Persepolis Propaganda Essay

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Throughout the evolution of cultural ideas and representations, propaganda has played an important role. Propaganda consists of ideas and information that is deliberately spread in order to either help or harm a person, group, movement etc… (Dictionary.com). These ideas and information are typically in the form of testimonial, framing, and/or bandwagon forms of propaganda. These different forms are then used mainly in politics and advertising. An example of this can be seen during WWII during the reign of Hitler and the Nazis and their posters against Jews. Throughout Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, propaganda is used to create a positive image for the Shah, gain more support for the war against Iraq, and aid the development of the Islamic Republic.
Of the many roles propaganda plays in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis one is in order to …show more content…

In order to gain more troops on the front lines the government had to recruit the younger poor boys, as they were cheap and plentiful. In order to do this they used a small, golden key that said that when they “die, [the] key would get them into heaven” (Satrapi 99). By using this form of bandwagon propaganda, the government was successfully able to enlist thousands of poor boys to act as human shields in the war all because they all believed they would achieve salvation. This is also present when the Iranian government was trying to rally its citizens to fight for their country. Quite blatantly they stated that “[they] refuse [the] imposed peace…[and] shall conquer Karbala” (Satrapi 114-115). By allowing the attack on the holy Iraqi city and denial of peace, the government successfully utilizes this example of testimonial propaganda to their advantage. These examples of the usage of different forms of propaganda by the Iranian government clearly show how once again propaganda plays an important role within

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