Propaganda film

For the production company, see Propaganda Films. For the similarly titled films, see Propaganda (disambiguation).

The Why We Fight series depicts the Nazi propaganda machine.

A propaganda film is a film that involves some form of propaganda. Propaganda films spread and promote certain ideas that are usually religious, political, or cultural in nature. A propaganda film is made with the intent that the viewer will adopt the position promoted by the propagator and eventually take action towards making those ideas widely accepted.[1] Propaganda films are popular mediums of propaganda due to their ability to easily reach a large audience in a short amount of time. They are also able to come in a variety of film types such as documentary, non-fiction, and newsreel, making it even easier to provide subjective content that may be deliberately misleading.[1][2]

Propaganda is the ability "to produce and spread fertile messages that, once sown, will germinate in large human cultures".[3] However, in the 20th century, a "new" propaganda emerged, which revolved around political organizations and their need to communicate messages that would "sway relevant groups of people in order to accommodate their agendas".[4] First developed by the Lumiere brothers in 1896, film provided a unique means of accessing large audiences at once. Film was the first universal mass medium in that it could simultaneously influence viewers as individuals and members of a crowd, which led to it quickly becoming a tool for governments and non-state organizations to project a desired ideological message.[5] As Nancy Snow stated in her book, Information War: American Propaganda, Free Speech and Opinion Control Since 9-11, propaganda "begins where critical thinking ends."[6]

  1. ^ a b Kuhn, Annette; Westwell, Guy (20 December 2012), "propaganda", A Dictionary of Film Studies, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780199587261.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-958726-1, retrieved 21 May 2020
  2. ^ Bennett, Todd. "The celluloid war: state and studio in Anglo-American propaganda film-making, 1939-1941." The International History Review 24.1 (March 2002): 64(34).
  3. ^ Combs, James. Film Propaganda and American Politics. New York: Garland Publishing, 1994. p. 35
  4. ^ Combs, James. Film Propaganda and American Politics. New York: Garland Publishing, 1994. p. 32
  5. ^ Taylor, Richard. Film Propaganda: Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany. London: Croom Helm Ltd, 1979. 30-31
  6. ^ Snow, Nancy (2003). Information War: American Propaganda, Free Speech and Opinion Control Since 9-11. New York: Seven Stories Press. pp. 22. ISBN 978-1-58322-557-8.