Propaganda Essay
Everyday, we see propaganda more than we realize. Advertisements at bus stops or on billboards, flyers up on telephone poles, or even the news are all examples of propaganda in our daily lives. One of the most common methods of propaganda is the use of slogans, a memorable motto or phrase that leaves little room for detail, and tries to unite others in a common purpose. Another method is appeal to fear, where the audience is warned that disaster will result if they don’t follow a particular course of action. These are used in the book 1984 by George Orwell, a novel set in a dystopian city Oceania, where the government uses propaganda to control the thoughts, words, and actions of the citizens, and even the past. The piece
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of current propaganda I have chosen displays both the use of slogans and appeal to fear through its bold message, “STAND UP BE COUNTED”. Stand Up Be Counted is a website for young people to upload videos of them talking about the issues that matter to them, pertaining to the modern world and current events. The similarities of this propaganda to 1984’s is their use of words, colors, and images to try and unite people in a common purpose, whether that purpose be good or bad. The propaganda I have chosen to explain is used for social advocacy, encouraging young people to stand up for their rights and to defend themselves against the people taking their rights. The target audience would be young people who feel that they have an important message to be heard, and they need a place to express it. It uses only three colors; red, black, and white, which makes it very eye catching and easy to remember. In the top half of the rectangular poster, it has the words “STAND UP BE COUNTED” in big block letters. The word “stand” is written vertically and in red, while the rest of the sentence is written horizontally and in black. Underneath the words are 10 cartoon people without faces, standing in a line. They are all colored in completely black, except for one in the middle who stands out because they are drawn a little bit taller than the rest, and they are colored in bright red. Underneath the line of people is the sentence “ANY FORM OF PREJUDICE, DISCRIMINATION, HATRED, OR VIOLENCE IS WRONG” in smaller letters than the sentence at the top. This one also uses colors to make certain words pop out, as the words “prejudice”, “discrimination”, “hatred”, and “violence” are written in red while the rest of the sentence is black. The red also puts forward a sense of danger, shown through the people who want to take away people’s rights or discriminate. The sentence on the top has a pretty positive connotation, where it makes you want to be ready to fight for you own rights! This would be an example of a slogan, because it is memorable, but pretty vague, and is meant to get people to work together for a purpose. The bottom sentence has a more negative or fearful message shown through it, meant to show anyone who tries to show prejudice or hatred that it will not be tolerated. This would be an example of appeal to fear, because it shows youths that there are people in the world who want to discriminate against us, or want to take away our rights, and it is showing that those people should be feared, but also that we should stand up to them. For the piece as a whole, looking at it could give you a feeling of being triumphant, or a feeling of needing to stand up for yourself against perpetrators. One key part of this piece of propaganda is the slogan.
Slogans are used often in 1984 as a way for the government to control the citizens and stop them from rebelling. A slogan that is widely used in this story is “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength”. This shows up on the sides of important buildings in Oceania, such as: “From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party: WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (4) Imprinting these messages on the minds of the people will eventually make them feel that they don’t need to ever rebel, because they already have freedom, because freedom is slavery. It makes them believe that it is normal and perfectly fine to always be at war, because there is no need for peace, and that they should not strive to learn more about life, the world, or the government, because ignorance is strength. These phrases also appear during the two minutes of hate, after the face of Goldstein frightens the citizens, the phrase appears: “Then the face of Big Brother faded away again, and instead the three slogans of the Party stood out in bold capitals: WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (16) This slogan is meant to comfort the citizens after the stressful two-minute hate. They are being showed opposite sides of the spectrum, that Goldstein is bad, and then directly after they are shown these phrases, to give them …show more content…
security in the very controlled life they lead. The goal of slogan type propaganda is to unite a group of people with a vague phrase, and they succeeded with doing this in 1984 by uniting people in their blind faith in the government. The contemporary propaganda piece I chose succeeds in uniting people in their fight for justice. The other type of propaganda this shows is appeal to fear. Appeal to fear is also used to bond people together, but it bonds them against a common enemy instead of in a common purpose. Appeal to fear is used on the citizens of Oceania in many instances, one of the biggest being hate week, or the two minute hate. Two minutes of hate takes place every day, where workers everywhere gather for two minutes to watch footage of The Party’s enemy Goldstein, then to shout their hatred at him. One example of Winston participating in this is: “It was nearly eleven hundred, and in the Records Department, where Winston worked, they were dragging the chairs out of the cubicles and grouping them in the centre of the hall opposite the big telescreen, in preparation for the Two Minutes Hate….
The next moment a hideous, grinding speech, as of some monstrous machine running without oil, burst from the big telescreen at the end of the room. It was a noise that set one’s teeth on edge and bristled the hair at the back of one’s neck. The Hate had started. As usual, the face of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People, had flashed onto the screen. There were hisses here and there among the audience. The little sandy-haired woman gave a squeak of mingled fear and disgust.”
(11) The party showing the citizens the image of Goldstein everyday cements him as an enemy in their minds, and the daily two minutes allows the citizens to get their anger out on him, even if they weren’t originally angry at him. They have been brainwashed into thinking they are afraid of Goldstein, even though they have actually no idea what he does. Winston’s reaction to the daily gathering is: “Winston’s entrails seemed to grow cold. In the Two Minutes Hate he could not help sharing in the general delirium, but this sub-human chanting of ‘B-B!...B-B!’ always filled him with horror. Of course he chanted with the rest: it was impossible to do otherwise. To dissemble your feelings, to control your face, to do what everyone else was doing, was an instinctive reaction.” (17) The citizens have been shown this display daily for so long that now it is instinct to yell, scream, and be equal parts terrified and furious at Goldstein whenever they see him. The Party has succeeded in unifying their people in the hatred of a common enemy, which will guarantee they are kept in order and not going off making their own ideas. This relates to my current propaganda choice because of the fear that the poster is trying to instill in us of offenders. The sentence on the bottom “ANY FORM OF PREJUDICE, DISCRIMINATION, HATRED, OR VIOLENCE IS WRONG” and the one red figure in the line of black ones gives a sense of fear, or need to fight. The main things to be learned about both slogans and appeal to fear would be: they exist to band people together in a common enemy or objective. That is useful to the people showing the propaganda, because it allows the group of people to be more easily controlled. You can easily manipulate people with fear, such as “Option a is scary, do option b without questioning”. It also doesn’t allow the audience to have any doubts about the people showing the propaganda, because their thoughts are occupied by the hate or fear of the enemy. Slogans make it easy to manipulate people through their vague phrases made of common, positive words. People will easily follow a purpose without question if you make it sound good enough. The problems that arise when using either type of propaganda is that the ruler will become all all encompassing, or totalitarian, because the propaganda doesn’t allow for any alternative ideas to exist. The only acceptable idea would be that “Our ruler is always good and our ruler’s enemy is always bad”. Another problem is that people will blindly follow any path if the people advertising for it use good enough adjectives. People won’t think about any of the decisions they are making because they are tricked by the slogan! The only way to prevent yourself from being manipulated by propaganda is to pick apart every sentence, word, color, font, and image, because otherwise you will not know that it is making you feel a certain way until you make a rash decision. In our modern world, there is absolutely no way to not see the propaganda, so you must be smart and understand what is being shown to you, in order to not blindly follow.
In the film Red Dawn of 1984, it depicts both a work of art and propaganda for various of reasons. To start off, propaganda is used to imply a negative impact on both Russia and Russian troops. The way they are portrayed in the film, illustrates them as savages and corrupted people who are ruthless. In the film, the United States is portrayed as the victim because of the the strong brave soldiers, who are trying to survive and would fight any obstacle in their way. In fact, this film of Red Dawn can also be considered a work of art, because this film uniquely symbolizes the acceptance of thinking like a child. For example, in many scenes in the movie seeing the world from a children’s point of view was a way to help the soldiers forget about their present situation. In this case, the war battles between Russian troops. Most importantly, what I consider a work of art in this film, would be that a group of teenagers get together as a team to defend their country from Soviet invaders. In this essay I will explain different examples that prove that the film of 1984 Red Dawn can be considered both a work of art and a of propaganda.
In the novel 1984, George Orwell describes a dystopian society called Oceania. It is one of the three super states in the world and is controlled by an imaginary leader, Big Brother. This society is lead by a totalitarian Party that controls the society by enforcing their slogan onto their people: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength. These slogans are encrypted into everyone’s brain as a way to manipulate them and make them believe they live in a fair, just society. In 1984’s Oceania, the slogan “ignorance is strength” plays a massive role in the Party’s manipulation of the society.
George Orwell’s haunting dystopian novel 1984 delves into the closely monitored lives of the citizens of Oceania as the Party tries to take control of society. In totalitarianism, propaganda and terrorism are ways of subjugation with a main goal: total obedience. He aimed to create a “what if” novel, what would happen if totalitarian regimes, such as the Nazis and Soviets, were to take over the world. If totalitarianism were to happen, the leader would be the brain of the whole system. Orwell emphasizes the theme of individualism versus collective identity through Winston, the protagonist, and his defiance to the Party and Big Brother, with a frightening tone, surreal imagery and a third person limited point of view.
1984 by George Orwell may seem like a run of the mill dystopian novel, but the plethora of paradoxes and interwoven contradictions create a complex reading experience. Every single incongruity within the novel proves itself to be sensible and valid. Orwell skillfully enlaces this backwards society with contradictory slogans, ideology, and language that leaves one perplexed at what they just read, forcing one to reevaluate their own logic. Early in the novel, the three fundamental mottos of Ingsoc are presented. These mottos are “WAR IS PEACE/ FREEDOM IS SLAVERY/ IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (Orwell 26).
This collective whole is easily controlled and manipulated. Society has always been troubled by the idea of overpowering control. In George Orwell's 1984, humanity is dominated by an extreme government whose intent is to abolish all aspects of freedom. Orwell indicates that when subjected to mass propaganda and intimidation, the ignorant majority’s memory and concept of truth are distorted, making them extremely malleable and subservient. The Party employs slogans to convince the ignorant that what they want is what they already have.
In George Orwell’s dystopian novel, the government blocks almost all forms of self-expression in order to assert its authority over the people. Those within the society who show signs of defiance against the set rules, even those who act unwillingly, are seen as a threat to the success of the regime are wiped from existence. In Orwell’s 1984, the government uses different forms of propaganda and brainwashing to achieve complete control of society for their own personal benefit.
Many countries believe that propaganda helps to institute a necessary level of patriotism in their citizens. Most authoritarian governments, the type of government that Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell illustrates, use propaganda. However, the use of propaganda also limits the freedom of people since propaganda can control thought and speech. Propaganda can influence people to believe that their country is the best country by either exaggerating the positive events that are happening in their country or by showing negative events that are happening in other countries. Nineteen Eighty-Four is more about the dangers of the government controlling people’s thoughts by propaganda than the dangers of an authoritarian government system.
Take a second to think about the word propaganda. What comes to mind? Do events such as World War II or The Cold War? According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, propaganda is a noun which means “the systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.” In other words, propaganda, in this particular definition, is viewed as the deliberate transmission of an idea or document that a group of people believe in. This definition suits the description of propaganda in the novel 1984 by George Orwell. The Inner Party is pushing the concept of “Big Brother,” the ultimate leader. But words can have multiple meanings and can leave room for interpretation. In an alternate definition, from The Analysis of Propaganda by W. Hummell and K. Huntress, propaganda is defined in a different manner:
Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, showcases a world alternate from ours, in a dystopian setting. Where human morals are drastically altered, families, love, history, and art are removed by the government. They used multiple methods to control the people, but no method in the world is more highly used and more effective than propaganda. The world state heavily implemented the use of propaganda to control, to set morals, and to condition the minds of every citizen in their world. However, such uses of propaganda have already been used in our world and even at this very moment.
“WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” Part 1,Chapter 1,pg. 6. These three principles were repeatedly emphasized throughout the book and helped lay the foundation of the dystopian society George Orwell imagined in his novel 1984. Fear, manipulation, and control were all encompassed throughout this dystopian society set in the distant future. The freedom to express ones thoughts was no longer acceptable and would not be tolerated under any circumstances. Humankind was rapidly transforming into a corrupt and evil state of mind.
In George Orwell’s novel, “1984”, the setting is in a place called Oceania, a dystopia. A dystopia is a usually imagined place that is far worse from reality, and its opposite being a utopia, an ideal place.Orwell imagined a world with new advanced technology, such as a telescreen, a TV that observes the ones watching and a world that consists of three megastates rather than hundreds of countries.In 1984, Orwell comes up with a new form of English called Newspeak, which the totalitarian government uses to discourage free thinking, without words to express an idea, the idea itself would be impossible to achieve, the government can control people through their words.
The use of propaganda to gain support for the flawed state is common throughout many dystopian works, and directly parallels its use...
George Orwell’s intent in the novel 1984 is to warn society about the results of a controlling and manipulative government by employing mood, conflict, and imagery.
In 1984, people 's thinking are controlled by lies, invented stories and false information. The stories of the past are all altered and the information is constantly changing every day without leaving any sign of change. The party uses propaganda as a deadly weapon to control its citizen’s mind. One type of the propaganda which is common in 1984 is called “doublethink”. As the book describes it as, “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” (270). Propaganda ensures people of their society and makes them to think that they have a better life in contrast to other zones. One of the famous propaganda used are the three slogans, “WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” (4). This is an example of glittering generalities technique where an emotionally appealing phrase with powerful words is use to evoke emotions. As an example, the song “doublespeak” from Thrice that also deals with the concept of doublethink, describes a genocidal society where killing innocent people who are rebelling for their rights is common and in order for them to remain sane, they would rather hold their silence. The strongest part of the song is where it says, “I keep my toes on the party line/There is nothing wrong dear, don’t think twice”. It is trying to say that no one considers rebellion since the Party is already governing in the best
Orwell highlights how powerful the use of language and propaganda can be when used to control society. One of the first times ...