In a book review in the 2005 issue of "Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies," Robert Frye discusses the importance of parody as a viable propaganda format.  The subject of his review is "Doing Their Bit: Wartime American Animated Short Films, 1939-1945" by Michael S. Shull and David E. Wilt. (McFarland, 2004. 246 pages), a study of Hollywood films during World War II.  Frye writes how the book provides additional information about America's attitudes toward World War II and the responses from Hollywood to such feelings, especially how these changing attitudes shaped production of animated films during World War II.  An example he points out is how advancements made by Allied Forces on Germany and in the Pacific Theater against Japan were coupled by a decline in the number of cartoons produced.  The authors conclude that the sense of impatience for a prolonged war and optimism for a better life post war contributed to the decline of the animated short.

Just as propaganda films such as the “Private Snafu” series were born of wartime sentiments, their ending was also correlated with war time events in real time.  As people yearned for more positivism as the War dragged on, there was less of a demand for propaganda film that centered around the war effort.  Indeed, film often represents a cultural and societal dialogue not just between the studios of the film industry with the government but also with the people who serve as audience and consumers of the film product.  In this way, control of films is restored in part to the people from the government’s film office.