China and the war in the cinema of the USA in 1941–1942

Abstract

The study of the USA cinema during World War II is interesting not only from the point of view of forming the image of the enemy, but also of allies. This will allow us to determine more accurately what visual propaganda techniques were used by American directors. The image of China was always significant for the American information discourse: through it they created and adjusted of ideas about the East as an arena of struggle between the USA and Japan. This paper reveals features of the process of mythologizing the Second World War in the American cinema in 19411942, through an analysis of the features of constructing the image of China in the USA films. This will make it possible to judge the cinematography of the war years as a special phenomenon of the socio-political and cultural life of the United States of America. In addition, the features of American films about China, the methods and techniques of propaganda, and the role of cinema in the overall system of the American propaganda are clarified. The features of the process of visualization and mythologization of the Second World War in American society are determined as a historical phenomenon of the public life of the United States of America, which reflects both general (characteristic of civilization as a whole) and national patterns. The authors study interethnic imagological plots (the image of enemies and allies on the screen) as well as internal ones (American volunteers, the image of America), which have no less strong influence on the formation of the American national self-concept in a historical crisis period.