The Producers by Jordan Kulm

          The Producers is an interesting film to analyze for a war and cinema class because it is not only satire on war but how war is portrayed in the entertainment industry and received by the general public. This 2005 film directed by Susan Stroman and written/produced by Mel Brooks is a film adaption of the Broadway musical adaption of the original film. This in itself supports the ridiculousness of the entertainment industry as The Producers is about the production of a purposefully offensive musical within the films narrative. War is involved as the basis for making a musical production a critical failure by glorifying Hitler and painting him as a hero.
          In the film, has-been producer Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane) is ready to give up on show business when his accountant, Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick) unintentionally devises a plot to embezzle funds for a musical that will surely flop and thus avoid the attention of IRS agents. The two become partners and begin their search for a play that is "A disaster! A catastrophe! An outrage! A guaranteed-to-close-in-one-night beauty!" as Bialystock puts it when he chances upon a musical called Springtime For Hitler. They employ the worst production team in all of Broadway and sit back as the show runs itself into the ground.
          Come curtain call of opening night the playwright/star actor playing Hitler, Franz Liebkind (Will Ferrell), breaks his leg. The only person who can fill the role on such short notice is flamboyant homosexual director Roger DuBris (Gary Beach). Although this turn of events is unexpected, Bialystock and Bloom are certainly not about to return the ticket money, so the show proceeds. This is where Ian Hunter's article on satire would have come in handy. Hunter explains that good satire is a challenging achievement as the subjects of satire are often foolish in reality and leave writers hard-pressed to top real buffoonery by means of narrative or visual tools.
          Springtime For Hitler begins with typical show tune music, except the melody is casually praising Hitler's war efforts. The actors playing Nazi party members are Aryan worthy, beautiful, and fit with blond hair and blue eyes. The audience begins to exit the theater in outrage because the show not only avoids the foolish side of Nazi Germany but highlights the atrocious practices and mannerisms with a very lighthearted propagandist approach. Hitler makes his grand entrance and the departing audience is captivated by what they see.
          The Hitler on stage that supposedly commands this fantastically disciplined force is short like the real Hitler, has hair and a mustache like the real Hitler, and is severely more flamboyant than the real Hitler. These are all elements of success in a satirical piece that are only heightened by the stark contrast of tone in the opening moments of the musical. This answers Bialystock's question "How could this happen? We picked the wrong play, the wrong director, the wrong cast. Where did we go right?" as he and Bloom are lamenting over the incredible success of the show. Liebkind appears with a pistol, outraged that his fuhrer could be made a fool by the actor. To this, DuBris and his partner respond "He didn't need our help!" which is met with a bullet.

          Although this is the last time war is the focus of The Producers, Bialystock and Bloom have learned the effectiveness of satire. With the success of Springtime For Hitler, the IRS discovers their embezzlement and the pair end up in prison. Now that the most tragic and impacting war of the 20th century has been satirized, they utilize this experience and bring on the challenge of creating a new musical based on the controversial prison industrial complex which ends up getting them "pardoned for bringing song and dance into the hearts of every murderer, rapist and sex manic in Sing-Sing."

          In conclusion, the role of war in The Producers is not so direct and perhaps this makes analysis simpler. As a viewer, you are watching a film that is satire about people who make war satire for viewers like you. To make a heavy subject like war comedic you must focus the ridiculous truths  and exaggerate other key elements of truth to support and provide reasonable entertainment that is not boring, depressing, or entirely fictional. Society knows that war has occurred and wants to find reason behind millions of innocent people dying but does not want to linger on the subject so satire is used to soften the blow. Understanding how others justify such heinous acts requires one to think of ones self being capable of such an act. The fact that you may indeed enjoy some aspect of war, be it having power or knowing that you would kill any number of fellow "enemy" humans to go home to your own wife and children, is not a moral dilemma that anyone could face and hold the same outlook on life.





Sources

Hunter, Ian. "The Best Humour is Satire, and there's a Reason we have so Little of it Today." The Report Newsmagazine Nov 04 2002: 23-. ProQuest Central. Web. 12 Sep. 2012 .

Symons, Alex. "An Audience for Mel Brooks's THE PRODUCERS: The Avant-Garde of the Masses." Journal of Popular Film & Television 34.1 (2006): 24,27,29-32. ProQuest Central. Web. 12 Sep. 2012.

Scott, A. O. "'The Producers,' Again (This Time With Uma)." Rev. of The Producers. The New York Times 16 Dec. 2005: n. pag. Print.