"A banquet for all the world": democracy and consumerism in Disney's Food Will Win the War. Issue 4 (8th August 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Grey, Stephanie Houston
• Is Part Of: Critical studies in media communication. Volume 35:Issue 4(2018)
• Page Start: 363
• Page End: 375
• Publication Date: 2018-08-08
• Subjects: World War II -- food -- Disney -- globalism -- propaganda; Mass media -- Periodicals; 302.2305
• DOI: 10.1080/15295036.2018.1468566
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1529-5036

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This essay considers Food Will Win the War, an animated short made early in World War II by Disney Studios for the United States Department of Agriculture. Through a fantastical catalogue of hyperbolic images, the film shows how the mass production of American agriculture becomes the first wave of a new American-style consumerism of plenty that will transform the social order. The analysis blends contemporary theories of affective politics to show Food Will Win the War as a threshold text, revealing the post-war economy at its formation. Using food as a symbolic field, this film ultimately links the endless expansion of consumer desire to national identity and global colonization.