Originally posted by bowlbyville
Sure it can be viewed as “Go USA” propaganda but so what? The film was trying to point out (to kids) the differences between a country with freedom and country that utilizes state-control. If you want a nanny-government move to Canada…or simply keep supporting the current Administration’s socialist agenda.

Yeah because we all know people in Canada have no freedom

The only difference between your life and the one mocked in this movie is their lives are controlled by the state - yours is run by Wal-mart.

Originally posted by bowlbyville
I liked it.

Sure it can be viewed as “Go USA” propaganda but so what? The film was trying to point out (to kids) the differences between a country with freedom and country that utilizes state-control. If you want a nanny-government move to Canada…or simply keep supporting the current Administration’s socialist agenda.

And the film also says this-

"I hereby turn over to ISM INCORPORATED everything I have..."

Fun to watch, sure; but honestly, I don't see whats "so clear and so insightful" about this cartoon to be worth a special mention. I mean, it was clearly a sort of "warning" against Communism, totally in line with the spirit of the era. The dangers it presents were expressed, in more or less the same tone, in many books, movies, articles.
Why is this relevant now? Are the US in danger of becoming a totalitarian state?
I am asking because I am not an American. I can see here on this board that many are not satisfied with Obama. (I don't have an opinion on him; I do like him, but I guess it's a superficial "liking", I don't think he has had enough time to really do anything.) But are his policies a threat to "liberty" in the US?
Or are you talking about something else, not Obama?

It's the kind of inane claptrap my generation grew up on, pure adulterated propaganda. This was produced during the heyday of the cold war & MacarthyISM, and to that end. We've seen how well the much touted management vs labor working together thing has worked out.

The average workers' salaries have stayed flat or fallen while upper management's salaries have risen from 35 times workers' salaries to 300 times their salaries in the past 20 years.

I have to agree that the modern day propaganda is that of consumerism.

Just a propoganda film against communism. That's all it was.
Capitalism ad emocrasy is just as flawed.
Kingdom is where it's at.
Current kingdoms are thriving, even today.

Originally posted by daggyz

Kingdom is where it's at.

Current kingdoms are thriving, even today.

So you'd rather have a monarchry as your form of government?

The lie of patriotism and freedom is persistent isn't it.

pay your taxes, obey your laws, enjoy your "freedom". lol

What a great post! Thanks for putting it out there. Hopefully it'll help explain what so many folks just wont hear! By the way, I see people posting how uncanny its' relevance is to our current times-funny thing is a little reading would reveal that is exactly what made our founding fathers so brilliant....they established a country founded on principals for ALL TIMES.
edit for grammer:

[edit on 25-10-2009 by jbeez]

I would have to agree with Victor.

Victor said...
I agree Fred, but we should have started standing up during the last administration and impeached our leader for his lies and scare tactics then. He feed all his cronies coffers on the backs of our hard working country and our fine military service people. He used scare tactics the like I have never seen before. We bowed down and surrendered our rights without even asking questions. Now we're jumping on the new administration for trying to find a better way, but we ignore what put us here to begin with..... It's hard to blame the farmer for the pile of horse manure, when the former leader brought the horse into the barn to begin with...

October 13, 2009 7:33 PM

After reading all of the posts, I can guarentee to everyone, that I'm still absolutely confused as to how to interpret this cartoon.

The first few times that I watched this movie, I got the feeling like the snake oil salesmen was symbolic for the NWO (the bankers/corrupt gov officials). This made the movie a little more relevant to my own specific beliefs at this point in time.

However, some people state that the snake oil salesmen was just a symbol of communisim (Which is still partially the NWO, mind you) and that this cartoon was used primarily to encourage capitalism, which has failed. Therefore glorifying this cartoon is basically bringing up a sore spot and the feeling of 'here we go again' begins.

The more posts that I read, the more it came clear. This cartoon can be interpreted in various ways depending on how you shuffle the symbolic references around. Therefore, out of an experiment of art. I'm currently reworking the cartoon for a more modern day incarnation.

I haven't decided yet if I plan on re-working or modernizing the imagry while keeping the audio. Or re-working the audio and leaving the video. If anyone else is interested in making alternative versions of this cartoon, please join me. Regardless of your opinion of it, the important thing is that it's getting people to discuss the role of the government and the issues at hand.

After showing this video to a few friends, we actually got into a non-confrontational, relaxed and progressive conversation about government roles. There is something interesting about it's presentation and age that makes it a perfect way to open up the topic of discussion to generally closed minded people.

great in terms of showing how us as Americans how we should use our rights and fight for our rights. but At the same time there's a small sales pitch for capitalism thrown in there (the american way of course). and i love how they keep talking about how everyone is equal in this country yet they only show one non-white kid in the classroom part of the video.... then again it was made in a time where "if you ain't white, you ain't right."

All in all good cartoon, informative and im still surprised that it came from such a propaganda filled time. Good Post!! I got a star with ya name on it buddy.

Yugio? God I hope that's a joke.
This is merely a fallacious appeal to tradition.

"Remember when some folks couldn't vote, and women were basically property? Pepperidge Farm remembers."

Most educated citizens did know what the economy would come to , but when they start to spread it something always happens , almost all civil rights movement leaders were assassinated weird huh? If you get out of line in their eyes and start to wake people up to actually make a difference which is very possible that is when they get scared of us and plot on how to rid us and not make it look like an inside job to calm the remaining americans.

I think I am a little older than most of you here. I was born in 1948 and I grew up proudly in this country. This type of cartoon was not uncommon to see, but not usually on Saturday morning cartoons. Yep, we had TV in those days. It is specifically anti-communist propaganda, and as such it worked pretty well. The soviet system was flawed and failed. I watched it take its last breaths while dying under Gorbachev, who gracefully let much of it die. During the height of the cold war, Khruschev was premier, and his son now lives in the United States and, I believe, is a citizen or becoming one. Yep, things change. But not the propaganda. It didn't take the little blurbs superimposed on the screen to unmask the intent of this piece of jingoism.

Sorry, I love America too, but this was just an exercise in bad taste people.

Originally posted by pieman

the problem is that the movie reinforces the view that in order for there to be freedom in society there must be gross inequality and an elitist pyramidal structure.

The film never said that for one moment!! I think you might have watched a communist video (by mistake).
But I agree it's true that under raw, capitalism there will always be your "gross inequality and an elitist pyramidal structure" however have you ever thought to ask what system doesn't suffer these things? Last time I checked, they all did.
Also the systems that seem to work the best for humanity are a national defence, meaningful local democracy, and low taxs, but taxs to help support chaity, that it turn supports the poor.

you have to think...why doesnt cartoon network or any other network re-run these shows....its frightening on what the new generation is, too much into technology, sex and other stuff and none into reading, philosophy or anything like that. of course i dont mean everyone, but most of them grow up watching brain washing shows, into their teens they get too much into pop culture and shows like 16 and pregnant and then they prepare themselves for a mechanical and sad life.

by the way, im 18 and i really know how messed up my generation is...you cant even have a serious convo about gov't or politics without them not being interested, or talking about girls or referring to CNN or Obama alot..

Frankly, alot of you are making a big mistake in trying to interpret the cartoon based on today's culture, and making your analogies that way. Clearly, you need to interpret it based on the culture 50 years ago, and in doing such I've come to the following conclusion!; This cartoon is garbage!