The Broken Jug: Entertainment or Propaganda

Silberman contends that no film can be free of an ideology, therefore, The Broken Jug should be interpreted as a Nazi Propaganda movie. Although I agree that the ideology of the filmmaker permeates all decisions made in the process of filming, I do not agree that all other possible
interpretations and representations of symbols and conflicts should be ignored. I do not believe that negating the film's role as an entertainment film during the Third Reich and reading all of the choices as conscious efforts at political propaganda is advantageous or exhaustive of the film's
roles and purposes. Yes, the film was made in Nazi Germany, under Nazi German rule; however, Silberman even admits that the film studios and the movies that were made were often under the control of the economy and what people wanted to see at the time. I do not believe that very much of The Broken Jug is overtly propagandistic; I do believe that symbols and exchanges can be viewed as Nazi propaganda, but not necessarily. I think where I differ with Silberman is that he seems to think that there is a right and a wrong way to analyze this film and that viewing the film as a National Socialist propaganda film is the correct way. I think the film, and for that matter the context the film was made in, is much more complicated than the difference between entertainment films and propaganda. Another point of interest is the fact that it really is fairly unimportant what we understand this movie to be by over analyzing and dissecting different choices made by the filmmaker; what is more important is what the audience who originally watched this movie, in the context it was made for, understood it to be. If the audience viewed it solely as an entertainment film, and were neither aware of, nor affected by the supposed propaganda in the film, then I would contend that despite any intentions to the contrary, the film works as an entertainment film -- nothing more.