YouTube: Image Curation Video Link
Together, our group chose our topic and the specific implications we believed this theme to have on society. For our image curation slideshow, we decided to represent the social implications of visual propaganda on society, especially during World War II. To discover such implications, we focused on the tactics propagandists used to effectively portray their intended message to society such as glittering generalities, testimonials, and card stacking. Through these tactics, propagandists ensured their messages were thrust into society, thus causing the affects of the dehumanization of enemies, fear within society, bias concerning the navy or army and desensitization.
Through the creation of our slideshow, we learned that semiotics plays a major role in how we decode messages and symbols portrayed through media, such as propaganda. In addition, we realized that by being aware of the influential tactics media and propaganda use, we are better able to control and think critically of the affects these influential tactics have over us.
We also learned that semiotics play a key role in the affects propaganda has on society. For instance, our group realized that through propaganda, synecdoche was used to represent the entire American army through images of a single glorified soldier in the climax of battle. By doing so, propagandists represented the entire American army by a single part, thus influencing society to believe that all soldiers were envied heroes. Similarly, metonym was often used in propaganda through the image of a dehumanized and cartoonish Adolf Hitler. Through this image, Hitler was used to represent all of America's enemies during World War II. Therefore, a single part was used to represent the whole, thus causing a greater affect on society. Cleanliness was an additional aspect of semiotics used throughout propaganda as it made it appear that the morals and values represented through propaganda were the morals and values shared throughout society. By doing so, society became more likely to accept the propaganda messages, as they believed it was the normal cultural belief. Hegemony was used in similar ways through propaganda as it used the government’s influence over society to broadcast its beliefs. For instance, it was through the demanding and seemingly courageous statements printed among such propaganda that society was lead to believe that enlisting in the army was the courageous and patriotic thing to do. Therefore, the government acted as a sender with the intention of establishing its control over society by sending the message of the beliefs of war. The transmission in such a process would have been propaganda that was then received by society and, depending on the level of decoding the society members used, the destination may have been met. Such decoding was also a major influence on society because this affect was dependent on the ways society members decoded the messages from propaganda. For example, if a society member was to decode propaganda on the level of dominant/ hegemonic, they would be substantially more likely to carry the messages of this propaganda into society, thus increasing its affect. However, if an individual were to decode propaganda on the level of oppositional, they would be more likely to protest this propaganda in society. As a result, the affect of propaganda would be lessened in society.
Overall, it was through the realizations of the relationships media, semiotics, and influential tactics has in society that our group realized how and why we interpret such aspects of media within society.