Introduction
A Welcome Guest in the House is the 1957 Cold War propaganda film directed by Cal Jones and sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). It is a 24 minutes long, black-and-white movie dedicated to the Cold War and the role of television and journalism. The film simultaneously shows the adverse sides of communism and paints a positive image of independent and honest media.
The film storyline
The movie shows a boy who is walking home bypassing a television tower which creators called “a welcome guest in the home” (A Welcome Guest in the House). The authors showed the atmosphere of freedom and safety in American towns, contrasting it in the following scenes with news reports on an evil communist regime and the Hungarian war. While the boy continues living everyday life, we see the journalists working hard to bring accurate news to the audience. Examples of local broadcasting are shown – the tornado report, jury trials, and prison riots. Through a series of news episodes, the importance of the impartial work of the NAB and other TV stations is shown.
The audience of the film
The primary audience of this film is children to whom the narrator explains the importance of American television in a simple way. First of all, the film’s main character is an average American boy, “12 years old with a 20-inch screen” (A Welcome Guest in the House). In the begging, a boy is introduced to the young viewers so that they can associate themselves with him. After showing the boy’s life, the authors demonstrate how he watches the news and reacts emotionally to it. The main hero of the video who learns something new must match the audience’s age watching the movie.
Secondly, the film uses straightforward language and talks about television clearly and directly. Thus, most likely, the filmmakers shot this film for middle school children because they can be informed on more complex concepts like creating media. However, the presentation of the material suggests that it does not involve discussion from different positions, which are at least slightly different. The older teenage audience would not accept such primitive material, and the younger children would not fully understand it.
Historical background
The film was shot at the beginning of the Cold War that started right after the Second World War and continued until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. First of all, it was an ideological battle between two systems that represented two different doctrines and lifestyles. The USA was worried about the threat of communism to the capitalist and liberal ideas, and the USSR warned the world about the greedy and ugly sides of capitalism. The period coincided with the widespread use of radio and television, which gradually became available in almost every home. That is why both countries actively used propaganda to control the population and generate aggression toward the opposite side.
After the Second World War finished, America was afraid of communism spreading around Asia and Africa, often associating it in propaganda with a dark or red shadow covering the world. The US government started openly sponsoring propaganda projects at the beginning of the century, but propaganda reached the pick in the 50s and 60s. The different branches of propaganda targeted children and adults in the country, people around the world, and in soviet countries. “Educational” movies and other colorful materials (like comics books) were used at school during the lessons. Propaganda made for children villainized communism, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, emphasized individual freedoms and family values.
The purpose of the film
A Welcome Guest in the House eagers to create an image of a highly moral media, and journalists being the best friends of ordinary citizens. The movie repeats that journalists have a strict set of rules established by the NAB, and they support and protect democracy. Television broadcasters are pained harmless, a welcome guest in a house, bringing only positive things. Two main ideas are that there is nothing to be afraid of, and there is no need to question journalists as they follow high standards. Therefore, the film reinforced children’s faith in the information given by television, making children susceptible to propaganda.
Given the historical context, the secondary purpose of the film is anti-Soviet and anti-Communist propaganda. Half of the screen time is spent creating a hostile, aggressive image of the USSR and the countries of the Soviet bloc and contrasting this image with peaceful life in the United States. The film bluntly calls the communists “the forces of evil.” Even being a 12-year-old boy, the protagonist cannot escape the influence of the force that seeks to destroy the world.
The means of expression
The message of television being a harmless and helpful guest in the house is transmitted both directly and indirectly. The filmmakers talk straight about the benefits of television in bringing information, education, and entertainment. The authors constantly say that the TV enlightens the boy, makes him more cultured, and allows him to build a historical perspective – “relate the past to the future” (A Welcome Guest in the House). In addition, the boy in the film is constantly alone with the TV; he does not need parental supervision because nothing wrong can happen.
Another idea is ingrained in the movie – the idea of journalists being “accurate” and “fair” tellers of the news. They are portrayed as heroes shooting reports from the most dangerous places and covering sensitive political topics. The authors show working journalists, and the narrator claims they are offering everything “on camera as it happened” (A Welcome Guest in the House). To create a sense of unbiased view, emotionally positive and negative scenes alternate – for example, from the scene of a nuclear explosion, the authors move on to urban construction and sports. This way, the viewers feel that they get a complete picture of events.
In addition, the film is intended to reinforce hatred of the USSR and the Soviet way of life. First, the filmmakers constantly jump from sunny scenes of the boy’s peaceful life to scenes of war and military parades staged by enemies. Second, during scenes from the countries of the Soviet bloc, the soundtrack changes to martial and disturbing. Third, the viewers can see the tense and anxious face of the boy when he watches political news. In this way, the film supported the already established image of the enemy and used it to present everything democratic in a positive light.
The creators and sponsors
There is not much information on the movie production, but the filmmakers worked for the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company. The company is specialized in creating documentary, historical, educational, and propaganda films. During the Cold War period, media companies supported filtering raw news materials to create anti-communist narratives for the greater good (Herman and Noam 260). The ruling class thought that if people would concentrate on inner problems, it could allow socialism to disrupt capitalist countries. People had to be scared and focused on the enemy; that is why the great purpose justified the distortions in the news presentation.
The film was sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters, a trade association that lobbies the interests of various broadcasters in the government. In 1952, it created a code for television broadcasters mentioned in the movie multiple times as a set of rules that make journalism independent and unbiased. However, in reality, the code had a clear bias and forbite discrediting family, God, and law enforcement structures and covering overly hostile and violent topics (National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters). Hence, the filmmakers knew that there was direct censorship in their code of practice while reassuring the audience of their virtue. They influenced children to believe in media sincerity, disarming them in the face of future propaganda.
Conclusion
A Welcome Guest in the House is a film born by the Cold War conflict to whitewash the media in the eyes of citizens. It was sponsored and created by organizations that precepted news distortion and propaganda as necessary things for the greater good. The filmmakers created engaging and entertaining material to explain to children that television broadcasters are friendly and harmless. They used a full range of script, music, and acting means of expression to influence the audience explicitly and implicitly. Even though the manipulation seems obvious to modern adults, it was not difficult to believe the scenes that the media pictured during the Cold War.
Works Cited
A Welcome Guest in the House. Directed by Cal Jones, Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, 1957.
Herman, Edward S., and Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. Random House, 2010.
National Association of Radio, and Television Broadcasters. The Television Code: Effective March 1, 1952. Vol. 1. National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters, 1952.