Multimodal Analysis

A2 Multimodal Analysis F22 (1)

 

Multimodal Analysis of “These Are the Men” (1943)

 

 

The Second World War lasted from 1939 through 1945 and caused the deaths of at least 70 million people. Germany and the United Kingdom, European neighbors, clashed violently as enemies during the war. After several Nazi victories including the Fall of France, Germany conducted countless devastating air raids against the United Kingdom for over three months in 1940. Hitler hoped to weaken and invade the nation, but the British military successfully defended their land. Still, after more than three months of combat, Britain suffered tremendous losses. The British people had a chip on their shoulder after the attacks. During this time period, the British Ministry of Information was a government organization sanctioned to produce wartime propaganda. The 1943 film “These Are the Men” was written by acclaimed poet and author Dylan Thomas to rally behind the British countrymen and national identity, and denounce Nazism and its perpetrators. This film lacks an explicit “call to action”, perhaps because the Battle of Britain sufficed. However, the film’s work of laying absolute blame on the Nazis similarly inspired domestic compliance and foreign rejection. The ultimate message of the film is that the Nazis are to blame for wartime hardship in the United Kingdom because they operate with a fundamentally different set of ethics.

This message is carried across through several rhetological fallacies and an intense “plain folks” appeal designed to generate a British anti-Nazi bandwagon. Building the ethos of this idea is inextricable from the weight of the Ministry of Information. By broadcasting their department’s name in the credits of their films, an appeal to authority makes the content seem credible, well-sourced, and comprehensive. The narrative focuses on the hardworking commonfolk whose daily labor sustains families, communities, and countries. Creating a sense of similarity to the audience works in two important ways. The plain folks appeal attracts the masses of civilians being impacted by combat, and “others” the Nazis as brutal warmongers. The “us vs. them” mentality is incredibly divisive and pulls no punches for Nazi officers and sympathizers alike. The bandwagon creates two dichotomous sides of the war; each is represented by particular segments of the film.

 

The first clip (0:50-3:00) follows the film’s opening sequence. The plain folks appeal begins with the introduction of working-class people and values under attack. This evokes desperate, poignant emotions in the audience. The “makers, the workers, the bakers,” operate in bombed-out villages, where the wounded cry in the streets for “the mercy of death” (1:11). The sadness and injustice of war has been forced upon peaceful people. These innocents who once worked to keep themselves alive now beg for death. This dismal frame is widened by the characterization of the people it centers on. The plain folks are the true working class – people without whom there is no basis for society. They are the backbone of human existence. They toil so that “all men may eat, and be warm under the common sun” (1:40). Brotherhood is inherent to this connection. The work these people do is equivalent to care. As the nurturers of the human race, there is some sacredness imparted to them. Whoever would attack these people and the benevolence they represent is indefensible, impossibly cruel, and sacrilegious. Whoever has rejected the pact of fraternity amongst mankind is no longer within the human race, but its greatest threat. The impact on British daily life is a grave effect of the war that invests the viewer in its outcome. To capture the pathos of life under siege, the film’s narration details how Nazism “broke the hearts of our homes” by killing civilians and forcing survivors into combat (2:38). Casualties, soldiers, and families are all depicted as victims of the German war machine. The narration reinforces this concept with the repetition of the word “we” to create unity within the audience, allegiance to the speaker, and separation from the Nazis. Because this film is from the British government itself, these three elements characterize the wartime national identity. Dramatic orchestral music escalates as the threat to the common way of life increases, mimicking the tension and sadness of the war, and emphasizing what is at stake. As the narration and music distinguish the threat, video footage cements it as a reality.

 

The scenes in the film are populated by real people, real landscapes, and real combat. The effect is such that the film is not dramatic fiction, like a television show, but expositional, like a documentary. Scenes of human peace cut by destruction creates a sense of urgency, and an imminent front. The suggestion is that combat and daily life are soon to be intertwined. The war and the threat of its consequences press closer and closer to the audience. This very heavy tone inspires the will to act, defend British common life, and defeat the menace of Nazism that threatens the kindhearted plain folks.

The second clip (7:00-9:00) takes place before the closing narration. It depicts a Nazi rally, with speeches from Adolf Hitler and other prominent military and political figures. One of the most important aspects of the film is that this clip contains inaccurate translations of the German language, with the overdubbed narration designed to directly link Nazis to the attacks on British people and freedoms. The Nazis are portrayed as agents of the destruction of human rights, commanders of total warfare, and reprehensible characters. Politician Joseph Goebbels proclaims the liberty of the press to be “one of the greatest abuses of democracy” (7:01). This freedom was one that typified Western, democratic countries. An attack on one of the basic liberties of the people suggested that the Nazis took issue with the others. Nazi control became synonymous with a depravity of personal rights. The film continues to mistranslate the speakers. Military leader Hermann Goring declares himself to be a drug user (7:27). Rudolf Hess, of Hitler’s inner circle within the Nazi party, rejects Christianity by replacing Christ as savior with Adolf Hitler (8:40). Ad hominem attacks in the narration discredit the authority of Nazi leaders, destabilize the foundation of Nazism, and make it completely undesirable to anyone who aligns with the “plain folks” of the previous clip. Hearing these words ‘from their own mouths’ further degrades their decorum, separates them from the plain folks, and bolsters the perceived righteousness of non-Nazis and anti-Nazis by the audience.

 

The compelling music from the earlier footage is replaced by the raucous noise and applause of the Nazi event. The hole in the soundscape paints a stark, dim picture of this seedy underbelly of humanity. These people are outside the realm of the horses on the farm, fresh bread, and music – they are the antithesis of humanity. The images of countless Nazi salutes surrounds the threat with support. The footage in this clip is edited from a contemporary German propaganda film, so content seems authentic despite the deliberate mistranslations, which most British citizens would not be able to pick up on. Nazism is portrayed effectively as a violent, soulless movement that can only be countered by the uprising of the plain folks, who must mobilize to protect themselves and their culture from the Germans who delight in their misery.

 

Thus, the bandwagon effect in the film comes together. Because the film proposes two completely opposite viewpoints, the viewer feels obligated to choose a stance. Which group would the audience want to be responsible for? The people who fish and farm and sew? Or the people who expedite thousands of young men to gruesome deaths? The film produces this false dichotomy which ignores other factors (including the other Axis powers) to simplify the conflict and lead people to the intended side of the fight. The speaker – who has already aligned himself with the plain folks – introduces the Nazis with the words, “these are the men; these are to blame” (4:44). The intended audience, the people of the United Kingdom, can identify their attacker and reinforce their hatred. The ruin in the streets, the carnage of innocents, and the erosion of peaceful daily life finally has an image – the faces of Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess, and other powerful Nazi leaders. The result is a British national psyche that would unleash anything against the Germans to protect their countrymen and the land they share.

 

Works Cited:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Battle of Britain”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Sep.

2022, https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Britain-European-history-1940.

Accessed 2 October 2022.

Periscope Film, and Ministry of Information. “‘THESE ARE THE MEN’ WWII BRITISH

PROPAGANDA FILM Written by DYLAN THOMAS 42884.” YouTube, 19 Mar. 2019,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9ArPt88h8c&ab_channel=PeriscopeFilm.