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The Finest Propaganda Money Can Buy!

By: NE1

Propaganda is a form of communication
aimed at influencing attitudes of a community,
toward or against a product or idealogy.

Propaganda is a neutral word.
Every advertisement you have ever seen is modern propaganda.
Billboards, TV commercials, internet ads. It is ubiquitous with media.

There is positive propaganda, used all around us every day,
such as anti-smoking ads & car-safety awareness posters.
Propaganda can be used to promote progressive ideas.

And the ‘best’, most effecive kind of propaganda, can both
entertain our emotions & offer a character to embody the ad.
To show a relatable &-or idealistic character, & have he or she
carry out an agenda that the audience admires or emulates.

The finest-tuned, most subtle use of propaganda is ‘at the movies’!
To really invest in a character, is to implant an ideal in a viewers mind.

Dynamic in form, through documentary & fiction,
ideological advertisements, honor of personality cults,
satire, & methodical advertising, all emotionally driven,
these political & social influences subvert the audience,
as a series of taboos is presented & an audience is
shown a story designed to root for or against.
Oftentimes presenting ‘likeable’ characters performing,
or pontificating, various modes of thought & persuasion.

To this end, all of these films intend to sway the viewer
to their way of thinking, be it directly or subversively.

There are many films, alas, not yet on MUBI.
Including numerous music videos depicting a
perfected form of capitalist &-or hedonistic propaganda.
Glamorizing money, fame, various hierarchical American dreams, etc.
More films will be listed as the database grows. Suggestions welcome.

 

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Alex

10Jul11

Never thought Forrest Gump was propaganda of any class

  • Picture of NE1

    NE1

    27Aug11

    It is effusively pro-American, pro-military, & revisionist history. It has a very subtle, neutral propaganda to it.

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Arcanus

11Apr11

An interesting list including masterpieces like Riefenstahl's films and utter dross like Mel Gibson's and the mis-spelled Tarantino one.

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Alexander Robino

12Nov10

Haha, not quite. Moreso in that he preaches his ideals and politics and whatnot. Here's a comparison I made in the forums a while back of Frank Capra (so, consider him too for the list perhaps?) and Miyazaki which will hopefully give you some idea of what I mean: To me, both filmmakers definitely have a kind of humanist mission and sociology in their films in that they let their films take place in worlds with their ideal values and world conditions OR depicting a striving for those ideals. Miyazaki almost always has the villages and towns in his movies designed in a very particular architecture, spirit, social layout, etc. And he travels to distant countries for what I’d consider to be pretty specific design reference and I think he does this because I think it means a lot to him, the design of his towns/environments are big elements in his stories. He goes out of his way to carve out ideal little ideas of what he considers to be the perfect (or not so perfect) kinds of places. And to look at Capra’s films, he certainly had his ideas too. Miyazaki’s characters are often very encouraging of a communal environment. And gosh, the best examples off the top my head to compare with in the Capra realm are the home of humble (and eccentric, but that’s beside the point) artists in “You Can’t Take It With You” and the social suburban town in “It’s A Wonderful Life.” And beyond this, there’s the comparison that both filmmakers seemed to have a fondness for simple life, humanism, their own ideas of sensible politics, and a cautious eye for the progressive world. Both filmmakers have their characters make commentary on these things even. Does this help everyone see what I was getting at? I’m not saying they’re one and the same of course, but there seem to be themes in the middle of the Venn diagram.

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NE1

10Nov10

No, but it's an interesting thought... Propaganda for what? Dreams & ghosts?

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