corrupt Western influences and instill the greater Japanese culture. The image of the demonic Roosevelt sitting on top of a sad Statue of Liberty is another depiction of the "faults" of Western culture. The Japanese did not believe that there was a true democracy in American, rather that Roosevelt was more of a dictator who ran the country the way he wanted to. The cartoon also showed stereotypes of why the Japanese did not believe Americans would be effective in the war. The reluctance of the American people to enter the war, their isolationist attitude, was depicted by an anti-war sailor. The presumed ineffectiveness of a military that had not really been built up since WWI was depicted by a bound woman (notice that a woman was used here to make the US military appear even more helpless). The inability of American industry to mobilize for war was shown in two ways: by a Jew inflating the balloon of profits depicting the overwhelming capitalist spirit of America which the Japanese believed would not give up making consumer goods for war materials, and by a striking working depicting the inability of the American workforce and their lack of working for a collective goal. The final piece of propaganda shown here does not so much criticize Western ways as it justifies Japanese expansion. Here, the obviously white Japanese hand liberates the colored Indonesian from Dutch rule. Race plays an issue here as the white hand alludes to the superiority of the Japanese over the Indonesians who are depicted as inferior because of their darker skin and their status as workers. Although they are becoming part of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, it is obvious that they will be serving the Japanese, but that is justified because the Japanese will be bringing their superior way of life to them. The enemy in this cartoon is depicted as a scared Dutch woman running away, a symbol of the West's weakness. --Stephanie Sutsko, 11/25/2002 29) Japanese and American propaganda has a number of overlying dynamics. The artist for each of these drawings chose one or more ways to make their audience (either Japanese or American) hate the enemy. One strategy is to demonize or in humanize the opponent. This is exemplified in the first picture depicting Japanese as apes, showing “civilization” pointing a gun at the uncivilized apes. One of the Japanese cartoonists used this strategy as well, showing Americans with half of their body being either a horse or a badger. Another strategy propagandists use is racism. “How dare an inferior Japanese man rape and torture one of our own beautiful white women? Those Japanese must pay!” This was the reaction one American artist hoped he would get from his audience. The overlying factor in all of these examples of propaganda is that the enemy is an alien to either the Japanese or American “perfect” civilization. “Since my culture and society is perfect, any civilization different from mine must be inferior.” This was the mindset that the propagandists wanted to impose upon their viewer. Japanese and American culture is so diverse; it was not difficult for propagandists to use this factor to their advantage. This superiority complex that both nations possessed led to beliefs of racism, ideas of barbarianism, demonic ideas of the enemy, and outright hatred of all people living in that civilization. In order to be successful in a war, the government needs the support of its civilians. The propaganda films, cartoons, and literary works were aimed to build up the hatred of its citizens towards the enemy. Both the U.S. and Japan’s government had one goal when showing these works of propaganda: to make their people hate the enemy. If their people did not hate the enemy, then what were they fighting for? --Laura Schmarge, 11/25/2002 30) The American and Japanese propaganda during WWII relies heavily on each culture’s preconceived notions of the other. As we know from the discussion of Frank Capra’s documentaries for the United States Military in War Without Mercy, his propaganda was used primarily to educate American soldiers about the Japanese and motivate them to fight against them. The cartoon propaganda from both sides is used in a similar vein; both the Japanese and American citizens, on the whole, probably did not personally and intimately know someone from the opposing side, and were most likely uneducated in general about the intricacies of the other culture. As a result, the propaganda preys on the uneducated mind and reinforces or magnifies the typical widely believed stereotypes common to either culture. The magnification of the stereotypes can be observed in several of the propaganda items from either side. My two personal favorites are “This is the Enemy” from the American side and “Grieving Statue of Liberty” from the Japanese. “This is the Enemy” portrays a Japanese soldier carrying off a captive, and probably unconscious, white female. The soldier has eyes slanted more than usual (which make him look a little bit like a bug), a sinister grin and the posture of a criminal trying not to get caught, and altogether these characteristics help to portray him as a particularly revolting individual. His skin is also extremely dark in contrast to the porcelain white skin of the woman he is carrying off. Unlike some of the other American propaganda items, the soldier is depicted as a human and not some other type of animal, but his features are exaggerated enough to give him a menacing, dirty appearance. “Grieving Statue of Liberty,” on the other hand, portrays Roosevelt as a demon sitting atop the crown of Liberty. He is joined by four figures sitting on the other rays, each one of them a different stereotype of American culture. There is a clownish looking Jew inflating a balloon of the American flag, an anti-war sailor, a worker waving a strike placard, and a bound woman representing military action. Each of these figures are depicted in a comical manner and play up the Japanese stereotypes of American culture. These magnifications of stereotypes were designed to leave an impression on the masses, who weren’t very familiar with the opposite culture to begin with. They play up the negative points about the culture in order to justify the reasons to fight them. And, in essence, it gave the people an excuse to commit the unthinkable because these propaganda materials taught them that the enemy was sub-human and worthy of the brutal acts of violence committed against them. -Katrina Malinowski, 11/25/02 31) The propaganda shown in the engaging images website is mainly of a negative connotation. It puts emphasis on showing that the enemy is not only bad, but unnatural or inhuman. The cartoons of Truman as a half-man / half-beast show this on the Japanese side, while the American perception (in propaganda) is that of a "Jap Horde" or monkey-man. The enemy not only violates our perceptions of humanity, but is himself inhuman, something which must be eradicated. The propaganda relies on stereotypes and ignorance to promulgate its view of the enemy as a sub-human. Its audience is thus, pushed into adopting hate and to despise the demonic enemy. Both rely on creating an image of the enemy as inhuman, sub-human, and thus not worthy of life. They however go about doing this in different ways. The American propaganda is much more violent and war-like. In our three examples guns and destruction are all over. The American perspective is much more one of crusading against the "horde" of an evil race. There are also many overtones of civilization in the American propaganda. The Japanese propaganda on the other hand, focuses on parables and slimily. It is narrative and relies on showing the enemy as excessive and grossly bloated. In the Japanese propaganda an emphasis is put on purity of ideology and not merely race-based hate. It is as if the Japanese are “taking out the trash.” It is probably less affective in creating passionate responses, but more effective in creating a more long-term associations of the west with greed and excess. Importance is aimed at the leaders as the enemy, while American propaganda focuses on the mass as enemy. These posters, and the propaganda as a whole, show a crusading mentality for the U.S., and a cleansing mentality for Japan. --Scott Burroughs, 11/25/2002 32) Both Japan and the United States used propagandaduring the Second World War to gain support for the nation and rid any sympathy felt for the enemy.  It was interesting that both sides used similar techniques to portray themselves and the enemy. It seemed the enemy from both perspectives were stereotyped as an uncivilized animal, which would entail little to no education, and posses animalistic instincts deemed primitive and brutal.  The victims were depicted as small yet courageous.                                The American propaganda depicted the Japanese as guerillas with viscous intentions.  This is shown in the“Uncivilized Brutes” and “Yellow Peril” where the Japanese are invading civilization and humanity with their non human characteristics.  I found it interesting and a little upsetting that the “Yellow Peril” comic strip was veered towards children; it shows a mother reading to the little boy about how“ brave Jack defied the Giant Ogre.”  I think America goes a little too far when young innocent children are brought in the realm of destruction.                                                                                                                                           As for the Japanese propaganda, Americans are also seen as animalistic.  In the cartoon “Horse’s Legs,Badger’s Tail” we are seen as mischievous jackasses and we are not to be takenseriously.  Also, in “Grieving Statue of Liberty,” Roosevelt is seen as ademonic monster with other typical stereotypes of American culture. Both Japan and United States see themselves as the righteous ones with just causeand seen as the victims in a world invaded by foreign monsters with nothing but horrific intentions.  Americans are the evil ones because of our policies and selfish want for money and power and Japanese are the evil ones because they will not cooperate and conform to the civilized ideals Americans posses; they are different and through the United States propaganda, they highlight their differences and stereotypical characteristics. --Jessica Eastburn, 11/25/2002

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