"Bambi" as WWII Propaganda

"Bambi" is a classic children's movie. It pulls at our emotional being, and strikes a chord within our inner selves. It is a coming-of-age story that we are all familiar with.

But it also has a clever, subtle propaganda embedded within the film. One may see this as circumstantial, due to the timing of the release of the film in 1942. And it has been overshadowed by Disney's multitudinous and well-known propaganda animations.

First, some background on the film. Bambi was based on the Austrian novel, "Bambi, a Life in the Woods," by Felix Salten, a Jewish author. Mentioning his Jewish ethnicity is important, because the book was banned in 1936 in Nazi Germany, because it was construed as propaganda "sympathizing with the plight of the Jews."

However, the original story was meant to be a pro-environmental novel.

In 1937, the rights to the film was sold to Disney. Disney did not actually start producing the film until August 17, 1939, literally just a few weeks before the ominous September 1st invasion of Poland by Germany. Britain entered the war soon after. The writing for the film was completed in 1940. America entered WWII in 1941. In 1942, "Bambi" is released in theaters with limited success, due to wartime limitations.

Now, let's look at the themes of "Bambi." Bambi is raised by his mother, and is very shy and naive. His father is distant and aloof, and has little involvement with the raising of his son. He is the guardian of the forest, and must defend the dominion against outside invaders (man).

During WWII, a lot of men had to leave their families behind in order to fight on the battlefront. It was very difficult for a lot of children to grow up during this time, as they were far from their fathers, many of which they had never seen, and unfortunately will never see.

However, Bambi's father could not save Bambi's mother. Bambi is stricken with grief, but he has his father to teach him how to survive. In 1940, Nazi Germany repeatedly bombed Britain, attacking many civilian centres. Families were torn apart. Lives lost. (Watch "Mrs. Miniver" (1942), for a powerful wartime drama on the Nazi raids on Britain). Many young men and women were enlisted in the British Army, many of whom lost family members.

We can see that Bambi learns his nurturing side from his mother, but becomes a steadfast warrior due to his Father. This leads into another allusion we see in this film.

Bambi worried over the threat of man, but did not take it personally until they killed his mother. We can see parallels with the bombing of Pearl Harbour. The "Motherland" was attacked - American soil. He is also inspired by his Father to take on the role of being the next protector - Britain, the "Fatherland of Americans" - had a role in international affairs and peacekeeping until WWII - after which, the USA would take over that role.

What this film is telling Americans is that they need to stand by their father, Britain, and protect the world (the defenseless creatures) from the threat of greedy, evil men, who have no hesitations to "burn" the whole world if it means total domination.

These allusions might be harder to see nowadays. But if one saw this movie during WWII, it would be easy to see how this would evoke patriotic sentiment from oneself. I don't believe that it was mere coincidence, I am sure the current world events did influence the production of the film. Plus, we know that Disney was very pro-Allies during the war (as was the rest of Hollywood), so they did their part in keeping up the Morale of the American Public, and helping them to understand the tension of the worldwide situation, through the use of powerful, emotional imagery.