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ABSTRACT This essay considers Food Will Win the War, an animated short made early in World War II by Disney Studios for the United States Department of Agriculture. Through a… Click to show full abstract
ABSTRACT This essay considers Food Will Win the War, an animated short made early in World War II by Disney Studios for the United States Department of Agriculture. Through a fantastical catalogue of hyperbolic images, the film shows how the mass production of American agriculture becomes the first wave of a new American-style consumerism of plenty that will transform the social order. The analysis blends contemporary theories of affective politics to show Food Will Win the War as a threshold text, revealing the post-war economy at its formation. Using food as a symbolic field, this film ultimately links the endless expansion of consumer desire to national identity and global colonization.