Howard Zinn's essay, "We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God," alludes to the "romance" of recruiting posters in the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-48 (see p. 57). This week, I'd like to draw attention to the persuasive power of war posters and other mass-circulated images that present a particular view of a political/ideological issue. Since we're in an election season, it's not hard to find examples of the latter. Most political advertising falls into this category.
Use the web resources below to design an art project for your students. If you are not teaching at this time, design an art project for the students in this class.
"War Propaganda Posters from Around the World" -
http://creativefan.com/war-propaganda-posters/
"11 Best U.S. Presidential Campaign Posters of All Time"-
http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2012/05/25/11-best-u-s-presidential-campaign-posters-of-all-time.html#viewAll
"Posters from the United States of America Mexican-American War" -
http://www.war-stories.com/war-posters-mexican-war-posters.htm
The aims of this project will be to: a) promote critical visual literacy of images designed to persuade, b) develop student insight into the significance of historical events (especially the U.S.-Mexican War) and their continuing relevance today, c) teach design elements of persuasive visual images, d) encourage students to explore, communicate and debate their own position on current issues such as Mexican immigration, border violence and economic exploitation of undocumented workers, and e) provide an opportunity for students to represent their views in a visual image designed to persuade and win over skeptics.
This should be an art project you can use. As part of the assignment, you might design your own poster to share with the class! If you do, please send me the image and I will post it to the blog.
This assignment is due next Sunday at midnight. I've noticed that many of you are not posting by the scheduled deadline. Please do not let this continue. It could have an effect on your final grade.
I'm really enjoying this book because of its subject and how it pertains to my own students. I think I'm going to have to take advantage of a few of these ideas and tweak them a bit to fit the art curriculum. It's funny how we are moving into the subject of war propaganda because a few nights ago (before reading our assignment for this week) I had a dream that took me back to my first year in college when a friend and I were at the Central Library and saw that they were in need for volunteers for the Texana/Genealogy department. Seemed interesting so we decided to volunteer and they put us to work documenting their WWII poster collection (which we had no idea they had)! The dream was about me wanting to steal all the posters so I could hang them in my own house, but I think it's weird how the next day I find out that our assignment has something to do with that!! Anyway…at that time I became a little interested in how these posters were selling the war. I worked a bit with that idea in an attempt to reveal what I really felt about it. Shortly after that, I changed my major from Computer Engineering to Art!! (Dr. E, I will be sending you a picture of the painting I did during this time!!)
ReplyDeleteFor my lesson I'd like the students to work around the same concept I did during my first year of college, but with a different direction.
1. Of course, the first major part of this project would be a lesson on the U.S./Mexican War. I really like the excerpt "We take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God" and would go over text for the sake of the historical background information. Aside to the excerpt, I'd like to incorporate some kind of video documentary. I've found that my students respond well to videos as enrichment for my lessons. There's a series by the History Channel that was released called "America, the Story of Us". I haven't seen the part with the Mexican War, so I'd have to view it to see if it fits with my lesson. The ultimate goal is for the students to be able to form their own opinions about the war.
2. Next, the students will be asked to reflect, present, and debate about how the Mexican War still might be relevant in current border issues today. The main objective of the reflection/debate would be for each student to use what they have learned (along with their own experiences) and form their own opinion about current issues regarding Mexican immigration and other related topics.
3. After the students have grasped the history of the US/Mexican War, I would introduce a lesson on propaganda techniques. These are Assertion, Bandwagon, Card Stacking, Glittering Generalities, Lesser of Two Evils, Name Calling, Pinpointing the Enemy, Plain Folks, Stereotyping, and Testimonials. The students will learn about these strategies and should be able to analyze examples of political posters and identify what type(s) of propaganda techniques are used.
4. For their final project, I'd like the students to choose one or two propaganda techniques and incorporate them into a poster of their own. Using these techniques, the student's goal is to promote their stance on border issues in the same way governments do with their political propaganda.
I know it needs some detailing and specifications, but this is a general lesson I've come up with that I think would be interesting for some of my upper level students. The more I thought about this lesson, the more I'd like to try this in an Art II or Art III class. I could really see this being a successful printmaking or even a painting project, but any suggestions on what other mediums the students can use to create these posters?
Anna, like I said cardboard for printmaking is cheap and abundant. The trick is you can’t get much detail with it so you have to combine it with some mixed media, acrylic and micron pens or fine tip sharpies gives a nice balance between your big patches of printed color and sharp dark lines for detail. Card board is nice too because you can peel back the top layer is some areas for a corrugated print area and leave others solid, which gives you some more flexibility.
DeleteAna, Great ideas! And please do send me a pic of the painting you made. I'll post it next to Stephen's in the "Resources for Students" column. ...Oops, I just saw what time it is. I have to get to bed because I have to get up early to teach. More tomorrow!
DeleteHere I am again as promised! Ana, let me say that I'm impressed by your knowledge of propaganda techniques. Because we're immersed in a consumer society in which images and slogans oil the wheels of commerce, it's absolutely essential that children get this information asap. If they are old enough to want a toy because it looks fun in the commercial, then they're old enough to understand marketing, if not how and why it works. I'm not a mom or an early childhood specialist so I don't know how soon is too soon, but I know that by 6th grade they're ready to learn. U.S. kids are amazingly media savvy.
DeleteAnd yet in other ways we're amazingly gullible. Political ads and war propaganda play on emotion, gullibility, and just plain ignorance. I think the best eradicator of ignorance is history. That's why I'm glad you brought up the History Channel documentary about immigration in the U.S. The History Channel creates accessible documentaries that are very engrossing and informative. It's also why I strongly encourage my students - who are often teachers - to know the historical background of the art they are covering in class and to be clear make connections between past and present. The past never really goes away - it continues to resonate in the present, and has a way of repeating itself in a sort of infinite feedback loop. I'm convinced that the more "depth of field" a person has on the past-present connection, the less likely they are to fall for propaganda techniques (and to recognize old tricks in high-tech multi-platform micro-targeted drag).
We emailed earlier today about your take on war propaganda when you were working with propaganda posters in a special library collection. Your painting, "For Home and Country?," points out a hideous aspect of WWI that is not widely known. Before plastic surgery was invented, soldiers who had their faces blown off were fitted for metal face plates that looked like scary masks. They look like scary masks to us today because we're not accustomed to the sight. But in the years following WWI, returning soldiers were stuck with these things for the rest of their lives.
War propaganda usually show us the solider BEFORE he/she goes off to war. Before going to war, the solider is young, idealistic, healthy and strong. Your propaganda poster is the "after" counterpart to the more typical image. It questions if it's worth the price some have had to pay.
I want to first say I love the online resources you linked in. I will for sure be showing lots of these to my kids this year. I am actually really excited to do something like this in my classes this year, mainly to see how the student I mentioned last week responds. Like I said I usually show lots of Shepard Fairy work and ask kids to question why they view American lives as more valuable than non-western lives, and we make our own propaganda posters. We usually look at pretense for invasion as a starting point. 9-11, WMD’s ect. We then look at his work depicting women and the veil. I ask them the first thing that comes to mind and I always get” terrorists”, I don’t even have to bait them. I use this to take about Muslim vs. terrorist, and if they think the media has affected their interpretation of the two words.
ReplyDeleteI had NEVER thought to connect the false justification for the Iraq war with the false justifications for the Mexican American War of 1846. I think I can make tons of links between the two instances of political powers using patriotism and nationalism to justify war. Additionally, I think this de-humanizing of the “other” or the enemy could give students a powerful insight to mass manipulation and a greater understanding of why they find Muslim and terrorist synonymous, even when they don’t actually thing that.
A section that stuck out to me that seemed relevant to the U.S. mission in Iraq and Afghanistan was “Accompanying all this aggressiveness was the idea that United States would be giving the blessings of liberty and democracy to more people.” Pg. 55. I mean how many parallels does that have with the current international climate?
As far as visual literacy goes I always highlight the simplicity of political posters and propaganda is in contrast to how complex the issues at hand are. I try to push students to see things in greys, not black and white, right and wrong, good and evil. When I talk about Afghanistan/ Iraqi – American relations they never know about the US backing Saddam Hussein, or arming and aiding Afghan mujahedeen.
I will go out on a limb and guess they are equally ignorant about the Mexican American war of 1946 and how that chapter of history has shaped their current perspective on contemporary issues as well.
I usually ask students to pick a topic that is usually portrayed right or wrong, black and white. Then depict the nuances of the issues, and really try to explore the complexity of what is really at hand. We do it in my drawing Art 2 class on black drawing paper with prisma-color in a stained glass fashion, while Art 1 explores high contrast / posterization techniques and uses acrylic paint over cardboard relief prints.
Dr. Erler, is there any way I could get this week’s readings/ assignments early? My grandfather passed away Friday night and I will be traveling to Houston for his funeral ceremony this coming Saturday. Additionally, I had a very close friend, and fellow Art educator, succumb to his long fight with cancer this morning; his service has yet to be determined. As such I would like to get a head start since I will be doing a lot of traveling this week.
Thank you for your help and understanding.
Daniel, I am so sorry for your losses. It's hard enough to lose a family member. Losing a close friend to cancer is also incredibly difficult. The two events happening at the same time is just... well, I'm just very sorry. Please accept my condolences.
DeleteI'm sorry that for some odd reason I decided to read your post last. Otherwise I would have responded to your request earlier. The reading for this week is pp. 83-122 (see syllabus). I will post the blog question tomorrow in the early afternoon. I had planned to respond to your comments (above) before posting the questions/topics, but now that I know your situation I'll hurry up with the new blog topic.
I'm still not sure what the topic will be or I'd tell you right now. This will be settled by early afternoon tomorrow, when I'll post the new topic asap.
Again, my apologies for not responding to your question before now. Thank you for your patience. Now - take care of yourself. The best you can do right now is be there for your family and your friend's family - give them all the help they need. If your homework assignment is late this week, don't worry. I'll give you a break. Give yourself permission to grieve.
With sorry,
carolyn
"with sorrow," that is.
DeleteOh the propaganda machine! Whether it is economic, political, or war related it seems we find it everywhere. As a tool it is so powerful in multitude that it can literally change peoples perspective just because they see it over and over again. Immediately after looking at the research links I see Shephard Fairey’s “HOPE” campaign poster for President Obama. I have known about Shephard Fairey, Banksy, MBW and other graffiti and street artist for years and have always found their work influential on my own (I only use these three because I watched “Exit Through the Gift Shop” last night). Fairey being a prominent street artist in California as well as the rest of the world started what he called a mass propaganda campaign using an image of Andre the Giant and the word OBEY. Posting and painting this image everywhere he could he created a massive following based of this one image!
ReplyDeleteSo propaganda is not only in war or politics, but art as well. In creating an assignment to give visual literacy to the subjects regarding border issues. To ignite a bit of creativity in students I would ask several questions premised around the prompt to create an image that you would use as mass propaganda to change ones view. How does the U.S.- Mexican War and the current border war relate? Is there even a relation between the past and present? Why? Other things come to mind like, Show me your visual interpretation of Manifest Destiny. Is this relevant with current border issues? Finally the last question I may ask is, do you find it odd that for the past 11 years we have been in a war and yet we seem so unaffected or simply oblivious to horrors of war? How does that war relate to the border war? Most of the students today have spent a majority of their lives with their country at war. I would be very interested to see how some might react to this.
I am currently creating my own poster and will hopefully have it done by tonight!!
Stephen -
DeleteFirst of all, THANK YOU for the wonderful propaganda poster! As you can see, I posted it at the top of the blog. However, I hope all will see the link under "Resources for Students" and click on it to see a larger version.
What medium did you use? What size is the original? I'm eager to know more!
Second, the question you had for your students about our 11-year war and (apparent) lack of concern for the soldiers & innocent victims reminds me of President Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the nation. People today associate talk of the "military-industrial complex" with left-wing (or, in the case of Ron Paul, Libertarian) rhetoric, but in fact it was Eisenhower - Republican president, 5-star general and Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during WWII - who first warned of the dangers of linking government, industry and academic institutions to the pursuit of ever more sophisticated weapons/defense systems. The expense of all this activity, he warned, would necessitate U.S. military engagement on an almost continual basis. This was a very prophetic speech.
If you're interested, see the link below. He starts talking about the military-industrial complex at about minute 6:35.
Eisenhower's Farewell Address (January 17, 1961) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gahL5j4ack
It took a man who had seen the horrors of war to recognize, understand and speak bluntly about what he saw as a threat to civilization. This is a significant point that students should understand. At least that's what I think.
Love Exit Through the Gift Shop.
ReplyDeleteAssignment: Design an art project for your students
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the teaching activities that highlighted the Mexican-U.S. war and the NAFTA Conference role play in the assigned text, I am increasingly surprised how little art seems to be integrated into general curriculum as a teaching tool. It is so frustrating to me that there aren’t more partnership projects between the core subjects and the art elective on the high school and middle school levels. Elementary education has always done a better job at keeping things more fluid (in my opinion).
Given the projects’ objectives you have outlined, I’m going to assume that this project will accompany a history/social studies unit, which will be providing the historical context. Based on that assumption, here is the project description; Students will create a 24” x 36” mixed media campaign or protest poster designed to educate and persude viewers to support their position on the U.S.-Mexican War. Students posters will be either “pro” the cause or “anti-protesting” the cause as assigned randomly. (I think it is important to make sure that that the posters are not pro or anti a particular country. The posters should be for or against an action or activity.)
Timeframe: This will be a 3 week project. Students will have 15 sessions in which to research, design, fabricate, and present their poster.
Project Plan:
Week One:
Present Project, Recap Historical Context, Make a list of arguements pro and con on MEX-US war. Arrange students alphabetically by first name divide a-m as pro war, n-z as anti-war. Have the two groups meet together and come up with a list of phrases that are powerful to convey their stance. Each group, depending on the size of the class, would then assign each member a specific persuasive phrase to illustrate on their poster. Once each student knows what their position is and has a persuasive concept to communicate one class session might be spent on looking at historical campaign and protest posters. This session would allow students to identify what elements in those posters where the most successful in communicating those messages, and what techniques they might employ to best “sell” their ideas.
Week Two:
This week students will be given 2 periods to plan their posters on a 8.5” x 11” paper which they will then present for response and discussion to their position group. Mid week they will begin execution of the posters.
Week Three:
This week students will continue to work on their posters. In addition, students must develop a minimum 5 paragraph presentation on their concept, and what they learned about the “selling of ideas”.
Resources Needed:
It really depends on the level of students you are teaching. For adult education or high school this would be the perfect unit with which to employ printmaking teahniques including; screen printing, lino cuts, gelatin printing, photo polymer plates, etc.
I’m not sure if I’m on the right track, but I think this is the direction I’d go.
The timing of this project is really great! I have been sick for a straight week and then had to teach on Saturday and Sunday. All week I was working on images of Women's Work through posters of WWII. This propaganda unit had ironic timing. I am very interested in the impact of the poster throughout history as a mass comm device.
DeleteGail,
ReplyDeleteI love the art project and appreciate your attention to detail. It's not a bad idea to randomly assign students pro- or anti-war positions regarding the U.S. Mexican war. First, it allows them to work in groups, and second, it relieves them of having to form a position about a historical event that may not yet have struck them as relevant to their lives. But if the class is equally divided, then you are sure to get a range of perspectives. Mission accomplished on that front.
I don't think it's safe to assume that students will be learning about the US-Mexican War in other classes - although I hear that schools in Texas require students to take a course in Texas history. (Texas seems to be the only state in the union that does this.) You could therefore synch up your war propaganda poster art project with the TX history class. However, to be safe you might be better off planning the project without the help of the rest of the school curriculum.
Like you, I believe art should be integrated into whole school curriculum. It rarely happens, though, outside of arts magnet schools and small independent schools that take a different approach to learning. As you said, elementary schools seem to do a better job of integrating art into other subject areas - maybe because most teachers feel comfortable making art with young kids? Maybe they see art as a natural childhood activity - a form of play - that is usually outgrown.
I also like that your project incorporates writing, presentation and active dialogue between students. You could also try a role-play exercise like Bigelow suggests. Putting oneself in another person's position is, above all, an act of the imagination. Imagining what it would be like to be another person and speak from their point of view helps develop empathy for others. It also teaches that multiple views co-exist simultaneously on every topic.
You're right that the project is well suited to printmaking techniques. Although most schools don't have much in the way of printmaking equipment & supplies, relief printmaking is always a possibility. Now, if you're working with adults or kids in a studio, school or lab space dedicated to artistic production, you'll have more choices. A lot depends on where you teach and the art supply budget.
You are definitely on the right track! Keep on in the direction you're headed. Great work!
Another powerful teaching unit! I agree with the original introduction of Mr. Bigelow that he is indeed a master teacher! I can’t compete with his knowledge of this topic. Unless I combined a unit on the issues of the US/ Mexican war with a social studies class, I don’t think I could adequately present the information. Yes the students could read the excerpts from Howard ZInn, but I don’t think that would be enough. My students are far more interested in a more visual presentation. It is hard to get them to read anything and for that reason, I loved the web sites you provided. Mr Bigelow is very sentimental about Mexico – but if you are going to take sentimentality and a feeling of loss to this extent, then what about the descendants of the Spanish who live in Mexico and the American west. The Spanish conquered and governed what is now called “Mexico” from 1507 to 1821, more than three hundred years, far longer than the United States has owned any of it, and they lost it too. If you are of Indian descent, the Spanish took it from the Aztecs around 1507. ! If like me, you are a Francophile, then how marvelous would life be if the French had managed to hold on to it. (That’s a joke, but seriously we might be able to get good coffee in Texas restaurants today instead of great Mexican food!) The French owned Mexico and a part of Texas when they took it in 1861 and held it for about 6 years. In other words, you could take his level of sentiment and loss back a lot further than the US taking Mexican territory. It is an interesting question to ponder how our lives would be different if we were living in Spain, France or Mexico on the North American continent. That could be another interesting art unit on how things might be visually different ………………….
ReplyDeleteAs I have previously stated, I tend to teach around the edges of difficult topics and present material that causes students to question in particular artistic qualities and validity of the art, rather than the political, so once again, you will find my unit tailored to my methods! I like examining propaganda in art. I would dwell more on the imagery of the posters so here’s my idea.
Truth or Fiction – Imagery in Political Poster Art
Objective: Students will become familiar with the artistic means of creating a political “image” or a persuasive image through manipulation of type style, color scheme, and other elements of art.
Teacher Prep: Print and display a broad assortment of political and war posters from the websites given. Put a number on each poster. Show the posters on the SMART board as well.
Activity: Teacher discuss a few of the posters with regard to the elements of art and principles of design obvious in them as well as the intent of the artist and purpose of the poster.
Have students look at the range of posters, work in small groups and create a chart describing each poster with regard to the following questions.
Type style, Orientation, Balance, Use of space, Number of Colors, Color Scheme, Number of Words, Type of Lines, Type of Image, Positive or Negative in Intent
Assignment: Using photographs that you take of each other, create a political poster of yourself or a friend, casting them in either a positive or negative light through the use of color, type style, line and space.. You may use up to 3 words and up to 3 colors. Choose them carefully. Cut out negative spaces to create depth and surface texture.
Materials: Corrugated cardboard, xacto knives, acrylic paint, permanent black markers, rulers.
Discussion Questions for Critique
What feeling or idea does the poster communicate?
How would that idea change if the color scheme were different?
How does the type style contribute to the idea?
Do the colors and the type style strengthen the meaning of the words?
Jennifer, I love your project idea. It has some things in common with a fun idea the folks at PBS came up with in the weeks before the election called "Adlibs," a site for creating your own campaign ad. As Halloween approached, "Adlibs" added a zombie theme - Zombies Eat the Campaign! - a la "Night of the Living Dead." It's no longer functioning but worth checking out anyway.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.pbs.org/newshour/adlibs/
It links from a very useful introductory article about propaganda in American TV political campaign ads, the greatest of which is usually considered Johnson's "Daisy Ad" or "Daisy Girl." The video is posted in the article, so it's worth taking a look. You've probably seen it, but it's always great to see again because the "mushroom cloud" rhetoric continues to resurface through the decades - and because it's so outrageous! The article includes other outstanding example of visual political rhetoric evocative of the horror genre. You can find it here -
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/10/zombies-hit-campaign-trail-in-newshours-latest-ad-libs.html
Thanks!