'A Very Flexible Medium'

Price, Hollie

Abstract

This chapter examines the use of animation in Ministry of Information (MoI) propaganda films during the Second World War. It explores two very different animation styles: Halas and Batchelor’s short narrative-focused cartoons, and diagrammatic sequences designed by Francis Rodker in Shell Film Unit documentaries. Drawing on archival evidence of the MoI Films Division’s work and through an examination of the films themselves, the chapter highlights how the MoI’s animated films and the ways they were distributed were influenced by techniques in commercial advertising and prestige publicity, and is indicative of the intersecting functions of these films as propaganda, publicity and education.

Citation

Price, H. (2020). 'A Very Flexible Medium'. In Animation and Advertising. (1). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27939-4_7

• Online Publication Date: Dec 18, 2019
• Publication Date: Feb 4, 2020
• Deposit Date: May 30, 2024
• Publisher: Springer
• Series Title: Palgrave Animation
• Series ISSN: 2523-8086; 2523-8094
• Edition: 1
• Book Title: Animation and Advertising
• Chapter Number: 7
• ISBN: 978-3-030-27938-7; 978-3-030-27941-7
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27939-4_7
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/826691
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-27939-4_7