Examples Of Captain American Propaganda

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Captain America Comics functioning as World War II Propaganda Captain America is a comic book hero became familiar to most starting with the 2011 film, Captain America: The First Avenger, and then the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the character of Captain America was created much earlier, in 1940, before the United States of America entered World War II. The cover the first issue of Captain America Comics has Captain America punching Adolf Hitler right in the face, a clearly pro-interventionist stance for America to enter into the war. I will argue that Captain America Comics functioned as a form of propaganda during World War II because the creators of the comic, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, created this character out of their own …show more content…

One says to the other, "It was easy joining the army with forged papers--now to carry out the Fuehrer's plans!" while the other responds "Yah...everything is in readiness," (Simon and Kirby). The two got in with forged papers and mention the Fuehrer so one would assume that these are Nazi agents from Germany sent into the army to sabotage it. One of the saboteur's does not have a pleasant expression, with down turned eyebrows, a scrunched nose and an overbite. On the next page while the building is blown up the other saboteur face is in an exaggeratedly large grin taking up a good portion of the face and with much dark shading over it adding a more sinister edge (Simon and Kirby). On this page this act of destruction was called treason as well as sabotage which makes it uncertain whether this enemy agent is a German Nazi or an American because the word treason is usually used in referring betraying ones own country. Nevertheless this sabotage illustrates how pervasive the enemy has become in America, the army being easily infiltrated by forged papers. The starting of using exaggerated features or caricatures to portray the enemy is seen by the depiction of the saboteur. Donald sates that Nazis were depicted as unrelentingly ugly in popular culture, continuing with the way the Germans were caricatured in World War I propaganda (qtd. in Weiner

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