17. Distorting history in film was an effective means of advancing an agenda
In the United States, even the worst performing films at the box office were viewed by large audiences, especially after home video made them accessible in the 1970s. When history was depicted in film, the distortions were accepted as part of the story. Many are deemed necessary by the filmmaker, in order to condense the story into the length of the film, though many are not. What is seen and heard in film carries an emotional element not present in the classroom. Film delivers a greater impact. The distortions of history delivered by film are retained, and likely to be defended. Propagandists have used film to deliver their messages for decades for that reason.
During the Second World War, films were prepared by nearly every country with film industry, displayed in theaters to inspire patriotism and support for the war effort. Following the war, the films were revived by the new and rapidly expanding medium of television. They were shown alongside newly produced programs, many of which were based on American history or historical events. Many of them were skewed by the politics of their creators, with the Red Scare and the Cold War shaping their views. Impressionable minds were shaped, in part, by the depiction of history to which they were exposed in the late 1950s and early 1960s.