Monday, November 17, 2008
Propaganda - Period 2
Propagandists have long known that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Therefore Hitler was determined that all works of art would reflect the ideals of National Socialism. He began by imprisoning or exiling what he called “degenerate” artists. Then he enlisted a corps of “obedient artists” willing to immortalize on canvas the fantasy world he described in his speeches and writings.
Is “a picture worth a thousand words?” What can pictures do that words cannot do? Which makes a stronger impression on you? The word degenerate means “evil” or “corrupt”; the word decadent, “decaying” or “rotting.” Why do you think Hitler used these adjectives to describe art he considered “unGerman”?
Keep in mind that art is never objective: art is always subjective. It forces a viewer to adjust his or her perception in order to make a decision about the value and meaning of a particular work of art. After World War II, the nations that defeated Germany had to decide what to do with art that glorified the Nazis. What would you have done with the art and why?
Post your reflective comment and response to one other student by the end of the day Friday, November 21st.
Mr. Gallagher
16 comments:
Pictures are a lot different then words. Words change over time and can be changed as time goes on. Also, words are a lot less believable than pictures. Through Pictures you are able to give a better perspective on a stand point and allow the viewer to comprehend and describe the situation a lot more. Through pictures Hitler was really able to place the citizens of Germany in a position to make them believe everything that was presented to them. Hitler made artists capture the scene of his speeches through pictures which would give the viewer a listening and viewing sense of the situation he was trying to express. Overall, in my opinion I think Hitler was successful in his propaganda and was able to convince the people of Germany to follow him.
-Saqib Z.
Pictures are worth thousands of words. we could all look at the same picture but get all sorts of messages from it. i think Hitler used the pictures to get to this point but at the same time us getting the same message from the same picture while thinkin of it diffrently. While compared to pictures, words are jsut wut the mean and what theyll always mean.
Kevin H.
Evan M.
I believe Hitler used pictures of Jews and other unworthy races, religons, etc, etc to save himself time. When a picture, movie, or TV show is published or broadcasted people react the same way as you speaking. Using the media Hitler saved himself and the other Nazi's a lot of time doing speeches in countless towns by just putting these racist photos in those towns media. Also many people espically kids look up to the media as a role-model by doing this a nice non-racist kid can turn into a Jewish hating kid by seeing those pictures in the media for few years or even less, and that was Hitler goal. The drawing are ways of converting everyone to Hitler's side.
I believe that pictures are worth a thousand words. When you get a group of people around a picture it gives people different feelings and not the same as the others around them. The thing is it usaually has somethring on the outside and a deeper concept inside the picture itself that you have to think about. Thats why i think propaganda works well for hitler because he was able to trap the viewer and get them to think about the main idea he was going for. Many people believd the propaganda at the time of hitler because they thought he was correct not only with the picture but the speeches as well.
MATT D
Yes, I do believe that a picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes. Pictures can evoke an emotional response through imagery that many words cannot spark. At the same time, words make as strong an impression on me as words. I have read a great deal of political speeches, specifically those of MLK and JFK, and their words made a stronger impact on me then pictures during their lives. Hitler used these adjectives to describe art that he considered "unGerman", because anything that didn't support his ideals disgusted him. The only opinion that mattered was his, and if people created art that was "unGerman", it was immediately considered "evil" due to its disloyalty to Germany's new dictator.
After WWII,I would have put the art that glorified the Nazis into museums. Unfortunately, the Nazis caused a genocide that cannot be erased, but the artwork praising the Nazis should not be erased also--it serves as a constant reminder of the evils of the world and how those people masterminded such a horrifying operation to destroy a people. Therefore, I feel that their artwork should be shown in museums to educate those who aren't familiar with the Holocaust and to serve as a reminder of the past evils so that history won't repeat itself.
I know personally when I went to Poland, I visited an art gallery created by a group of high school students who spent a semester abroad in Poland studying the Holocaust. There was an abundance of Holocast artwork praising the Nazis on display and written journal passages of the students in response to the images. Both these pictures and words made a strong impact on me, but even though this artwork praised the Nazis, it serves the important purpose of educating younger generations who haven't had the opportunity to learn about the Holocaust to a large extent.
I agree with Saquib that Hitler had artists who created the images that his speeches evoked in the minds of the German people and was successful in manipulating their beliefs.
Matt V
A picture is worth more than a thousand words. Pictures can do a lot more than words, because more people can see them. Pictures or posters of the Jews spread all around and everyone got to see them. The way pictures are drawn has an overall affect on the viewer and how they react to them. I think Hitler used these adjectives to describe art, because everyone believed what he said, so they just followed along and thought whatever he did was right. Hitler did a good job of using propaganda to win people over to his side.
I agree with Matt D. how Hitler used propaganda and how it helped him win over thousands of people.
A picture really is worth a thousand words; it can convey a idea to a person without them having to spend the time and read a essay or listen to a speech. Hitler took this idea and ran with it; he knew that by using obedient artist that could create works of art reflecting Nazi ideology he could affect more people and sway them to the Nazi ideology.
I think that art makes a stronger impression on me because from one look I can gleam a basic understanding of the concept it is trying to get across.
Hitler tried very hard to suppress unGerman art because he knew the affect that effect images could have on people.
I would have destroyed it because most of it was extremely derogatory to the entire race of Jews. Having said that, however, it is still important to preserve history so that the atrocisities of the Nazi’s are never forgotten.
mike L.
I believe a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures convey different means to people than words do. Words make people have the same emotion and pictures can create different emotions for everybody. I belive pictures make a stronger impression on you because you can visualize it and remember it easier. Hitler used "evil", "rotting",and " corrupt" to describe art he considered "ungerman" because he wanted germans to think that ungermans were different and evil and terriable people, compared to the germans who were shown as better. Ungermans also got from Hitler that they weren't accepted and that they were bad people when in actuallity they were just like everyone else. After world war II, all the art that glorified the Nazis, i would put it in muesums and show how the evidence and show how the ungermans were treated and show how the propaganda.
I agree with what Matt D. and how he said Hitler used propaganda to win over the germans and convince them.
-Brittany Murphy
Perhaps a picture is not worth a thousand words, but it is certainly worth a lot. A simple poster can portray a meaning that would require pages upon pages of words to explain. Hitler was incredibly devious through the use of art as propaganda, because the use of images is a great deal more powerful than words. The sight of an image is more attributed to truth than the written version of it.
Hitler was a master of brainwashing people. He used adjectives such as "decaying", "rotting" and "corrupt" to describe art he considered "unGerman" because it didn't follow his ideologies. Thus people attributed everything that was against the Nazi party as evil and corrupt.
As for what to do with art that glorifies the Nazis, I believe that it should be destroyed. The negative art should be kept because it shows how racist the Nazis were, and I really don't think that there should be anything that glorifies the Nazis.
Victor Z.
I think that a picture is worth a thousand words and that a picture can have a bigger impact on a person than words can. Pictures help the viewer visualize the idea, it becomes real to them. Words leave a lot of things to be determined. Pictures present the material in an "in-your-face" manner and make the idea hard to ignore.
Words, as well as pictures, can instill an emotional response in a person, that is why they are so powerful. Words like "rotting", "decaying", "degenerate", and "corrupt" create an image in peoples minds that attaches a feeling or image .. those emotions coupled with the image of a jewish person can cause the viewer to begin pairing the two togehter. That is the way Hitler brainwashed people.
Mike makes a really good point that a picture can be seen quickly whereas an essay or speech may take time to read and decifer. with an image, people are forced to have an emotion, or feel a certain way about the idea presented. Images are so powerful because of their accessability and their capability to force its viewers to feel a certain way. you can decide not to read an article or essay or speech .. but an image is right there, staring you in the face.
The phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" is more true today than ever. Today people are, in a way, lazy due to the technology around us. It is much more common for people to go home and watch the news vs. reading the paper. We know that we can get our information faster and make a choice about the event faster. It is easier for someone to show you a picture than give you words that you then need to create the picture yourself. In propaganda, we are not able to make a decision. This way, every viewer is making a decision off of the same thing. Hitler understood this and executed it to perfection.
If i were given the choice of what to do about all this Nazi propaganda, i would not destroy it. I would keep it as a warning for future propaganda that is conveying something dangerous. We must aways be learning from our past. Thia is how we set the future right. I do agree with Mike though because a lot of the propaganda was detrimental to the Jewish image. Some art may have to be destroyed for the integrity of a group.
Regardless of the fact that Hitler was a complete and total power-hungary, worthless, ignorant human being, he was a master at creating propaganda. Through a picture, Hitler was able to create an image which envoked certain feelings and swayed the viewer to feel a different way. By taking the Jewish art for example, Hitler could portray the art as something which was a negative and by looking at the picture, the viewer could get the same sense. Hitler was able to use the pictures as a way to brainwash his people into believing certain ideas. And for this reason, a picture can be worth a thousand words. The propaganda used during the Nazi regime attracted thousands of new suporters due to the images that were shown. The images were created with the intent of portraying the Jewish people as inferior.
I agree with Rob in saying that if I had the choice I would keep the propaganda as a warning for future propaganda.
Dan F.
I agree with lauren that a picture really is worth a thousand words. Pictures have a way of going beyond a literal meaning and can SHOW a particular idea or emotion. Pictures are accessible to the public. THey are easy to be seen on a large scale. Unlike a speech, article or other announcement, the entire idea of a picture can be taken in with one look or glance. Pictures also tend to stick in your memory and it is easier to recall the idea when it has a visual to go along with it.
THe words Hitler used to describe the art he did not approve of was a very effective way of applying a negative connotation to the images. As I said, it is easier to recall information when there is a corresponding visual memory. By using words like degenerate to refer to this "unGerman art", Hitler was ensuring that these works were not viewed as something beautiful or important. I agree with Victor that Hitler's skill of brainwashing people to believe his ideas was outstanding. It is clear that he used this propaganda to do so.
I think that it is important to keep the Nazi propaganda as a reminder to everyone of how corrupt an organization can be, and how powerful it can get. In the same way that we have the holocaust museum to understand what happened to the Jewish people, it is also important to understand what happened to the German people during this regime. The propaganda shows us the very question we are trying to answer through this course: How was it that the German people were able to allow this terrible event to occur. The propaganda is an important tool for us to know how life was during that time.
-Clarissa S
Pictures explain themselves, there are no true words that define a given picture. Pictures show much more than words can describe. Pictures make a stronger impression on me due to the fact that it's a memory, a moment forzen in time. With one picture, you can remember the events leading to the moment and the events occuring after. Hitler used such adjectives to describe art he considered "unGerman" because art shows an occurence, and words just portray it to a certain degree. Hitler had a way with words, therefore pictures would corrupt his ideas of creating a new Germany. People would see his wrong doings.
I would have kept the art and put up others next to them of the hardships the jews were put through by the Nazis so that people can see both sides of the story and find their own meaning and balance point between the two.
~Jillisa S.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures eliminate interpretation and imagination, which words will always require. Words actually make a stronger impression on me. In my opinion, Hitler used the word “degenerate” to describe art he considered unGerman because he believed that this art corrupted German society. He believed the art was an evil that would corrupt the Germans. He also used it because it is a very strong word that would create support for his views.
I would have kept all the Nazi art. It is all a valuable part of history just like anything else. It will remind people of the awful events of the holocaust. I would put them in a museum.
Zack L.
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