Despite the aftermath of the First World War, Germany regained its power and started World War II. The United States, who had held officially neutrality for the first two years of the war, joined the Allies after the attact on Pearl Harbor in 1941. For the leader of the United States, the primary mission is how to persuade American people to support entering the war in Europe , especially when citizens held common suspicion to the government whose propaganda skills were exposed by former Committee on Public Information leader, George Creel after World War I and when Institute of Propaganda Analysis was trying to teach the publics how to detect propaganda. As strong propaganda weapons, the posters, which were based on “an increased awareness
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To raise American’s aversion and anger to the enemy, the demonization technique was widely employed by the propagandist. In the poster The Sower, the author, Thomas Hart Benton, analogize the Nazi as a death sower. In the image, a half naked man, who is short but strong, is dispersing skulls, a symbol of death that also shows up when describing cannibals; he puts one hand on hip, delivering the information of aggression while his half-nude in the wild field represents barbarian and unruliness. The audience can easily recognize an ugly and scary face from the profile face of this “sower”. Overconfidence and defeatism are both dangerous to the morale. Depicting the enemy as a barbarian. the poster implanted an idea into audience’s mind that the enemy is wicked, surmuntable, but not fragile. The background is dark, with red and yellow smoke, which implies blood and poison gas. The author implied that Nazi was so inhuman that they employed chemical weapons. In addition, the audience can see the front faces of their enemy in the WARNING! Our Homes Are in Danger Now!, in which the Japanese is depicted as a wretched man with gagtooth and the German is depicted as the look of Hitler; their greedy eyes are staring at the US. Furthermore, in Stamp `Em Out!, the Nazi and Japanese are analogized to vipers who have the image of Rising Sun Flag and Swastika. This poster connects people’s natural aversion of the vipers to the aversion of the enemy’s image. The enemies were dehumanized and demonized, by which the propagandist could arouse audience’s aversion emotion and anger to the objection, the enemies. The audience was encouraged or inspired to have the hatred towards the enemies, although the enemies’ behaviors haven’t directly affected them. The posters were like a bridge that connected the brutal behaviors that committed thousands mile away to the American citizens, who felt
To raise American’s aversion and anger to the enemy, the demonization technique was widely employed by the propagandist. In the poster The Sower, the author, Thomas Hart Benton, analogize the Nazi as a death sower. In the image, a half naked man, who is short but strong, is dispersing skulls, a symbol of death that also shows up when describing cannibals; he puts one hand on hip, delivering the information of aggression while his half-nude in the wild field represents barbarian and unruliness. The audience can easily recognize an ugly and scary face from the profile face of this “sower”. Overconfidence and defeatism are both dangerous to the morale. Depicting the enemy as a barbarian. the poster implanted an idea into audience’s mind that the enemy is wicked, surmuntable, but not fragile. The background is dark, with red and yellow smoke, which implies blood and poison gas. The author implied that Nazi was so inhuman that they employed chemical weapons. In addition, the audience can see the front faces of their enemy in the WARNING! Our Homes Are in Danger Now!, in which the Japanese is depicted as a wretched man with gagtooth and the German is depicted as the look of Hitler; their greedy eyes are staring at the US. Furthermore, in Stamp `Em Out!, the Nazi and Japanese are analogized to vipers who have the image of Rising Sun Flag and Swastika. This poster connects people’s natural aversion of the vipers to the aversion of the enemy’s image. The enemies were dehumanized and demonized, by which the propagandist could arouse audience’s aversion emotion and anger to the objection, the enemies. The audience was encouraged or inspired to have the hatred towards the enemies, although the enemies’ behaviors haven’t directly affected them. The posters were like a bridge that connected the brutal behaviors that committed thousands mile away to the American citizens, who felt