Joseph Goebbels

The medium of film is a remarkably powerful tool for relaying a message. There are many aspects – such as camera work, lighting, sound, and music – that can be manipulated in order to provoke a certain reaction from the audience. Propaganda films take full advantage of all these tools at hand, and use them in particular ways to make viewers believe something that is probably either not true, or highly exaggerated. In The Eternal Jew, Joseph Goebbels and Fritz Hippler manipulate the medium of film using the interplay between narration, sound, and images as a means to propagandize the illusion of fundamental differences between the Jews and the Germans in their natural inclination and values. In doing so, Goebbels and Hippler incite paranoia …show more content…
They try to explain that that is why Germans and Jews do different types of work; Germans and Jews are inherently different. They imply that Germans typically do not go into the trade business because bartering, being intrusive, and being aggressive are not what Germans are naturally inclined to do. Goebbels and Hippler also shut down the possibility that the Jews are forced into the trade business because they do not have opportunities in other types of jobs. Even though the lack of opportunity for Jews is most likely what actually led to the massive amount of Jews in the trade business, this film immediately dismisses the fact, and instead provides an excuse – an excuse that Goebbels and Hippler use to stir up a sense of division felt among the German viewers toward the Jews. The implementation of this aggressive personality onto the Jew, and the attribution of the type of job with natural inclination thus create the illusion of a fundamental difference between the German viewers and the Jews in their inherent …show more content…
It also shows them working outside, with close-up shots of their biceps to show that Aryan men are strong. These images are coupled with grand, patriotic music to make them look like respected figures that work for the benefit of the nation, a stark contrast to the values that the Jews are presented in this film to have. The Aryan men are also filmed in a low angle shot, a type of shot typically used in order to make the subject look more strong and powerful. This series of clips leaves the German viewers feeling as if their race is rather superior to that of the Jews. The following narration says, “The Jew buys and sells, but produces nothing; they leave that to the Germans,” creating the sense of a fundamental division among them – an “us vs. them” mindset. It makes the German viewers feel hostility toward the Jews, thus polarizing the two groups even