Propaganda

Distorted Mirror of Reality

“All propaganda must be popular and its intellectual level must be adjusted to the most limited intelligence among those it is addressed to, consequently, the greater the mass it is intended to reach, the lower its purely intellectual level will have to be.”

~Adolf Hitler Mein Kampf “Psychology of Propaganda”

Fascism is a form of counter-revolutionary politics that first arose in the early part of the twentieth-century in Europe. It was a response to the rapid social upheaval, the devastation of World War I, and unstable economy. Fascism is a philosophy or a system of government that advocates or exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with an ideology of aggressive nationalism. It promotes celebrating the nation or the race as a pure community surpassing all other loyalties. This right-wing political philosophy will even advocate violent action to maintain this loyalty which is held in such high regards.

The most recognized name that goes along with Fascism is Germany’s Adolf Hitler, a founder of the Nazi party who rose to power in 1933. Some of the central mythic goals of National Socialist movement in 1930’s Germany were to: activate “the people” as a whole against perceived oppressors or enemies, to create a pure nation of unity, and to establish ultimate control of one supreme leader, Hitler, from whom all power proceeds downward. Nationalism thus became a central component of the Third Reich. As a result, art of propaganda was considered to be the most crucial element in establishing the new Reich as envisioned by Hitler. Politics and aesthetics seemingly united in this context. Art became a cultural and political mission in Germany and it led to an increase in ethnic propaganda. This essay, therefore, will analytically discuss the mythic context of Hitler’s Race and Nation and Leni Riefenstahl’s film, Triumph of the Will by examining its significance within Nazi conceptions of Aryanism and art.

Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf (My Struggle) dwells on his views on the significance of race in culture and social systems, and particularly on his perception of the role of Aryans and Jews in culture creation and destruction. In order to bring together and gain support from the majority of the nation Hitler praises the mythical importance of Aryan race,...

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...ent. Riefenstahl's shooting of the film brings out not only the spoken content of the Nazi mythology, but also expresses their ideals through heavy visual imagery. Clearly in the beginning of the movie we observe the birth of a myth when a serious and gloomy atmosphere surrounds the mythic message with the titles, “16 years after the German woe began...” then changes to an uplifting mood when the titles say, “19 months after the beginning of Germany's rebirth...” We sense almost unbearable tension of anticipation as represented through the music and the lighting, later the tone of the music gets somewhat subdued and turns into something dreamy, mystical while we see the billowing clouds. When the silhouette of Nuremberg appears through the clouds the music turns into the Nazi anthem, which continues while we see the shadow of the plane over the marching columns of storm troopers. This demonstrates the significance of the music for creating the desired emotional impression among the viewers. Also, one must not underestimate the importance of the national anthem in the attempts of a party to ascertain that they are the “only” party that “truly” represents the people and the nation.