Captain America and Propaganda
At Malta Comic Con 2016, Jonathan Camilleri posed the question, “Are comics propaganda?” His answer was an unqualified “Yes.” Camilleri drew mainly on Captain America to uphold his argument, though he did also look at the star spangled outfits of Wonder Woman and Liberty Bell. He also brought to the fore, the colors used for Superman’s outfit.
Captain America is the culmination of patriotism. As a scrawny weakling, he wasn’t able to join the fight against the Nazis. It was his will that got him into the super serum experiments. As World War II was raging in Europe, Captain America “showed anyone with enough patriotism could fight the Nazis,’ says Camilleri.
“Patriotism was a moral right,” says Camilleri. Because the focus of Captain America is more on his extraordinary moral code than on his physical prowess, people could relate and take on his identity in a sense. They thought if Captain America thinks it is right, we should help out.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt said that propaganda should inform and not inflame. It doesn’t do any good for people to be angry at Germans in general or to be so angry that they lash out at home. Instead, they need a specific focus. In the case of Captain America, it was the dehumanized Nazis and Japanese.
“If any country is to prosper,” says Camilleri, “it needs to have something to fight against.” This creates a social cohesion. Propaganda is necessarily good or bad; it’s just a thing.
Captain America is the culmination of patriotism. As a scrawny weakling, he wasn’t able to join the fight against the Nazis. It was his will that got him into the super serum experiments. As World War II was raging in Europe, Captain America “showed anyone with enough patriotism could fight the Nazis,’ says Camilleri.
“Patriotism was a moral right,” says Camilleri. Because the focus of Captain America is more on his extraordinary moral code than on his physical prowess, people could relate and take on his identity in a sense. They thought if Captain America thinks it is right, we should help out.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt said that propaganda should inform and not inflame. It doesn’t do any good for people to be angry at Germans in general or to be so angry that they lash out at home. Instead, they need a specific focus. In the case of Captain America, it was the dehumanized Nazis and Japanese.
“If any country is to prosper,” says Camilleri, “it needs to have something to fight against.” This creates a social cohesion. Propaganda is necessarily good or bad; it’s just a thing.