Propaganda Project-End the War
During World War One, there were several groups that wanted something out of the war. Some wanted land, others wanted victory, and some just wanted it to be over. Several different strategies were used for trying to recruit people to support the missions listed above. The effect I wanted to have on the viewer for my poster was to show that World War One was a waste of several lives of men who were patriotic towards their country. By showing the soldiers “bleeding” their country’s flags, I hope it to have somewhat of the same effect as letting a flag touch the ground, and because of honor it must be burned. I think that by showing their flags bleeding out of them, it will show how their patriotism has been wasted unnecessarily, just like the flag must be burned simply because it touched the ground. By also adding more relative phrases in the slogan, such as brothers and fathers, I tried to make it even more personal to not only unite everybody under patriotism, but also to unite everybody under the value of family. Patriotism falls into the flag waving category, which is an attempt to justify an action on the grounds that doing so will make one more patriotic, or will in some way benefit a group, country, or idea (Fisher, 2010). In this case the patriotism is that of the world. This was the main technique in the poster, because we cannot “demonize” the world or lie to their faces to cover up something miserable, because the war is already a miserable and disastrous thing, which brings us to the goal of the poster, which is to end the war.
Dada, which I posed as the creators of this piece of propaganda, was an anti-war group that denounced war with visual arts. They were based in Switzerland, and were around mainly from 1916-1922 (Dada, 2010). Because WW1 started in 1914 and ended in 1918, the Dada movement fit perfectly with the timeline of WW1. Also, because Dada funneled its politics through visual arts, a piece of Dada propaganda fits perfectly into the context of WW1. Dada revolutionized art by creating several new methods of visual arts, such as photo montage and collages, both which were used in several Dada pieces. Dadaism was actually a way of conveying their hate and anger of and towards the war through art. Although this piece of propaganda doesn’t necessarily show anger explicitly, it shows anger at all of the reasons for the starting of the war. Ironically, Dadaists, being against all of the reasons for the start of the war, hated nationalism as it was one of the major contributions to the start of the war (Esaak, 2010). This piece was directed at the world though, so in a sense this piece uses the technique of “demonizing” the enemy, in the way that it makes people from the opposite viewpoint appear subhuman. In this case all military personnel with power were the subhuman group.
I think that propaganda affects the world in several different ways. On one hand, it is the basis for advancement consumption and always wanting the next best thing, which propaganda conveniently advertises for us. On the other hand, propaganda can bring out the worst in people by sending a negative message to a group of people or single person, as in political campaign commercials, which can be a bad thing. Neither example delivers the whole truth about a product or person. Propaganda tells the public what they want to hear if they want to portray something positively. Conversely, the audience would be told exactly what they don’t want to hear if it was to be portrayed negatively. In most cases, it hides the entire truth from the audience. No matter how much a person tries not to be influenced by propaganda, it is impossible to block out the messages propaganda implants in our subconscious, which means that we can’t control what society is putting in our heads. Independent thought is very important to Americans, and from the theory above, conclusions can be drawn that American’s no longer have solely independent thought. An article by Noam Chomsky explained that because we live in a democratic society, there is no way the government can control us. Because of this, they must find a way to implicitly take control. These methods are mainly broadcasted through propaganda. Some of the techniques used include having two completely different sides or positions in an argument but are somehow arguing for and explaining close to the same thing. Another technique used is to leave out either key details of a real debate or to leave out one side of the debate entirely; this way, nobody can vote or have a say in the matter. This article implies that we are being lied to through the teeth of our own government, and some conclusions can be drawn that this is true to a point. Now with most thoughts and actions, we carry them out because of some subconscious command that might have been specifically programmed to affect the American society the way the American government wants.
Citations
Chomsky, Noam. "Propaganda Review." Media Alliance (1988): 1-4. Print.
"Dada." Wikipedia. N.p., 20 Sept. 2010. Web. 20 Sept. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada>.
Esaak, Shelley. "Dada-Art History 101 Basics." About.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2010. <http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/dada.htm>.
Fisher, Lori. "What is Propaganda?." Peace, Violence, and Power. Vol. 1. Durango, CO: n.p., 2010. 81-83. 1 vols. Print.
Dada, which I posed as the creators of this piece of propaganda, was an anti-war group that denounced war with visual arts. They were based in Switzerland, and were around mainly from 1916-1922 (Dada, 2010). Because WW1 started in 1914 and ended in 1918, the Dada movement fit perfectly with the timeline of WW1. Also, because Dada funneled its politics through visual arts, a piece of Dada propaganda fits perfectly into the context of WW1. Dada revolutionized art by creating several new methods of visual arts, such as photo montage and collages, both which were used in several Dada pieces. Dadaism was actually a way of conveying their hate and anger of and towards the war through art. Although this piece of propaganda doesn’t necessarily show anger explicitly, it shows anger at all of the reasons for the starting of the war. Ironically, Dadaists, being against all of the reasons for the start of the war, hated nationalism as it was one of the major contributions to the start of the war (Esaak, 2010). This piece was directed at the world though, so in a sense this piece uses the technique of “demonizing” the enemy, in the way that it makes people from the opposite viewpoint appear subhuman. In this case all military personnel with power were the subhuman group.
I think that propaganda affects the world in several different ways. On one hand, it is the basis for advancement consumption and always wanting the next best thing, which propaganda conveniently advertises for us. On the other hand, propaganda can bring out the worst in people by sending a negative message to a group of people or single person, as in political campaign commercials, which can be a bad thing. Neither example delivers the whole truth about a product or person. Propaganda tells the public what they want to hear if they want to portray something positively. Conversely, the audience would be told exactly what they don’t want to hear if it was to be portrayed negatively. In most cases, it hides the entire truth from the audience. No matter how much a person tries not to be influenced by propaganda, it is impossible to block out the messages propaganda implants in our subconscious, which means that we can’t control what society is putting in our heads. Independent thought is very important to Americans, and from the theory above, conclusions can be drawn that American’s no longer have solely independent thought. An article by Noam Chomsky explained that because we live in a democratic society, there is no way the government can control us. Because of this, they must find a way to implicitly take control. These methods are mainly broadcasted through propaganda. Some of the techniques used include having two completely different sides or positions in an argument but are somehow arguing for and explaining close to the same thing. Another technique used is to leave out either key details of a real debate or to leave out one side of the debate entirely; this way, nobody can vote or have a say in the matter. This article implies that we are being lied to through the teeth of our own government, and some conclusions can be drawn that this is true to a point. Now with most thoughts and actions, we carry them out because of some subconscious command that might have been specifically programmed to affect the American society the way the American government wants.
Citations
Chomsky, Noam. "Propaganda Review." Media Alliance (1988): 1-4. Print.
"Dada." Wikipedia. N.p., 20 Sept. 2010. Web. 20 Sept. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada>.
Esaak, Shelley. "Dada-Art History 101 Basics." About.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2010. <http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/dada.htm>.
Fisher, Lori. "What is Propaganda?." Peace, Violence, and Power. Vol. 1. Durango, CO: n.p., 2010. 81-83. 1 vols. Print.
Reflection
This Propaganda Machine project was an assignment to analyze and create your own piece of propaganda that somehow ties in to World War One. We will also analyzed different pieces of propaganda from World War One: One from the Central Powers point of view and another from the Alliance. We also analyzed a modern piece of propaganda and analyzed how it affects us personally. The process for this project included several drafts. Our own posters went through at least three drafts before they were printed out on Photoshop, and the analysis of our posters also went through about three drafts.
Drastic changes were made in both the poster and analysis between rough and final drafts. Some of these revisions included changing the idea of a solitary soldier in the poster to two soldiers of different nationalities to show this kind of world-wide loss. Some critiques that helped me make such changes were making it seem really superficial so that it appeared to be more dramatic and had an eerie sort of feel to it as well. Poster analysis revisions included explaining the type of art Dadaists used, as opposed to just explaining who the Dadaists were and only giving readers a partial understanding of who this society was.
At first, I thought I wouldn't like this project at all, but once I got my idea for the project, I started getting into it. The final product I am really proud of, especially given the minimal amount of time given to create a Photoshop piece, which requires lots of tedious work. I especially like the idea of soldiers bleeding their country's flag, like they're bleeding their patriotism, and that more than a soul had been lost, but a part of that nation. Parts that I don't like about this final product are how hard it is to make a soldier appear to be bleeding a flag. Although I put all effort into making the bleeding look as realistic as possible, I still am not completely satisfied with it. Regardless, I am still very proud of both my analysis and poster. The part I liked the most about this project was how flexible the guidelines were so that I could do this anti-war movement poster as opposed to a piece of propaganda making the same message to the same group of people with a couple of words switched around and maybe a couple of different graphic options.
Several ideas, theories, and concepts have been dealt out to us during the course of this project. I think that some of the most important ones included the idea of nationalism, and how much it can affect an action or motive from a group or individual. The catch with this idea is that groups may support their country in different ways, some more extreme or unnecessary than others, which is how World War One started in the first place. The result of the war resulted in several unnecessary deaths, which is what I wanted to convey in my poster. This lesson also showed us the influence alliances had on the war and people during that time period, as well as the importance of development and how that tied into the huge number of deaths during the war.
If I were to do this piece over again, I would only change minor details about my poster, such as making the background smoother so that the soldiers would stand out more instead of blending in with the background. Overall, though, I don't think I would change much because I love how perfectly the message of my poster fits in with the Dadaist society and how the historical context blends in perfectly with the message and the patriotism displayed in the poster.
Drastic changes were made in both the poster and analysis between rough and final drafts. Some of these revisions included changing the idea of a solitary soldier in the poster to two soldiers of different nationalities to show this kind of world-wide loss. Some critiques that helped me make such changes were making it seem really superficial so that it appeared to be more dramatic and had an eerie sort of feel to it as well. Poster analysis revisions included explaining the type of art Dadaists used, as opposed to just explaining who the Dadaists were and only giving readers a partial understanding of who this society was.
At first, I thought I wouldn't like this project at all, but once I got my idea for the project, I started getting into it. The final product I am really proud of, especially given the minimal amount of time given to create a Photoshop piece, which requires lots of tedious work. I especially like the idea of soldiers bleeding their country's flag, like they're bleeding their patriotism, and that more than a soul had been lost, but a part of that nation. Parts that I don't like about this final product are how hard it is to make a soldier appear to be bleeding a flag. Although I put all effort into making the bleeding look as realistic as possible, I still am not completely satisfied with it. Regardless, I am still very proud of both my analysis and poster. The part I liked the most about this project was how flexible the guidelines were so that I could do this anti-war movement poster as opposed to a piece of propaganda making the same message to the same group of people with a couple of words switched around and maybe a couple of different graphic options.
Several ideas, theories, and concepts have been dealt out to us during the course of this project. I think that some of the most important ones included the idea of nationalism, and how much it can affect an action or motive from a group or individual. The catch with this idea is that groups may support their country in different ways, some more extreme or unnecessary than others, which is how World War One started in the first place. The result of the war resulted in several unnecessary deaths, which is what I wanted to convey in my poster. This lesson also showed us the influence alliances had on the war and people during that time period, as well as the importance of development and how that tied into the huge number of deaths during the war.
If I were to do this piece over again, I would only change minor details about my poster, such as making the background smoother so that the soldiers would stand out more instead of blending in with the background. Overall, though, I don't think I would change much because I love how perfectly the message of my poster fits in with the Dadaist society and how the historical context blends in perfectly with the message and the patriotism displayed in the poster.