Going Home

Going Home is a 1944 Private Snafu short directed by Chuck Jones.
== Plot ==
Private Snafu returns from the "global grind" of World War II to the United States home front, on leave from the military. His ship passes the Statue of Liberty to enter the New York Harbor, then he makes his way to his hometown of Podunk.Shull, Wilt (2004), p. 194-195 The narrator explains that Snafu, the town's "returning hero", feels "safe at home, away from battle". He also feels safe in discussing military matters with civilians, including restricted information.
He starts by talking to his family and girlfriend (a blonde) over dinner. Describing the recent activities of his unit, the 999th division, and their co-operation with the British Army. He keeps offering information to others while wandering around town. He describes to a police officer the construction details of a secret base and its runway. A crowd gathers round to listen to him. While at a filling station, Snafu tries to impress the female attendant by sharing information on the new Japanese tanks.
At a movie theater, a newsreel reports that one of the Japanese islands was obliterated, that the event is attributed to an American secret weapon, and that Hideki Tojo doesn't know what hit him. Among the audience of the movie theater is Snafu, seated next to an attractive brunette. Trying to impress the lady, he shares information on said secret weapon: a flying bazooka. His detailed information is featured as a schematic diagram.
While drinking at a bar, Snafu reveals information concerning the next planned move against the enemy forces. A mimeograph is depicted printing said information. In a park, Snafu is making out with a young woman behind a bush. He takes the time to describe operations of the Pacific War. The "confidential" information makes it to an electric billboard. At a barber shop, Snafu receives a haircut and a manicure. He can not resist sharing military information with the barber and the manicurist. The narrator makes the point that skywriting the information would be no more effective in making it public.
At Snafu's home, he and his girlfriend dance the jitterbug. A radio announcement informs them of the latest news from the War Department. The entire 999th division has been annihilated by enemy forces, and the military disaster is blamed on "recent leaks in restricted military information". Snafu is enraged that some jerk "shot his mouth off" and now his division is gone. He wishes for the unknown jerk to be run over by a tram. In response, a tram passes through the living room and runs over Snafu.
== Release ==
Completed by May or June 1944, "Going Home" was never officially released. The rationale behind the decision is unknown, although there are several theories on the subject:
* The scene depicting Snafu and the girl laying (and presumably making out) in the bushes was deemed too sexually suggestive by the standards of the time, despite that earlier Snafu shorts got away with worse depictions of sexual suggestiveness, up to and including implied female nudity (as shown on "Booby Traps", "Censored", and "The Home Front"), implied sex (as shown on "Gripes" and "Spies"), and references to prostitution (as shown on "Spies", "It's Murder She Says", and "Pay Day").Shull, Wilt (2004), p. 82
* The Snafu series was in a transition phase and that the short was too reminiscent of earlier entries. Originally, the intended audience of the series consisted of raw recruits which required training in the basics of military life. By the summer of 1944, the target audience had changed, as the military personnel of the United States included millions of combat veterans. To better reflect this audience, the characterization of Snafu changed from an incompetent soldier to one more experienced and efficient.Shull, Wilt (2004), p. 88
* The portrayal of the United States home front was too negative. In other entries of the series, leaked information reaches the enemy through the services of spies; here, this information somehow reaches the enemy when released to American civilians. In other words, the civilians are the conduit which transmits the information and undermines the military effort.
* The finale featured a joke about the annihilation of a military unit, which was unlikely to entertain a military audience.
* The secret weapon, able to obliterate entire islands, was deemed a little too close in nature to an actual military secret: the atomic bomb.
Despite this, the short would air years later on a ToonHeads episode about cartoons that parody the newsreel. On said episode, Leslie Framm explains that the reason why "Going Home" was never released was due to concerns that the secret weapon meant to annihilate a Japanese island that Snafu keeps blabbing about to his friends, family, and girlfriend while on leave was too similar to the real-world atomic bomb at the time.
== Sources ==
* Friedwald, Will and Jerry Beck. "The Warner Brothers Cartoons." Scarecrow Press Inc., Metuchen, N.J., 1981. ISBN 0-8108-1396-3.
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== References ==
Category:1944
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:Black-and-white cartoons
Category:Private Snafu Cartoons
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons that contain excerpts from "Powerhouse"
Category:Public domain films