ABSTRACT
This chapter explores two Western animated films, the British series Giro (1927–1935) and Goodbye, Mr. Germ (1940) and three Eastern European films, Kašpárek kouzelníkem (Kašpárek the magician, 1927), Kašpárek a Budulínek (Kašpárek and Budulínek, 1927) and Campek nevaljalac (The rascal Champek, 1929), as different attempts to connect biological and social awareness. The tasks of promoting knowledge about diseases and motivating audiences to become aligned with hygiene rules generated various approaches to cultural reciprocity and popular scientism. We discuss the inevitability of the gender-based disparities in health animation, namely, focusing on boys and their behavioral patterns, as well as the degree to which health films for children and youth extended to and addressed the issue of national identity.
