IB Theme Project

They Shall Not Grow Old

For one of my personally selected peices of liturature, I chose the movie They Shall Not Grow Old, which is recreated WW1 images with personal accounts of the war.

Throughout the movie, a common propaganda message is refuted, which is "the enemy is a monster". In the beginning of the movie, the "destroy this mad brute" propaganda poster is shown along with one veteran saying "we were taught to hate germans and everything they stand for". Towards the end of the movie, this idea gets refuted when images are shown of German POWs laughing and talking with the British infantrymen. One British veteran said "Almost all the Germans we brought back were really nice guys, all of them acted as if they didn't want to be here and wanted the war to end". The movie helps dismantle this idea portayed by the propaganda by showing the enemy as "just another person". The pictures and background commentary help the viewer feel how the soldiers felt about the enemy and all their misconceptions.

The movie also helps dismantle another common idea portrayed in propaganda. This time, the idea that "war is a time to join up with your friends and have fun". At the beginning of the movie, one of the veterans said that he grabbed a bunch of his buddies and went to the recruiting office to sign up together. He said he thought it was going to be a lot of fun and a "joyful experience". Later in the movie, the same veteran talked about how he watched his "mates die left and right" the screen showing pictures of men before and after they had bullet holes lodged in their skulls. The producer uses these images to convey the message that joining up with your friends is surely to end in death and despair

They Shall Not Grow Old

Benjamin Britton's War Requiem

In my analysis of War Requiem, I found many ways that it helps heal the destruction and hostility of Propaganda. The first and most noticeable is from the context of the requiem itself. Back in 2018, in an act of British-German friendship, A playing of War Requiem was done with Musicians and Vocalists from both the UK and Germany. This event really gives light to the way that liturature and fine arts can be used to unite people together and heal deep divides.

Another way that War Requiem heals the wounds created by war propaganda is in The third act. The chorus sings "free the souls of all the faithful / dead from the tortures of hell, / and from the bottomless pit: / free them from the mouth of the lion , / that hell may not swallow them up, / nor may they fall into darkness" (III). In these lines, Benjamin Britton is challenging the common form of propaganda that dying for one's country gets you into a beautiful afterlife, by countering that belief with the idea that all the war dead are stuck in hell for all eternity.

Another way that War Requiem addresses various messages potrayed in propaganda is in the first movement. Here, the common message, "War will make you a hero" is refuted. The poem "anthem for doomed youth" by Wilfred Owen is sampled in this movement, starting with the lines "What passing-bells for those who die as cattle?" (line 1). Here, Britton is trying to show how many young boys are mislead by the idea that they will become heroes on the battlefield, when in reality, many of them are just going to be slaughtered.

Benjamin Britton's War Requiem

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen used his poems to shine light on many instances of propaganda used by the different governments involved in the war, Owen's anti-war messages were very effective at causing the reader to get very emotionally charged and left a lasting impact. One example of where Owen challenged a common type of propaganda is in his poem Strange Meeting. Here, Owen challenges a common idea that is often included in propaganda, which is "the enemy is a monster". In this poem, the main character goes down to hell and has a conversation with a man who looked strangely familiar. It is later revealed by the strange man that "I am the enemy you killed, my friend / I knew you in this dark: for you frowned / yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed. / I parried; but my hands were loath and cold. / Let us sleep now" (lines 40-44). This creates a feeling a humanization of the enemy in both the character in the poem and the reader, working the abolish the stereotype and expectation that the propaganda has left.

Another example of Wilfred Owen challenging common propaganda through the use of his poems is in his poem Disabled. Here, Owen challenges the common message conveyed by propaganda, which is "when you come back from war, you'll be treated like a hero". Owen challenges this idea by telling the story of a man who just got back from WWI, the man is paralysed and is treated like a nobody throughout the whole poem. One significant quote that shows this is "Tonight he noticed how the women's eyes / Passed from him to the strong men that were whole / How cold and late it is! Why don't they come / and put him into bed? Why don't they come?" (lines 43-46). The soldier had the expectation that when he got home, everyone would cheer and throw parties for him but now he's in nursing home, with no legs, and women don't even look at him. Owen conveys the idea that when you come home, the war stays with you, and no one seems to notice or care about you more than before you were on the battlefield.

Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address

In Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address, Lincoln "Addresses" (see what I did there) the political and social divide between the Northern half and Southern half of the country. In a way, Lincoln fights against the propaganda spewed out by both sides. Southern Soldiers were lead to believe that all Northerners were soft, lazy, city folks while Northern Soldiers were lead to believe that all Southerners were Hillbilly, Inbred, Racists who couldn't count past 3. Lincoln, instead of trying to ignite an even bigger divide between the two groups, decides to make an attempt to heal the wounds caused by the misinformation spread about the opposition. To summerize the speech, Lincoln makes the point that the war is the fault of both sides for letting slavery happen in the first place, and that "With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds" meaning that the North and South are to work together if they want to bring the country back together. Lincoln is refuting the common idea potrayed in propaganda that "the enemy is some kind of monster that can't even be seen as human

Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi's book, Persepolis, has many examples of combatting propaganda, Satrapi goes into great detail about many of the forms of propaganda she was exposed to as a child living in Iran and addresses them really well as an author. One major example of this is through the idea of "the key". In one chapter, Satrapi writes about how her maid's son ended up getting a plastic gold key from the government, claiming that it was the "key to paradise". It is shown that the key is only given to poor children, with the intent of having them sent to the front lines, believing they were the heroes of the war. Satrapi is challenging the common idea that "to die a martyr is to die with honor" that is often potrayed in Iranian propaganda at the time. On page 102, there are two contrasting images. The top image depicts the young boys wearing the keys around their necks as they explode in mid-air, a dark, gloomy background surrounds the boys as their limbs are blown off in the air. The bottom image shows Marjane and her friends partying, but also jumping in the air in the same postions as the child soldiers were. Satrapi uses this juxtaposition to show how the Martyrs are really just dying for nothing, the rich sit back and party while the poor fight the war for them.

Another example of Satrapi using the power of her memoir to challenge propaganda in Iran is at the Beginnig of the book during the reign of the shah. Here, Satrapi refutes a common message relayed in propaganda, which is "follow the leader, he'll lead you to victory". In this case, the leader is the shah. People all over Iran trusted and saw him as some kind of divine god of sorts. What these people didn't know was the corrupt nature of the Shah, people only saw him on T.V and posters and really didn't know anything about him. One day, the Shah sent police officers to burn down a movie theater and the doors were locked and the people on the inside were burned alive. Satrapi uses this example to demonstrate how you can't really know someone just from seeing them on T.V or on a poster in the street.

Persepolis