Multimodal Analysis
For A Few Smokeys More: A Little Smokey (1953) Multimodal Analysis
Abi Rosenthal
9/21/2020
https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2013/10/31/the-real-smokey-bear/
In 1953, an arsonist set fire to the Mendocino National Forest. It destroyed over 1,300 acres and killed fifteen people. This fire was known as the Rattlesnake Fire and since this fire was so destructive, it caused major changes in wildland fire training, firefighting safety standards, and knowledge on how weather affects fires. Also in 1953, a twelve minute public service announcement from the Forest Service entitled Little Smokey was released. Little Smokey is an appeal for people to be an appeal to raise awareness of the destructive nature of forest fires, and an instruction on how to prevent them. The film depicts the story of a small bear cub who is adorable and carefree as he runs around the forest, but things soon change for him as a large fire destroys his family and home. The film documents how the rangers rescued the bear, nursed him back to health, and how he became the face of the forest fire prevention movement. This film is intended for all audiences, though it seems to put a large emphasis on how children reacted to Little Smokey and how much they loved him, implying the intended audience was children.
The clip from 7:11-9:50 is the most important part of the film. It comes after the drama of Smokey’s life and comes in to show the savior complex of the United States. This serves as propaganda for a darker message on American nationalism. This clip shows Little Smokey going around from town to town. He has become a major part of the forest fire prevention promotion. So much so, that popular characters in pop culture are friends with him and have taken up the mantle to support forest fire prevention. He, himself, has become part of pop culture and become his own icon so people of all ages, and especially children can recognize him and his message. This specific clip is about how Little Smokey has achieved such greatness through the help of the American government and American forest rangers. The clip also illustrates how beloved Smokey is and since everyone loves him so much, he is the face of the forest fire prevention movement. And so, since this poor little adorable bear almost died in a forest fire but now lives to tell the tale, you really should not set fires in forests. The argument that the film wants to make is to demonstrate how lucky Little Smokey was to have survived the forest fire, but more importantly how lucky he was that the American forest rangers were there to save him. By making him the mascot and “spokesperson” for forest fire prevention, his story and the cause become more important. People will be more on the lookout for possible forest fires and be more careful in trying to prevent them if they realize all of the damage they cause. Smokey got lucky by surviving. There were so many animals that didn’t. There is always the possibility he wouldn’t have. No one wants to hurt an innocent baby animal. Little Smokey becomes an incentive to not participate in activities that could cause forest fires.
The major goal of this clip is to promote their message as a major sensation that people will feel as though they are missing out on if they don’t join in. The filmmakers use bandwagoning by drumming up ethos and pathos through the music, narration, and language that is used. This clip creates a bandwagon for their message about environmental protection but also a darker message about American individualism and nationalism. The clip from 7:11-9:50 is able to express the main message of the public service announcement through using rhetorical strategies of ethos, pathos, and bandwagon. To support these strategies, it uses devices such as music, staging, and language to be able to persuade viewers. However, this is only one way to look at this public service announcement. It subliminally reinforces ideas of nationalism and American pride.
The filmmakers offer a romanticized view of the cowboys and the Wild West. It also promotes the idea of colonization and how the great Americans can tame a wild animal and save it from the wild; how Americans can control nature and domesticate those that are wild.
At 7:11-7:30, they keep the message up with cheerful music. It is bouncy, peppy, and feels as though it is being played by a big band. Songs and music like this are typically associated with America and American pride. This is meant to evoke feelings of nationalism and pride; Smokey is an all American bear and forest fire prevention is an all American value. In this clip, Cassidy also says “the State Foresters joined in dedicating the new life of Little Smokey to the school children of America.” This quote This also an attempt to humanize Smokey and make him seem like something the children could love and appreciate, and if they could appreciate Smokey, then they could appreciate his message and even say that he is “to serve as a reminder of the dangers of forest fires.” The images during this clip also serve to make Smokey more relatable and serve an “aw factor” where you will smile at the cute animal interacting with people. It appeals to pathos by making you care about a small bear and instilling a protectiveness over it. You don’t want what happened to it to happen to other animals.
Americans have a hero complex where they feel exceptional because they were able to control nature and tame a wild animal. This idea of exceptionalism can be seen in the screenshot below. The authority and the civilians surrounding Smokey are laughing, cheering, and smiling. They see nothing wrong with this idea. It is an idea that is constantly present in American culture, where they feel a sense of power and control by taking the things they have saved and laughing at it.
The ethos and bandwagon are prominent in the clip from 7:25-8:15. Bandwagon is a common technique in propaganda and advertising which relies on getting a major celebrity to endorse what you’re trying to sell. The same goes for this public service announcement. The filmmakers used Hopalong Cassidy, a famous fictional cowboy character, to promote forest fire prevention. Cassidy was in Hopalong Cassidy, a popular tv series during the time when this public service announcement was released. This was meant to appeal to children, especially with the amount of references in this film about children enjoying Smokey and his advertisements. Having a major celebrity preach their message, the filmmakers are able to give their message clout and credibility because of this endorsement. There is an explicit use of ethos in this clip because a famous and personable face is telling you something, you’re meant to believe it and trust it. Cassidy specifically says, “you’re probably wondering if Little Smokey lived up to all of the fine things that were planned for him. You can take my word for it; he has.” Cassidy also says “I was mighty glad to see him and I soon learned that I wasn’t the only one” with cuts to other people, specifically children, so viewers can see that this movement and this bear as the face of it are so popular they need to get in on it as well.
The filmmakers use Cassidy’s celebrity status again at 8:16-9:02. This clip centers around the idea of trust. It creates a sense of trustworthiness between both Cassidy and Smokey; as if Smokey is the whole reason Cassidy is trustworthy for this information in the first place. Cassidy being promoted to an honorary forest ranger. His remark of “Smokey had to check the document to see if it was genuine” is a more tongue and cheek way of doing this. It cycles the credibility back and forth between Cassidy and Smokey. If you can trust Smokey, then you can trust Cassidy, and vice versa. However, this also plays into a romanticized version of the Wild West and, in turn, Manifest Destiny; Considering Smokey was found in a New Mexico forest. By choosing their mascot to be a bear from New Mexico, the film’s underlying message of pride in their history of colonization and conquering comes through, as New Mexico was an annexed Western state.
The culmination of Smokey’s fame can be seen from 9:05-9:50. He is everywhere and in every form of media from posters to comics to songs, all to sell the importance of forest fire prevention in an easy to recognize and easy to understand format: “don’t set fires in forests or you may kill animals like poor Little Smokey.” Having a model/mascot/spokesperson for your campaign or message is incredibly important. It gives the audience someone to relate to and someone to think of when they see an advertisement about the campaign. People related to and understood Smokey. His story was easy to understand and spread, which is why there is a song about him for children. The amount of propaganda about him makes perfect sense for the time period. This film was made in 1953, during the Cold War and the Red Scare. Smokey is a symbol of the persistence and righteousness of America. The United States needed to be able to continue their idea of American exceptionalism during the Cold War. Mixing it with the Manifest Destiny undertones of Smokey serves to further this agenda.
Little Smokey is a campaign for the promotion of forest fire prevention. The film elevates the audience’s faith and emotions and makes them heartbroken over a bear. This made it effective because even today, Smokey’s likeness is still used in advertisements. The clip in particular is extremely effective in making the audience trust the content and trust the facts, which is good for forest fire prevention, but is also questionable with the undertones of manifest destiny. Through the use of propaganda techniques to prey on emotions about American exceptionalism. It can be seen that this continues into our current society where environmental protection has become politicized. This clip, and the film as a whole, has played into American idealism and narcissism.
Works Cited:
“The REAL Smokey Bear.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, 1953, unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2013/10/31/the-real-smokey-bear/.
Reflection:
I learned that if you think that you have enough evidence, find more. The most difficult part of writing this was being able to translate everything in my head into words. Things aren’t as concise or expansive as I wanted it to be. I use the word “that” a lot, mainly because I feel that it sounds more formal and articulate. I need to expand on ideas more. I need to work on how things are phrased and not be too verbose. I enjoyed picking apart which parts to analyze. The film was so long that I had to cut my clip up into smaller parts. I will try to think about what I want to say and how I want to say it more when writing. I didn’t see how dark and romanticized it was until we had talked about it. This made it easier to write about it because there was more to look at and analyze. This has impacted my understanding because it has made me see that not everything is as it seems on the surface. You will have to dig deeper to find out what the images are actually saying especially when you look at the time period and context surrounding them.