Transnational Circulation of Images of the Pacific War (1941-1945): The Japanese Empire Seen through Spanish Newsreels

Spanish newsreels were an extraordinary witness of the worldwide circulation of images of the Pacific War. Between 1941 and 1943, they showed the Japanese side of the conflict by employing a strategy that had started in the Spanish Civil War—appropriating footage from different sources. Thus, Japanese news shot by Nihon eiga-sha operators reached Spain as re-edited versions of foreign newsreels, mainly from Nazi Germany. Beginning in 1943, when NO-DO, the only newsreel allowed in Spain, was founded, the Axis armies were in retreat, and the Franco Regime needed to shift its position regarding its sympathies for the Axis before the increasingly imminent Allied victory. Consequently, the representation of the Japanese Empire shifted from one of comrade to one of perpetrator, and the entire war was re-interpreted in retrospective. Because of agreements with Fox Movietone and Deutsche Wochenschau newsreels, NO-DO was able to show both sides of the conflict by editing scenes shot by both Japanese and allied operators. This privileged access to multiple perspectives on the war allowed Spanish editors to create visually astonishing newsreels, which, however, often lacked accuracy regarding current affairs. Instead, images were often decontextualised. Moreover, Japanese news was adapted and renewed in other propaganda works, including those of the enemy. This case study reveals how such “migrating” images reveal more about the changing interests of the new Spanish Dictatorship than about the events in Asia they were supposed to represent