A Study On Franklin D.roosevelt Administration’s Manipulation Of Hollywood World War Ⅱ Wartime Films

Hollywood has long been a crucial political propaganda tool of the American government since its birth.Hollywood film propaganda during World War II originated from propaganda practices during World War I,the advancement of communication theories after World War I,and the establishment of “big administration” during the New Deal.During World War II,Roosevelt Administration established Office of War Information(OWI)as a professional agency for public opinion propaganda,and adopted it as a medium to strengthen the manipulation of Hollywood in policy making,theme shaping,and marketing.Then,OWI forged a film system of creation,production,and distribution to serve war propaganda.In this process,Roosevelt’s dual identities as a President and an “ordinary person” hold notable importance.Although it is challenging to define the boundary of the dual identities precisely,the necessity of Roosevelt’s “ordinary person” identity in the manipulation process cannot be overlooked,for foreign studies on the manipulation of Hollywood World War II wartime films have focused mainly on the executive power wielded by President Roosevelt,neglecting the significant influence of his “ordinary person” identity.Additionally,analyses of manipulation themes of Hollywood World War II wartime films have focused solely on plots,disregarding the theme meanings conveyed through film images.Moreover,most foreign and domestic studies have not taken into account the crucial official document,Government Information Manual for the Motion Picture Industry,published by OWI.To fill these research gaps,this study integrates the dual identities of Roosevelt as a President and an “ordinary person”,utilizing Government Information Manual for the Motion Picture Industry and adopting Visual Grammar as a supplementary analysis tool to investigate Roosevelt Administration’s manipulation of Hollywood in creation,production,and distribution through OWI.The study reveals the significant influence of Roosevelt’s “ordinary person” identity in the manipulation process and highlights the necessity of Visual Grammar in analyzing film themes.Specifically,this thesis employs literature analysis and text analysis methods to explore the following questions in the historical context: How does Roosevelt Administration manipulate the creation,production,and distribution of Hollywood World War II wartime films through OWI? How are the themes of these films presented under the manipulation of Roosevelt Administration’s OWI? How do the themes change as the war progresses?In addition to the introduction and conclusion,the body of this thesis is divided into four chapters.The first chapter performs a literature review that covers Hollywood World War II films,American media manipulation,and manipulation of Hollywood World War II films.The second chapter systematically presents the historical background of Roosevelt Administration’s manipulation of Hollywood and Hollywood’s mass and political attributes as a propaganda tool.The third chapter delves into manipulation agency from four aspects: the establishment of OWI,the film censorship mechanism,the manipulation approaches,and the manipulation effect.Based on the number of citations in relevant documents and audience acceptance,four Hollywood World War II wartime films are chosen.The fourth chapter conducts a theme analysis of the four films’ plots and images,and it further explores the change in theme presentation.The findings are summarized as follows.Firstly,at the macro level,inheriting the experiences of Hollywood propaganda during World War I,Roosevelt Administration employs more sophisticated strategies to manipulate Hollywood during World War II.The manipulation process shows a “complex and efficient” communication system involving script reviewing,production process optimizing,and distribution channels opening and bridging.At the micro level,Roosevelt plays a significant role in the manipulation process by providing creation philosophy,appointing liaison officer,and recruiting stars and directors.As a result,Office of War Information may be to some extent seen as an executive agency for Roosevelt’s individual will.Secondly,in terms of the manipulation themes,over 300 World War II wartime films that Hollywood produces are highly consistent with the thematic requirements of Government Information Manual for the Motion Picture Industry.The plot and image analysis result shows that all the enemy images required by the Manual are presented in the films.The images help construct the “war logic” which emphasizes the enemy’s ugliness and promotes the belief that the United States will ultimately prevail.It turns out that the logic in turn helps mobilize the people to support the war.The statistical analysis of the occurrence number of themes,which are mainly embedded in binary opposition and dichotomous character depictions,corresponds with the war’s progress.Last but not least,the frequent presentation of audios from Roosevelt’s“Fireside Chats” and calls to action is probably the result of his personal influence on wartime films through OWI.