Lessons from Fibber McGee and Molly...
Recently I began listening to some more old timey radio shows. You can find lots of this content on Spotify. Specifically, I'm listening to Fibber McGee and Molly episides from 1942. WWII is in full..
…swing.
It’s a cute show with running gags and recurring characters and lots of puns.
Modern listeners will be struck with how overtly the advertising is woven into the show. It’s the Johnson Wax Hour with Fibber McGee and Molly. A pitchman is one of the recurring characters and manages to bring every conversation around to the marvels of carnuba wax. It’s a punchline and expected. It’s better than a commercial break.
Also overt are the government messages woven into the plotlines. It was the days of rationing and victory gardens. One plot is McGee trying to develop a chemical sugar substitute because of sugar rationing. Another character tries to sell seeds for victory gardens and robotically parrots the government lines about why they are so important. The same character signs up to be a nurse in response to the government call for more nurses. It’s very overt and constant, and it feels jarring to modern ears.
Why do we pretend it is a new thing for government to insert its messaging into media and entertainment? It has always been thus.
I guess the difference today is how underhanded present day iterations of the same thing feel. The Twitter files, the censorship, the social media manipulations. It is covert today, not overt like yesterday. That’s the difference. Government is doing the same kind of messaging, but trying to not let you know you’re getting a programmed message. Lots of folks will not realize they’ve just been propagandized.
Fibber McGee and Molly would tell you upfront they are relaying a government message. Mark Zuckerberg will deny it.
Love it Rachel! So glad to see you posting on here.
And yes. All the propaganda dripping out of those things... That's why soap operas started. 😂