It's been a long day full of schoolwork, so possibly
my mind is a bit addled. But after
viewing Harvest of Shame, Triumph of the Will, and Why We Fight, I'd swear I can see a
similarity between all three films. Due
to bias, they're all propaganda.
With
Harvest of Shame, I was able to see
the great ER Murrow's last piece of special correspondence. It focused on the plight of the American
migrant worker during 1960. And I'm not
ashamed to admit that while viewing it, a tear or two or three quietly slipped
down my cheeks. Workers, both adults and
children alike, were crammed into trucks Auschwitz style en route to the next
farm to pick the growers' harvests. They
frequently had nowhere to sleep, and when they did, their beds were either made
of straw or had holes eaten into them by rats.
"Communities" in which they lived often only had one spigot
for water and no restrooms. What I saw
were people who were barely existing, but certainly not "living."
Throughout the entire piece, Murrow, in my opinion, was simply reporting on the
conditions under which these people lived.
He interviewed migrant workers as well as the prosperous growers. It was only until the last sixty seconds of
the episode that bias entered when he said, "The people you have seen have
the strength to harvest your fruit and vegetables. They do not have the strength to influence
legislation. Maybe we do." I'll never forget this particular piece of journalism.
It was compelling and informative. Yet,
it did show bias, and thus lands in the propaganda pile. But I don't necessarily think that's an awful
place to be, either.
The
Third Reich came marching back with Triumph
of the Will. Grand marches blared,
pastoral scenery swept by, and soldiers marched by, as I, the viewer, was
invited through the most spectacular use of propaganda, to witness in awe the
majesty that was Adolf Hitler. Wow, talk
about bias and misleading! I realize
that it's hard for me as an American to view this piece objectively. Hitler of course, is one of the greatest
evils ever visited upon man. But I think
the film served the purpose it was created for.
Germany had been ravaged during WWI.
And then they suffered their economic collapse during their runaway
inflation. They were completely and utterly
destroyed. I can see how a populace would look for a
virtual "savior" and want to feel pride in their country again. Triumph of the Will perfectly fit the
bill for what the evil Fuhrer wanted.
And
then I watched excerpts from Why We Fight.
There are some great films that were released during the latter half of the 1940s:
Miracle on 34th Street, Oliver Twist,
Little Women, Sunset Blvd., and especially All About Eve. I swear, if you've never seen that movie, do
so now! You'll never hear such quick wit
and incredibly timing. They just don't
write scripts like that anymore. But I
digress. There's one thing that always
seems to be a constant theme that runs through most of those films though. Everything is
very...."whitewashed"? You know, the real America is rarely showing
during films from that era. I somewhat
got that same feeling while watching Why
We Fight. Sure, the US was on the "right"
side during the war. Director Frank
Capra did a great job of letting us know why we needed to be in that fight
though. Most Americans at the time did not want us to get involved in what they
viewed as Europe's war. So Capra did as he was asked and produced a series of
short films aimed at gearing America up for war and bolstering our
confidence. Propaganda. But as I stated earlier, that's not always a
bad place to land.
So,
can the media be a useful and good tool, when it's being used by the
government? Or are we being tools
ourselves when we let the media deliver a message they know to be propaganda
and we "buy in?" Actually I'll answer yes to both questions. And I don't think that's such a horrible
arrangement.
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