990
edits
Changes
→Modern Propaganda
World War I began the era of military and government propaganda that de-emphasized the ruler and focused more on the people. In this case, propaganda tried to make people feel compelled that it was their duty to serve the state in times of peril or war. Increasingly, stories of the enemy conducting atrocities, whether real or imagined, were portrayed in the wider media. With the rise of film and radio, propaganda began to move to this new medium. Propaganda could now reach not only the entire country easily but it could be broadcast beyond. This opened up new forms of propaganda in World War 2 with radio personalities such as Tokyo Rose that attempted to discourage American soldiers. The war effort was also fully mobilised in the population, with different forms of propaganda geared towards men and women. For women, it was about serving their country in the factories or helping produce enough to fight. For men, it was about encouraging them to fight and serve in the military.
Since the Cold War, films increasingly were used as propaganda, where villainous individuals serving countries that were considered the enemy would fight heroic figures from a country that protects humanity. This began to transcend purely adult based propaganda. Cartoons and superheros (e.g., Captain America) began to emerge as individuals who would serve their country in a greater cause to protect democratic principals and the free world. While this reflected American propaganda, Soviet propaganda was more focused on the virtues of Communism and Leninism, including liberating workers from an oppressive capitalist system. Countries were shown as 'filthy' and corrupt and the virtues of communism could save them from enslaving people. Often, the past was used to conjure a heroic era of people serving their countries and were ready to die for it in times of great peril. The use of the past, heroic individuals, and espousing virtues became prevalent not only in film but on posters, statues, and even theater and performances within the Soviet Union. Since the end of the Cold War, over propaganda among the great Western powers has diminished, although some would argue that the medium has now shifted towards news channels, editorials, or even online sites pushing given ideas to audiences, with propaganda more focused on messages for specific people rather than the wider country or even beyond.
==Summary==
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