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Clip description
A black-and-white animated propaganda advertisement which uses patriotic slogans, a stirring music score, a commanding voice-over narration, recognisable Australian symbols and clever animation to persuade the Australian public to contribute to the war effort by investing in the Commonwealth Government’s First Victory Loan.
Curator’s notes
The Owen Brothers also morphed money into guns and bullets in their other Department of Information animations. The transformation suggests that people’s money literally produces the weapons with which Australian forces will win the war. The narration and on-screen slogans support this claim. According to the Owens, they were allowed to come up with the storyline and script for their films; the department only gave them the general subject and theme. This enabled them to contribute more creativity as animators and filmmakers than in their other commercial assignments.
This clip also exhibits many characteristics of propaganda films of the era, such as the use of slogans, stereotypes, emotive language and evocative music designed to persuade audiences, rather than to simply inform or educate them. The ad particularly plays on audiences’ fear of the Japanese, given their recent entry into the war.
