Reynard the Fox and the Jew Animal

Reynard the Fox and the Jew Animal
The Axis equivalent to Tokio Jokio.
Genre: Animation Propaganda Based on: Reynard the Fox Photography: Color Release date: April 25, 1943 Country: Netherlands Language: Dutch

Reynard the Fox and the Jew Animal (Dutch: Van den vos Reynaerde) is a 1943 anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda animated cartoon produced in Netherlands after Germany invaded Poland in 1939. It is based on the European fable Reynard the Fox.

Plot

King Nobel the Lion has died, and the Animal Kingdom is under a regency led by Baldwin the Ass. A tribe of wandering rhinoceros merchants led by Jodocus enters the kingdom. The film makes blatant comparisons between the rhinos’ nose-horns and the Nazi caricatures of big-nosed Jews, and the “Jod” of Jodocus is pronounced like the Dutch word for Jew. Jodocus flatters Baldwin, who is vain, foolish and easily tricked, and he appoints the rhinos to be the kingdom’s tax collectors. The rhinos preach that a royal aristocracy is awfully old-fashioned; animals today are all for democracy and equality, where all are equal. All of the aristocratic animals intermarry, and their cat-chicken, bear-duck, and similar children are ugly and stupid, illustrating the Nazi doctrine of Racial Purity. Reynard, who has been quietly observing all this, realizes that the rhinos’ goal is to weaken the animals’ society so they can take it over. Reynard leads the aroused national socialist animal commoners to drive the rhinos into the sea and drown, and the kingdom is saved.

Waarom het door nazi's zal worden neergeschoten (Why It Will Be Shot By Nazis)

1. To get the elephant out of the room first: this film is a pro-Nazi propaganda cartoon that portrays rhinos as Jewish people who are greedy and are trying to weaken the other animals' society by making them stupid.
   • Granted, this was in the context of it being wartime, and with wartime era propaganda the country of the material lead by either the Axis or the allies would dehumanize them. So, it is understandable, but understandable doesn't mean excusable.
2. Poor grasp on the source material: despite being a short based on Reynard the Fox, he barely appears in it.
3. Sloppy animation for 1940's standards, with very dull washed-out colors and backgrounds, and movement that tries too hard to be fluid as possible. The designs for the animals are also ugly and look like rip-offs of animal characters from old Disney, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons from the 1930s.
4. The ending with the Rhinos drowning is supposed to be happy, but instead, it comes off as dark and mean-spirited as it's similar to how Nazis murder Jews in real life during the Holocaust. We're not kidding!
5. The music is very lackluster and dull.
6. Overall, the film is a big disgrace to the fable it's based on due to what's explained above.

Reception

It carries a 6.1/10 on IMDB, likely because some have defended it for being a historical artifact from World War II.

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