Visual Persuasion
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An overview of different kinds of visual persuasion and the interplay between journalism, PR and political propaganda.
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Visual Persuasion
- 3. Advertising
- 4. Marketing
- 6. Journalism
Editor's Notes
- What kinds of people are called heroes?
- Classic advertising techniques: Transfering emotion of the image to the brand, in this case America is the brand. Identiftying America with motherhood-- something vulnerable that needs protection
- Masculinity is also a conistant thread in military propaganda. The image on the left seems to represent more than a man holding a bomb, but a rather large symbol of manhood. On the right is also an strong image of manhood.
- Guns of course are always strong symbols of virility and masculinity. The promise of these ads is power.
- Updated versions of this-- except now the military wants to recruit women to perform information services. Notice the presence of technology. Also notice that these ads feature women of color. The military depends on recruiting disenfranchised workers, women of color being an important part of the pool of labor surplus.
- Some current recruitment ads that promote ethnic and racial diversity. It’s also interesting to note how being a mediamaker is promoted as one of the skills you can acquire in the military.
- Leni Riefenstahl Rally was a set built for film Power of camera angles Authority of crowds The leadership principle
- This is the staging area for press briefings at the start of the Iraq invasion in Quatar. I couldn’t help but notice the look and design of the of the room which uses the symbols of media (monitors), the hybrid pulpit that is also like the control panel of a spaceship, and the composit saltelite images of the world that signify that the united states is in control and views everything simultaneously. The combat uniforms of the officers also gives a sense of urgency. These are stage costumes because from the vantage of an air-conditioned building, these clothes are totally unnecessary.
- The stong leadership principle. The image of Hitler as a knight on a horse harks to the past. The image of Bush as a pilot on an aircraft carrier invokes WWII. Neither were soldiers, yet they are portrayed as such in these carefully crafted images.
- Bush and Eisenhower. Authority is given by the backdrop. Note that Bush’s jacket is like a tank commander jacket.
- Bush on the Aircraft carrier Lincoln. Tom Cruise in Top Gun.
- Action figures. Popular culture fuses with war.
- So when we see images of the twin towers our first reaction is: it looks like a movie. And in a sense it is. Not to distract from the very real horror of the tragedy, but in the 21st century war and terrorism is often as much about being performance art as it is about political and military objectives.
- Playing with the film-like quality of war and media, Mad Magazine made this parody of how the Iraq invasion was staged like a film, which harks to the earlier images of the Nazi rallies that were staged for film. Now war is staged for television.
- Three images that link film, nostalgia and the current war. The image in the upper left corner was taken during the Faljuh operation. It spread quickly because I believe it so close to the famous Eugene Smith image of the upper right corner from WWII. The bottom image is from Apocalypse Now! All these images work together and are interdependent like the Museum Without Walls, which is the collective image unconsciousness of our culture.
- Here are two film images that are making commentary on how battles are often staged for camera. The top still is from Apocalypse Now! Featuring a cameo by director Frances Ford Copola. The bottom is from Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket.
- One image is from Apocalypse Now! The other is from the New York Times coverage of the Iraq War. The art of photography with its use of light and composition is inherited from classic painting.
- More images from the New York Times coverage of Iraq riverboat patrols. Sunset light-- the golden hour-- is a classical technique derived from the Renaissance called chiaroscuro
- This image by Italian Carravagio demonstrates a classical lighting technique that has been inteernalized by war photographers.
- Additionally you will notice how many of the images that come from embedded photojournalists show solidiers in position of power, with their weapons, high-tech gadgetry and confident facial expressions.
- Like first person shooter videogames, many images are shot from behind the gun.
- Some images from the popular video game, Call of Duty 4.
- More images from Call of Duty 4.
- Some Pentagon press pool photos
- Note how the image of the Americans and coalition troops is one of contrasts: on the one hand order, form and technology, and the other destruction, the exotic other, chaos and social disorder. The bagged heads is more political theater: it’s a means of dehumanizing the enemy
- Is he Charles Mansion or Saddam Husein? Or a dog. This staged media event after Saddam’s capture was intended to dehumanize him and show him as an animal being inspected by a veterinarian.
- More depictions of the alien other as powerless against US force and technology.
- These images are from Al Jazeera. Note now Iraqi’s are shown as victims of aggression. The lower right image shows an American boot kickign a corps. The image on the right shows an American soldier as vulnerable and injured, something you rarely see in US media.
- Some paralles in popular cutlure: an image of African American soldiers and Hip Hop.
- The enemy as other: mysterious, dangerous, unknowable.
- Context is everything. More images from Al Jazeera showing the Americans as both small, vulnerable and as aggressors.