25:
332:. This section of the film mainly focuses on the appearance and diet of the individual soldier, and as a result, it devotes much less attention to his tactics and strategy. The film comments that the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese army are "as alike as photographic prints off the same negative."
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Eventually the scriptwriters felt Capra had lost direction in the film, apart from his desire to give the film racist overtones. The writers did not know that Capra's racist depictions were at the request of the U.S. military. In
January 1945, the film underwent a series of final revisions because
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and the elevation of the previously-powerless
Emperor as a rallying point in 1868 with the warlords "reserving for themselves and themselves alone the right to speak for him and guide his policies" gives the film's audience the impression that Hirohito was an effectively-powerless figurehead. The
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and all information is filtered down to the
Japanese people after it has first been approved and altered to suit the purposes of the warlords. The film emphasizes this statement by showing its audience that despite Japan's modernization, most of the Japanese people still lived and worked in ways
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for the production of a series of documentary films to be released to the general public and used for the orientation of
American soldiers before and during deployment. Commissioned as a major and placed in charge of the 834th Photo Signal Detachment, Capra produced the film series
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The film is compiled from footage which was obtained from newsreels, the UN, enemy film, fictional
Japanese movies which were used to give it a historical background, and re-enactments which were supervised by the war department. The footage is narrated by
399:
After saying repeatedly, "If you are
Japanese, you believe these things," then the film slightly shifts gears by asking its audience the following question, "But if you're not Japanese, then what is the real Japan, the Japan of the
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The power of the warlords continues to be emphasized in the rest of the film and it is summarized by the statement that they never adopted the moral or ethical principles that came along with the ideas that they borrowed from the
588:, Capra told Ivens to leave the project because the U.S. Army had disapproved so much of the approach he had taken towards his portrayal of the Japanese that they had requested he be removed from the production.
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to supervise the documentary in early 1943, but after Ivens submitted a 20-minute preview, which treated the
Japanese as an open-minded people being led by a vilified
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began in 1942, it was troubled from the very beginning by the inability of the U.S. government to determine what exactly the foreign policy towards Japan should be.
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by saying that it had been a "quaint religion for a quaint people" until 1870 when a mad, fanatical, conquer-the-world doctrine, based on the commandment of
592:, one of the writers working on the script, commented that a large setback for the film's production was the realization that "we couldn't call Hirohito a
469:
is also discussed but it is always discussed in the context of how the warlords used it to further their own ambitions. The elimination of the position of
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which were effectively unchanged since the 17th century and even the white-collar
Japanese man, once he arrived home, lived as his ancestors lived in the
438:, with the film's narrator saying that it "not only sanctioned double dealing and treachery but looked at it as an art to be cultivated." The arrival of
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lesson, the idea of the
Japanese people's "pure divine blood" is countered with accusations that it is nothing more than a "plasma cocktail." Then the
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After going over
Hirohito's divinity and saying that his divine origins are shared by the Japanese people as a whole, the film then describes
296:. However, the film never realized its full purpose because its completion was delayed by disputes between Hollywood and Washington, and the
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680:, but also the sweeping agenda of reformist policies that the Allied powers subsequently attempted to impose upon a defeated and
453:'s scientific and artistic advances which occurred in the West with Japan's stagnant isolation during the same period, broken by
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The film's main purpose was to maintain the fighting spirit of the United States military forces for the final push against the
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841:(WWII) (VHS). Military-World War II-Nazi-Soviet-Propaganda Videos-International Historic Films. Web. October 27, 2009. <
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as aggressors, it only portrays Japanese natives as aggressors. It goes on to describe the lives of the soldiers of the
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wrote the first screenplay for the film in June 1942, but it was shelved when the Army General Staff moved to
392:(八紘一宇, literally "eight crown cords, one roof", i.e., "all the world under one roof"). The film describes the
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because we knew we had to deal with him later and it threw us into a tailspin. That's why it took so long."
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and you will begin to understand what Hirohito means to the Japanese, why they call him the God-Emperor."
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soon after the film's release in August 1945. The film's first public screening was in 1977 as part of a
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for 200 years in reaction to its teachings of peace and equality are all used to vilify them even more.
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turned out to utterly destroy its propaganda value because it was August 9, 1945, three days after the
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decided that the film should not be shown, as previously planned, to all military personnel in the
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Military Propaganda: Defense Department Films from World War II and Vietnam by Claudia Springer
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were initially considered to direct the film before Capra and Ivens themselves took the role.
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Springer, Claudia. "Military Propaganda: Defense Department Films from WWII and Vietnam."
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of the Japanese, and the film ends with the wartime circumstances of Japan in 1945.
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captured the passions and presumptions that underlay not only the ferocity of the
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about the Japanese enemy, excluding the crudest, most vulgar, and most blatantly
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in the Pacific rapidly switched from war to negotiation. In response, General
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The warlords' control over the Japanese people is used to explain the current
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section begins and in it, the Emperor is portrayed as having little
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valiantly fought for America because they stood for values like "
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John Stephan, "The Tanaka Memorial (1927): Real or Spurious?"
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thought it still had "too much sympathy for the Jap people."
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The film begins with a text preamble which states that the
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835:. Dir. Frank Capra. Prod. U.S. War Department. 1945.
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War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War
434:. The samurai are vilified along with their code of
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and top it all with the divine authority of our own
49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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482:'s secret blueprint for world conquest, Japan's
16:1945 World War II propaganda film by Frank Capra
730:List of Allied propaganda films of World War II
857:Boom and bust the American cinema in the 1940s
852:. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992. Print.
644:, who later became a leading character actor.
442:and the warlords' expulsion of Westerners and
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866:(1986): 151–67. JSTOR. Web. October 21, 2009.
424:, with the real power being in the hands of
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704:was bombed. When it became clear that the
288:. The film, which was commissioned by the
823:American Vision: The Films of Frank Capra
533:made an official request to the director
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
335:The Japanese are said to be devoted to
1494:American World War II propaganda films
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850:Frank Capra the catastrophe of success
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766:. New York: Pantheon. pp. 18–19.
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544:, as well as other films, including
294:totalitarian militaristic government
47:adding citations to reliable sources
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361:head of the Russian Orthodox Church
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859:. New York: Scribner, 1997. Print.
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664:was a potpourri of most of the
628:. Footage from prewar Japanese
459:forced opening of Japan in 1853
345:Prime Minister of Great Britain
34:needs additional citations for
1529:American black-and-white films
1397:The Bell System Science Series
962:Fultah Fisher's Boarding House
843:http://www.ihffilm.com/56.html
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341:President of the United States
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1130:The Bitter Tea of General Yen
893:Internet archive of full film
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678:clash in Asia and the Pacific
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449:The film then juxtaposes the
298:abrupt end of the Pacific War
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708:was becoming a reality,
357:Archbishop of Canterbury
349:Premier of Soviet Russia
222:August 9, 1945
125:Our Enemy — The Japanese
123:Not to be confused with
58:"Know Your Enemy: Japan"
762:Dower, John W. (1986).
710:American foreign policy
557:Although production on
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1341:Know Your Enemy: Japan
1162:Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1050:The Younger Generation
1034:The Power of the Press
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559:Know Your Enemy: Japan
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547:Two Down and One to Go
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525:When the U.S. entered
330:Imperial Japanese Army
266:Know Your Enemy: Japan
133:Know Your Enemy: Japan
1447:Frank Capra Jr. (son)
1298:The Battle of Britain
1250:Pocketful of Miracles
1210:It's a Wonderful Life
1146:It Happened One Night
1018:The Way of the Strong
839:Know Your Enemy—Japan
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654:Japanese Home Islands
1411:Hemo the Magnificent
1322:War Comes to America
1306:The Battle of Russia
1234:Here Comes the Groom
1202:Arsenic and Old Lace
986:For the Love of Mike
888:Full Film on YouTube
750:Modern Asian Studies
688:The release date of
465:of Japan during the
451:Age of Enlightenment
430:and their armies of
43:improve this article
1420:Rendezvous in Space
1390:The Fallbrook Story
1362:Your Job in Germany
1314:The Battle of China
864:Cultural Critique 3
752:7.4 (1973): 733–45.
660:said that the film
634:Ryūnosuke Tsukigata
599:Edgar Peterson and
480:Baron Giichi Tanaka
314:Japanese in America
290:U.S. War Department
1514:Films set in Japan
1463:(2023 documentary)
1455:(2017 documentary)
1290:Divide and Conquer
1242:A Hole in the Head
1218:State of the Union
1058:The Donovan Affair
1026:Say It with Sables
994:That Certain Thing
706:Japanese surrender
531:George C. Marshall
444:isolation of Japan
278:war in the Pacific
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1376:The Negro Soldier
1098:The Miracle Woman
1074:Ladies of Leisure
848:McBride, Joseph.
806:War Without Mercy
714:Douglas MacArthur
700:and the day that
638:Kunitarō Sawamura
474:film invokes the
467:Meiji Restoration
412:?" After a brief
376:Japanese religion
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99:December 2020
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41:Please help
36:verification
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1404:Our Mr. Sun
1333:Other works
1226:Riding High
945:Filmography
934:Frank Capra
827:Wesleyan UP
825:. Hanover:
785:AFI Catalog
642:Kōji Mitsui
601:John Huston
582:Joris Ivens
578:Frank Capra
574:Los Angeles
570:Warren Duff
535:Frank Capra
521:Development
499:Middle Ages
389:Hakkō Ichiu
286:Joris Ivens
282:Frank Capra
172:Narrated by
164:John Huston
156:Frank Capra
146:Joris Ivens
142:Frank Capra
138:Directed by
1489:1945 films
1483:Categories
978:Long Pants
816:References
808:pp. 20,23.
516:Production
485:Mein Kampf
402:geographer
365:Son of God
276:about the
242:63 minutes
226:1945-08-09
152:Written by
69:newspapers
1114:Forbidden
1090:Dirigible
1042:Submarine
698:Hiroshima
630:jidaigeki
414:geography
410:historian
304:special.
186:Edited by
724:See also
702:Nagasaki
353:the Pope
255:Language
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804:Dower,
670:clichés
648:Release
615:Editing
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436:Bushido
432:samurai
427:daimyōs
418:history
322:liberty
320:" and "
318:freedom
258:English
247:Country
224: (
83:scholar
1325:(1945)
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1066:Flight
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736:Notes
380:Jimmu
90:JSTOR
76:books
883:IMDb
792:2021
624:and
550:and
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308:Plot
62:news
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