Imagine having a few minutes to grab everything important to you in your house and leave with strangers carrying guns, not knowing when you will be able to come back, or even where you are going. It may seem like I just described a kidnapping scene out of the latest Hollywood movie, but this was the nightmare that Americans of Japanese descent faced during World War II.
The American government decided that all Americans of Japanese descent were a threat to the country and forced them into internment camps. In a short film released in 1943, entitled “Japanese Relocation” the American government tried to convince the American people that relocation camps were necessary and pleasant, while at the same time portraying the Japanese as a possible threat to America. Through the use of rhetorical devices such as images, sounds, and narration, this video claims that the Japanese were a threat to our country and should be kept, humanely, in internment camps for the duration of the war; although the video makes the camps look like a wonderful new way of life for the Japanese people, however, the camps were not at all what the video wants the American people to believe.
Like any video, the rhetorical devices of images and sounds are present throughout in order to make a statement, without having to come out and directly say what the creators of the video mean. Images of Japanese babies and happy, waving Japanese adults are used to show Americans that the Japanese aren’t so bad so they will be accepted back into communities after the war is over. These images appeal to human sympathy by making the Japanese people seem like ordinary Americans. Images of the Lyon moving vans and the camp’s dining hall are present to help Americans believe that the relocation process and the camps are normal and humane events. Patriotic music is used throughout the video, as well as happier, upbeat music. The government chose this music wisely to go along with the image they were trying to portray. The narrator also plays a large part in the video. He has a calming, informative voice throughout and makes the viewer want to hear every word he says. He is also the head of the relocation department and is assuming responsibility by putting out this video, which is an appeal to ethos (“Japanese American”). Although these rhetorical devices are effective in the video, the film’s narration supports the video’s claims the best.
Throughout the video, narration is chosen carefully in order to make viewers feel threatened by the Japanese people. The American government wanted Americans to be scared of the Japanese so they would think that the internment camps were necessary. But at the same time, they didn’t want to enforce too much fear in the American people because they knew that the Japanese would have to be part of the community again. The video calls the Japanese “aliens” instead of immigrants (“Japanese American”). This achieves the effect of making the Japanese seem strange and mysterious enough to scare the American people. In order to make the Japanese people seem acceptable, the video also describes them with positive words. One example is when the video is talking about getting the paper work ready for the internment camps. The narrator says that the “Japanese themselves cheerfully handled the enormous paper work.” Another example is from when the evacuation went underway, “evacuees cooperated whole heartedly” (“Japanese American”). Both of these statements try to show the American people that the Japanese were happy to do their part to help win the war and were easy to handle in the process.
Narration is also used to downplay the harshness of the American government and to make the relocation camps seem like wonderful communities instead of the harsh environment that it truly was. The video calls the forced movement things like “mass migration” and a “planned and protected” program. It also says that “neither the army nor the war relocation authority relished the idea of taking men, women, and children from their homes, shops, and their farms.” It also says that the government took “real consideration for people involved.” The narrator calls the relocation centers “racetracks,” “fairgrounds,” “new pioneer communities,” and says that this movement was “reclaiming the desert” (“Japanese American”). The video wanted Americans who were worried about the relocation centers to feel at ease about these camps. In order to do that, the government needed to paint a picture of a nice way of living. The desert is described as “land that was raw, untamed, but full of opportunity.” The video talks about the Japanese establishing their lives there by starting communities, churches, and day cares. The video says that the “army provided housing and plenty of healthful, nourishing food for all” and that “special emphasis was put on the health and care of these American children of Japanese descent” (“Japanese American”). Here, the video doesn’t refer to the children as “aliens” because they want the American people to feel like the children are most like Americans, instead of Japanese.
Narration is cleverly used to idealize life in the centers. These relocation centers were not “full of opportunity” like the video says they were (“Japanese American”). They were barely livable. The Japanese Americans were forced from their homes and businesses and were allowed to only take a few of their belongings. The video talks about the nice housing that was put into place for the people as well (“Japanese American”). Houses are provided for the people of the camps, but with no plumbing or cooking areas. One bath, laundry, and toilet area was present on the block and shared by two hundred and fifty people or more. Most evacuees had work inside the camp, but some did get outside jobs. The workers received about sixteen dollars for a forty four hour work week and received a small allowance to pay for work clothes and clothing for their family (“Relocation”).
The camps were hardly “pioneer communities” as the narrator describes them (“Japanese American”). They were crowded and circled with barbed wire and guard towers- they were more like prisons. Since the camps were in the desert, the weather conditions were less than ideal. The heat was unbearable and dust from the desert was in the food and everywhere. In some camps winters were even worse than the hottest summers in others. War relocation authorities set the basic policies of each camp. Even though the video said that the Japanese were creating communities and churches, everything that they did had to be approved by the WRA (“Not Exactly”).
The video shows just how the American government wanted the people to feel about the Japanese: scared enough to put them into the camps, but still recognize that they are Americans so when the war is over they will be easily accepted back into society. Because these Americans of Japanese descent were Japanese, like the Pearl Harbor bombers and spies, they were punished. These people were presumed guilty until found innocent, which violated the basic belief of innocent until proven guilty that set apart American government from other governments around the world. The video describes the Japanese Americans as cooperative during the movement (“Japanese American”). This doesn’t mean that they were happy to be a part of this forced relocation like the video wants us to believe, but probably just that they were scared for their lives if they didn’t cooperate.
The rhetorical devices in the video are used well to convince the American people that these relocation centers were necessary and would be nice communities for the dangerous Japanese Americans to live in. Each word, sound, and image is chosen strategically to support this idea. But the underlying truth, the truth that people would not know until much later is that these camps were a horrible, undeserved way to live and should have never been put into action. This is something that a video put out by the American government will never reveal. The video could have went with a threatening message and use images, sound, and words to back it up. However, choosing to subtly add in the feeling of danger is a much more successful approach. It makes the viewer feel as if the American government is sincere in their efforts to protect the country and will treat the Japanese with the same respect that an American would receive.
WORKS CITED
“Japanese American Internment (U.S. Govt Propaganda).” YouTube. 22 Jan. 2007. 10 Feb. 2009. < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OiPldKsM5w>
“Not Exactly Paradise: Japanese American Internment Camps.” Oregon State Archives Exhibit. 14 Feb. 2009. < http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/exhibits/ww2/threat/camps.htm>
Relocation of Japanese Americans.” The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. 14 Feb. 2009. < http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/relocbook.html>
