Propaganda Analysis

English 2 Honors

Propaganda• A technique that is used to influence actions or

beliefs of a large number of people. • Forms: written or Spoken• It appeals to your EMOTIONS rather than

reason• often presents facts selectively• While its original definition/intention was meant

to be neutral (i.e. public health recommendations, encouraging voting in the election) it now has a negative connotation since it is used in a manipulative manner

Propaganda Techniques

Loaded Words and Images– Words like PATRIOTISM and TRAITOR: loaded

due to their connotations– Images like babies, family reunions, and sunlit

meadows appeal to emotionsSlogans

Short, catchy phrases “Four legs good, two legs bad”“I Have a Dream”

Propaganda TechniquesRepetition

○ Repeating something again and again will help you learn and recognize them

○ The more you hear it, the more you will believe itAppeal to basic needs, desires, and fears

○ Emotional Needs: love, security, feeling worthwhile

○ Fears: violence, isolation, disease, and death.

How Propaganda Works

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU_BueZZNd8

St George (Leon Trotsky). Poster by Victor

Deni, 1920.

► How is the imagery used to characterize Trotsky?

► What symbols are present in the poster?

► What time period is alluded to? Why?

Trotsky on Guard! Coloured lithograph by D. S. Moor, 1920/1.

► Compare and contrast the imagery here with the previous slide.

► How would the leader here be different?

V. I. Ulianov (Lenin) Coloured Lithograph by A. I.

Strakhov, 1924 ► What type of imagery

is used to characterize Lenin? How would you characterize him?

► How is this characterization of leadership different from Trotsky?

Klutsis, GustavMillions of qualified workers for the 518 new

factories, 1931 ► How do we know this is

the proletariat?► Which sections are

represented?► How is the proleteriat

represented?► What are the similarities in

imagery between the proletariat and the leadership posters?

Designer unknown, 1920Literacy is the path to communism

► What is the subject?► What is the message?► How does it

accomplish this message through allusion and imagery?

Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House collective, 1969Forging ahead courageously while following the great leader Chairman

Mao

► How is Mao’s visual representation similar to/different from Trotsky/Lenin?

► What techniques resonate between the two visuals?

Designer unknown, 1968The Revolutionary Committees are good

► What type of leader is Mao based on this depiction? (pay attention to light, etc…)

► What sections of society are represented here?

Designer unknown, ca. 1961Let's do our job!

► What message is relayed here? How?

► How is this Cuban representation similar to/different from the Russian representation?

Poster: "Workers of the Mind, of the Fist, Vote for the Front Soldier / HITLER!"

► Who is being appealed to in the poster?

► How is the imagery and message similar to/different from the Russian poster?

Page from an antisemitic coloring book

► One page of an antisemitic coloring book widely distributed to children with a portrait of a Jew drawn by the German caricaturist known as Fips. In the upper left hand corner is the Der Stürmer logo featuring a Star of David superimposed over a caricature of a Jewish face. The caption under the star reads: "Without a solution to the Jewish question, there will be no salvation for mankind.“

► How does the image characterize Jewish people?

Compare and contrast the two pictures.

"Women! … Save the German family. Vote for Adolf Hitler!"

► Poster by Felix Albrecht. The text on the poster reads: "Women! Millions of men without work. Millions of children without a future. Save the German family. Vote for Adolf Hitler!“

► How does the imagery (facial expressions, position of subjects, colors) aid the message?

Cover of an antisemitic schoolbook titled Der Giftpilz (The Poisonous Mushroom)

How does this picture use dehumanization to indoctrinate students?

World War I Propaganda

Pearl Harbor Propaganda

Television

Internet Propaganda

The Effect of Propaganda

► “We must remember that in time of war what is said on the enemy’s side of the front is always propaganda, and what is said on our side of the front is truth and righteousness, the cause of humanity and a crusade for peace.”

Walter LippmanPolitical author, speaker

Propaganda

► What trends did you notice with political propaganda?

“Long Live the Great Stalin!” (1938)

Directions: On your own paper, answer the following questions.Textual Evidence from Animal Farm is REQUIRED!

1. What various sectors of society are represented in the top picture of Stalin?

2. Using the imagery, how would you characterize Stalin?

3. How would Stalin be different from/similar to Lenin or Trotsky? (pictured below Stalin)

4. Connect Stalin’s propaganda to Squealer’s “propaganda” about Napoleon in Animal Farm.