After screening Triumph of the Will last week, this week i'm showing some of Capra's American propaganda, and tracing the development and evolution of cultural mythos, ideologies and memes as transmitted and disseminated through cinema. (both through overt propaganda, and also through 'mainstream' populist consumer entertainment fare as we will see in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington on Thursday)
Look at the links below, and in your comments, address this question:
What do you see as propaganda today? In your answer, address-
What memes are there that you feel are cultivated and fed using media as propaganda right now? Dig deep. Be fearless.
if you are at a loss about memes, and their infectious operations, see again the links for week 1.
7 comments:
When one usually hears "propaganda", their minds can rush to slander or libel against an opposing side in a war. However, propaganda isn't always as black and white. In a way, the entire advertising and marketing industry is simply an enormous creator of propaganda. The send messages to influence millions of peoples' thinking and values. This, like demoralization in war, is highly effective propaganda. Our current administration is also incredibly efficient at sending out negative propaganda to other countries...as well as itself and those they represent.
There are blatant propaganda commercials on television these days, the 'Army Strong' ads clearly glorify war and convince young patriots to join the fight. But this is not the only type of propaganda, we are starting to see the increase of anti-oil ads. These ads aim to instill a measure of guilt in the viewer in the hopes of them turning to the 'green' side.
After seeing "Mr. Smith..." again, I can say that I still really enjoyed the film. Personally, I am a big Jimmy Stewart fan, and seeing him in this role shows you how well a character can be played. We know he has been in Capra films before so he is familiar with the style. This film in particular is so different from other Capra work, and different from any other film of it's, or any other's time.
The film if so emotional and very vocal, not as emotional as It's a Wonderful Life however. This film, manages to fully draw us in, in two respects. The first of which is of course, the story itself. The movie tells us about Jeff Smith and being a US senator. The film also shows us how the system may have faults, but in the end, what's right is right and justice shall prevail.
This movie is just as much about the story of Jeff Smith as it is about how great America is.
Nowadays, propaganda tends to manifest itself in subtle ways. I like how our fellow classmate brought up the Army. The Army embodies some clear propaganda, as it arouses support for a cause some might otherwise not consider. When I start to consider Army commercials to be propaganda, I can’t help but feel that all commercials possess the same quality. Commercials try to influence your habits the same way political propaganda influences your ideals.
Another intangible aspect of propaganda I feel is that if you want to be influenced directly by it you don’t really view it as cynically as “propaganda.” The more I think about the concept, it is harder for me to grasp. I don’t like to feel that all this subtle brainwashing is going on, but at the same time the more you can recognize it the more power you have.
The more blatant forms of propaganda today seem to come from less mainstream channels. For instance, the YouTube videos shown in class seem like videos that would only be seen by people who have a radical mindset like that already. The more mainstream propaganda is not documented like it was in World War II. There is not that deliberate brainwashing taking place. When I think about that, I feel like its more underhanded and just as pervasive though. Peoples’ views are slowing manipulated and shaped since birth.
I feel like the main form of propaganda coming today is sex. People are bombarded with images of sex almost all hours of the day. I look back from when I was a senior in high school at the younger generations in my school, not even four years younger than me and their whole outlook and culture seems completely different. When I was growing up I feel like I was shown different images and attitudes because not too many people were as sexual at such a young age. My high school carried grades 7-12 and when I was in 7th and 8th grade there were only a handful of misguided adolescents in regards to sex. Now those same grades are infested with people who completely abuse their sexuality. Sadly I think this all happened because they are sold everything and influenced by everything through sex. I mean I’m speaking for myself but I always found sex as a pretty spiritual thing and I feel that the whole integrity of it as kind been put in jeopardy. The way I can end this is that sex is the meme that is most pervasive and filled with propaganda and it is really affecting the younger generation. I feel bad for them. I mean when your idols are substanceless sellers of garbage then we have a problem.
The most prevalent form of propaganda I can think of today all comes from the government. For example, the ads put out by the government regarding marijuana are blatant propaganda. There was one commercial about kids getting fast food and somehow managing to smoke marijuana right in front of the window of the restaurant, which perplexes me. The other part that is put in the ad is a little girl riding a pink bike unreasonably close to the exit of the drive through and the driver of the car drives right into her and is looking at her the whole time. It then cuts to haunting music and a title comes on the screen that states, "Marijuana reduces reaction time". This is of course, for anyone whose ever smoked cannabis, an exaggeration. If you look up how many times that an incident has actually occurred you will not find any cases, and similar events have probably occurred from someone just making a mistake. Marijuana does not in fact cause you to greatly lose your motor skills, and the creators of that ad must have been mistaken cannabis for alcohol.
The memes used in propaganda ads tend to use montage or emotional music to appeal and influence our beliefs. They made us feel really sad when a cute little girl on a pink bike gets hit by a car filled with stoners. However, would we care as much if an older homeless person got hit. Probably not. Everything in commercials is propaganda as well. This response I am writing is propaganda because I am influencing you with my own biases and experiences. We all spread propaganda whether we know it or not, but is the propaganda backed by the super powerful medium of film that can really cause an impact.
In todays world I see almost everything as propaganda. The mass media has such a widespread area of control over what the american public sees. In researching it I stumbled upon some new propaganda. Produced for a nation apparently trying to go "green". I found it on TNR's environmental and energy blog. One is for our current climate crisis that asks for the audience's help in bringing our nation into a brighter future. Brought to the viewer by Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection. Unlike most of the propaganda that has been brought up in conversation above me, this doesn't, more or less, have a negative affect on anyone. I find it funny that someone might try to look at this and say that its a political scam, or that it might never work, and that the crisis itself doesn't exist. More over because its labeled as propaganda (On the blog it is propaganda of the day) it gets a negative connotation. Mostly because of its use during war to rally troop and citizens in a united hatred for that other country. I can definitely realize why people would view it as a negative, but does that mean they cant be positive? Could this be a type of meme of World War II based propaganda ? The commercial is based around united and coming together to become a better nation. More over, if propaganda is successful in something good, such as the go green ad, will that change the view of propaganda? Seeing as our nation is driven by consumerism that is fueled by propaganda its hard to tell.
Propaganda has worked its way into much of contemporary media. It has been perfected and is now much more subtle than earlier propaganda like Triumph of the Will. With the ever growing corporations in America, media propaganda is used daily to sell products and services. The favorite place for corporations to use propaganda to sell is in movies and television shows.
Apart from the obvious conscious advertising seen in TV commercials; companies are now using sub-conscious advertising in movies. They do so through product-placement. If you have watched any modern movies you will have been exposed to some sort of product placement. Whether it be the Astin Martin, Smirnoff Vodka and Visa credit cards used in James Bond films or the sleek new cell phones used basically any films set in the present day, companies are trying to sell their product to the viewer.
Propaganda is also being used excessively by presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama in their TV campaign ads. My favorite is the use of Baracks middle name "Hussein" in an attempt by the McCain campaign to link Obama to Muslims and even terrorists. They know that Barack is not from Muslim descent, but they also know that some Americans are ignorant enough to believe he is.
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