Propaganda for good

Here's an interesting public service campaign about earthquake preparedness. This is a great example of how fear or shock tactics can be used for the public good.The makers of the videos stated it thusly:

The film gives the viewers a sense of what will be happening and inspires them to prepare and mitigate for a faster recovery. The premise underlying the film is that design is a powerful catalyst that can bridge the divide between scientific understanding about damaging quakes, and the ability of the public to feel empowered and to change their behavior in terms of preparedness.

Put another way, people won't get off their asses on a problem until you convince them that those asses are on the line. This is an example of how propaganda is used for more than just political or ideological agendas. Activism for a worthy cause usually needs just as much help as any political party in rustling up supporters.

This particular piece lays out what's at stake grimly and effectively by using simple animation with composite photos. The intent is to list the various services and infrastructures we take for granted that would be out of commission in the event of a major earthquake. Tell a person that they'll be unable to use the toilet for a few weeks (heck, even a few days) and their apathy might decrease.

Overall, I just like the look of this piece.

Propaganda Project: Audience Analysis

As a campaign of nationalism, my project will naturally focus on the citizens of the country, Terrorstan. Being that Terrorstan has a high population of genocidal maniacs, religious extremists, suicide bombers, and other outcasts of the world, the focus of my posters would be promoting further terrorism. This is in line with the overall goal of Terrorstan to sow fear, destruction, and dissension in the world.

Something to keep in mind about my audience is their diversity. Realistically, a campaign would have to come in a wide variety of languages. However the design aesthetic will center on soviet and Arabic imagery, due to both the location and history of Terrorstan as a former part of the Soviet Union, and also due to it current proximity to the Middle East and a large Muslim population.

Another consideration in my choices will be the natural volatility of the nation and the region. With infrastructure being constantly built and destroyed, either as a political statement or just for fun, mediums such as television and film are difficult to maintain and one can only hope that a given citizen would receive the message. Therefore, a poster/billboard-based campaign would be the only viable option (the billboards less so, due to cost and explodability). With posters, one only needs enough non-mortared wall space upon which to tape or glue the message.

The messages will center most prominently on the theme of giving one’s life for Terrorstan, with a bomb strapped to the chest being a prominent motif. That’s like apple pie to them. The burning of effigies will also be supported, as it is the national pastime.

Interestingly enough and despite the length and drawn-out nature of the 2008 presidential campaign, today was the first time I had seen an image such as this (this is a photo from the internet, whereas I saw a bumper sticker sticker somewhere on campus). This definitely qualifies as propaganda, but what's so interesting to me is how it managed to say something significant, yet nothing at all. The assumption here is that many people would be voting for Obama based on race, and therefore could be swayed by the knowledge that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was, in fact, a Republican. It's a simple message, but strong. I cannot know how effective this campaign has been, if at all, but it seems that it would be powerful in its target group, those voting Democrat based solely on race. However, the major drawback of this campaign is that it's target group is most likely very small. Various polls throughout the campaign have shown overwhelmingly that race was not the issue in this campaign, which makes any propaganda campaign that assumes it is an issue ultimately ineffective.

This particular campaign can only survive off of the hope that the average member of the target audience will neglect to use their critical thinking skills, as even simple scrutiny reveals major fallacies in the reasoning. I could go on about how the campaign makes unfounded assumptions about race and party affiliation, about how it's a red herring distracting from the real issues of the nation, but as we've learned, propaganda is not about sound reasoning and intelligent discussion. Propaganda is about getting an idea into the public fast and appealing to the emotions and more basic sensibilities (or lack thereof) of the intended audience.

Network Response

Notes on the movie:

“Suicide of the Week” What starts as a joke turns into an actual idea: Death Hour.

The picking and choosing of stories strikes me as oddly selective… dunno about that one.

Howard announces that he will kill himself on the air and only a few people in the production room notice.

Terrorist act described as “sensational”, “terrific”… concern for ratings supersedes concern for victims.

Looking to make a series out of terrorist videos. Young new exec seeks to make “angry” shows.

Endeavor to place News division in with the rest of the Network makes the News accountable not to truth, but to profits.

The new show pitches are all from the same mold: “crusty, but benign…”

Diana sees opportunity in the Beale incident. The rawest truth yet spoken on the news is seen as a means to a profitable end.

“You’re talking about putting a manifestly irresponsible man on television” and Diana just nods.

“Angry man thing”… characteristic of the over-simplification and “bastardization” of what Beale was doing when he cried “bullshit” on the air.

What was once a show about “denouncing the hypocrisies of our times” is at the mercy of ratings and it success measured by its novelty.

A serious suggestion by Dianne to include a psychic in the news. “TV is showbiz”

Beale’s hearing voices. What was once simply the liberating rants of a old news man, could be a nervous breakdown, yet that makes his place on the news all the more “sensational” and all the more necessary in the eyes of the network.

Max views the issue in terms of what’s good for Howard, while Diana and Frank Hackett view it entirely in terms of ratings and profits.

Diana entices the rep from the Communist party into promoting the actions of the Ecumenical Liberation Army, which the rep denounced, but was willing o go through with when Diana promised her prime time to say whatever she wants. The goal of all of this is simply to boost ratings and make a hit, sensational show.
The revised evening news has become a live-audience spectacle with a set more like a game show than a news show. Yet Beale continues to denounce his own medium and admits that there’s no truth in television. However, this all feeds into the Network. Even though he openly tells people to turn off their televisions, the Network continues to rake in the money and the ratings. It’s all spectacle and a noticeably apt parody of modern news.

Diana’s constant talking about the news, even during a romantic tryst is noticeable. The relationship between sex and the way she does her job is significant.

“The only reality she knows comes from a TV set”

The entire radical nature of the show and the ELA is subverted by the commercial bureaucracy of the Network. This is more evidence of the network’s ability to tear down the significance of a powerful message.

The show that the network pushed so strongly ends up shooting them in the foot. They encouraged him to say absolutely whatever he wanted for the sake of ratings and profits and it got out of hand for them.

“The world is a business, Mr. Beale.”

Beale’s prophet-like rhetoric is used to subvert him into a voice for the corporation, which further dropped the ratings.

“… like everything that you and the institution of television touch is destroyed.”

A meeting on what to do about Beale turns into a discussion on how to kill him. The ultimate example of the heartlessness of the network.

“killed for lousy ratings”



Overall, I thought this movie was amazing. There's was a lot to take in, but it was handled very well by the director and the acting really put it over the top. It feels like a seminal piece in American film because of its heavy commentary on culture and society, in this case American media, and because of the compelling acting and true humanity (or lack thereof) that pervaded the entire story.

Perhaps most striking are the similarities between the movie's twisted vision of a potential media future ad the reality. Although modern news is not as ridiculous as the show in which Beale stars, the prevalence of spectacle and fear-mongering, among other ratings-hungry techniques, does provide a contemporary version of the ideas in Network.

Triumph of the Will

(Triumph of the Will) was made as basically a documentary of Adolf Hitler and his actions during one of Germany's annual Party Days. Taking place in Nuremberg, the film was all about making Hitler look as virtuous and powerful as possible. It's of course a propaganda film, and one shown all over Germany at the time.

A notable characteristic of this film was the cinematography, which was ahead of its time. The staging and numerous camera angles made for a dynamic and well-filmed piece, which only served to further strengthen Hitler's image.

Oddly enough, despite my natural aversion to Nazi Germany, the images used in this film were inspiring and heartening. You really get a feel for how a nation could get behind Hitler when you watch this, which is probably how those who viewed this film during its time felt. It's too bad that the party was so inherently militaristic because the benefits that people seemed to be enjoying as a result of their coming to power were astounding. Of course, I must temper the good images with the knowledge that this is a propaganda film, but not having any specific knowledge of domestic conditions in Germany before the rise of the Nazi party (aside from the general disenfranchisement and poverty that came after WWI), these images are all I really have to go off of.

Still, it's interesting to hear the commentary on this film and see how many of these techniques of cinematography are still used to great effect today.

propaganda parody

This is an interesting trend that becomes much more noticeable when searching for propaganda images online: propaganda parodies. With the prevalence of image manipulation software such as Photoshop and the ready availability of images online, people can easily re-appropriate images for their own purposes. Recently, political commentary is common. The unpopularity of the Bush administration and it's policies have brought about many images like the one above.

An interesting question: do these images constitute propaganda? I would tend to say 'no' because of their satirical nature. These images use classic propaganda for modern commentary, but the goal of persuasion is not evident in this particular vein of parodies. Despite the often subversive nature of propaganda, there's an earnestness in purpose that seems to be missing from these particular images, which only use propagandist imagery to take a stab at particular people or policies.

Image analysis #5

This image is actually a little different than the others because it was mostly unintentional. Taken at a boot camp commencement ceremony in Israel (I'm assuming), the placement and pose was largely happenstance, taken as a helicopter flew overhead. Were this an intentionally composed image, one could point out the appeal to nationalism or common man techniques. The placement of the flag behind the father and his son would likely evoke national pride, while their upturned faces would convey a sense of hope. Interestingly the photographer acknowledged a hint of fear in the child's eyes which would lend a certain postmodern mentality to this image, where a subtle message pervades a more blatant one. That actually leads me to my next post...