Jacob Dreyer's Sahara Observations
The propaganda represented in the film was extraordinary. Specifically, its skewed view towards the make-up of our armed forces. In this film, the Nazi's are portrayed as a world ending menace that must be stopped. The film shows the entire world banding together to stop the fascist menace of the Germans. Americans, French, English, and even a South African contribute to this effort. Most telling however is the inclusion of a black fighter in this group. To the psyche of that time, when the U.S. forces were strictly segregated, this was a powerful statement about what was necessary to win the war. Everyone, every person and people, must band together do their duty to succeed. While this is a telling inclusion, the absence of any women is even more telling. The movie showcases a breakdown of certain societal strictures in the face of adversity, but it seems that women had their own function within the war machine which combat had no part of. Even Hitler's drilling holes and filling up heads with madness was not enough for the complete equality between men and women.