Combs, James E. and Sara T. Combs . Film propaganda and American politics : an analysis and filmography. New York : Garland Pub., 1994.

In Chapter 4 of the Combs' book, there is a look at how film propaganda tied in with American politics and more importantly how it shapes the perception of soldiers. Combs claims that film propaganda is one-way learning, offering a perspective the limits perception of several realities. The point of propaganda is to help expose people to the war, but in controlled narrative form. The chapter has many key examples from famous documentaries to present the military's stance on protocol. These examples were produced by famous Hollywood icons such as Frank Capra and John Ford. The genius of Hollywood turned what is supposed to be non-fiction into just another story.

The examples in Chapter 4 show how the films had desensitization messages. In the first part of the Why We Fight series, Preclude to War (1942), Hirohito, Hitler, and Mussolini were painted as fiends and buffoons; Capra paints them as personally responsible. In Spies (1943, Private Snafu), the spy's messages were sent directly to Hitler, directly associating him as the ringleader of espionage. By pinning all blame on the leaders, it makes the individual soldiers seem as a faceless and not human. This is the painting of reality that blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction. Animation has the unique ability to blend reality and fantasy and it grasps on the principles of propaganda; yes, it presents the truth, but it shows a certain side of truth. The blurring lines mirrors the soldiers' own reality--it desensitizes them to that same reality.