Overview: In my final project I will examine 3 different types of propaganda that differ from the common perception of propaganda that is held by most of the general public. In this project I am using the definition of propaganda as something created to be targeted towards some specific group with the intent of inspiring a specific political action or opinion.
The 3 propaganda genres that I will examine are
1) The animated propaganda produced by Walt Disney during WWII. Example
2) Pro-America and patriotic images created in the wake of 9/11.
3) Amateur created propaganda created by player formed Alliances in EVE Online targeted towards their membership or enemy players in order to inspire or demoralize. Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 (the 3rd is a response video to the second)
The intention is to analyze these materials in the ways that they create their desired affects on the target audience through visuals, pacing, audio, text and tone among other elements. These pieces were (at least on a visible level) not created by trained propagandists or even those in the employ of an agency that specifically creates propaganda pieces, so a primary part of the presentation will be discussing the less polished aspects of these propaganda pieces and how this effects their effectiveness.
Process: This project will rely heavily on video clips, text and images. As such I will have to select a multimedia platform that can present all three in a coherent, integrated format. I have not been able to narrow down which program I will use, as in my past experiences some have not been willing to cooperate on newer computers such as mine. I will attempt to use either the Sophie 2 eBook authoring platform, create a PDF containing embedded video and images, or attempt to create a website hosting all of the elements using an editor such as Wix.com
Presentation: I will create a very brief, summarized version of my project and use Prezi to lay out my visual aid. I will personally clip the propaganda videos down to short, easily demonstrable sections to illustrate the main points of my project along with a less than 5 minute spoken presentation.
Finish: I will complete the project and turn it in on my blog by May 5th.
Okay, Sean. This sounds fascinating. I think the webspace is probably your best platform choice, so long as it's easy to use.
ReplyDeleteI know you already picked out your Disney propaganda, but there's a great chapter on Disney's short nature films ("True-Life Adventures") in a book called Reel Nature. Rather than war propaganda, it's just all these weird nature films produced by wildlife photographers and naturalists, sponsored and circulated by Disney, that talk about bees in really uncertain terms because their communal organizational system reminded people of communism. They also really like birds, because nesting pairs reproduce a scene of the domestic nuclear family that was really important in the 50s. It might make a good sidebar to the more common animated stuff.
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