Documentary Vs Nazi Propaganda

How different is a nature documentary and Nazi propaganda, really? My suggestion is they 're not very different at all. Of course, our expectations of documentaries and propaganda vary: we expect documentaries to be truthful, reliable. Propaganda of groups such as the Nazis, meanwhile, is considered manipulative—a great evil in the world. However, both utilise techniques of persuasion to the point of altering reality—when the style of the documentary becomes as important as its content; when, as put by Marshall McLuhan, the 'Medium becomes the message. ' This lecture will explore the validity of McLuhan 's statement to examples of both documentaries and propaganda, proving how persuasive these films really are.

Association—a major persuasive …show more content…
As stated by Johann N. Schmidt, a Professor of English Literature at the University of Humbug, the purpose of a musical score is "to orchestrate and manipulate emotions and heighten the suggestive expressivity of the story." Numerous examples of the persuasive effects of music are exhibited throughout the political propaganda films; Olympia by Leni Reifenstahl, Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein, as well as in BBC 's nature documentary Human Planet. A direct correlation exists between a viewer 's attentiveness to a scene and their susceptibility to manipulation—successful music directors, such as Olympia 's Herbert Wendt, exploit this connection (Wilson, 2014). The soundtrack of Olympia takes the audience on an emotional journey: a soft, predominately string-sounding orchestra builds in volume and vigour throughout shots of preparing discus throwers. The viewer 's tension is heightened—until an extremity, synchronised with the athlete 's throw, is reached. Another successful illustration of this technique is the 'Odessa Steps ' sequence from Battleship Potemkin. A series of low-pitched notes in rapid, equal succession slowly build to a fevered high pitch. They convey the stress and immediacy of the civilians futilely running down a set of steps, while simultaneously heightening the tension of the audience. In Human Planet, the technique is also used. During the …show more content…
It 's an ugly word, a terrible concept—yet an effective persuasive technique. As put by Birthe Hansen, an author of a book on historical political developments, "the opponent is portrayed as less human...in order to induce a 'them versus us ' feeling." It is used in not only in Neo-Darwinism, a eugenics-based Nazi propaganda film, but also in the documentary Animal Planet. Aimed as it is at the shock-loving Westerners, acts of humour—for example, jokingly labelling the equipment tribespeople use as "stone-age tools"—are used as a persuasive technique. Animal Planet, in comparing their lifestyle with that of the 'superior ' Westerners, ' brands them as uncivilised and primitive, and the audience, seeing them as 'less human, ' seeks, problematically, to preserve their "free" way of life. It is important to notice this dismissal of a foreign culture, for with this technique of dehumanisation, the documentary changes the meaning of its message. Compare this interpretation to Neo-Darwinism, a film that proposes the idea of likening humans to animals—the idea of breeding an ideal human race— with the technique of a constant comparison between humanity and fauna. Once again, this ideology is aimed at the perceived superiority of its viewers. Making the opponent seem socially beneath the viewers ' own status gives the makers of the propaganda freedom to inflict their will onto anyone they visually dehumanise. McLuhan was correct when he stated that the medium—the