“Loose Lips Sink Ships”
Throughout the second world war the Canadian government in conjunction with the Royal Canadian Navy, like many other allied navies, were busy pumping out propaganda materials. These were meant to frame the war in such a way as to drum up support of those at home. This imagery appeared frequently in war fundraising and (obvious) propaganda materials like posters that featured memorable statements. A common example of this was the popular American turn of phrase, “Loose Lips Sink Ships” (Hasic, 2016), meaning that being careless with your words could spell disaster for the sailors risking their lives at sea.
Given that these print media elements were seemingly omnipresent during the World War II era, the question comes to mind, how prevalent were these elements and what were their ultimate affects in regards to propaganda theory, crowd theory, frame theory, and media affects?
While it could be argued by some that the imagery used wasn’t necessarily propaganda but potentially a form of “education”. Whether it was truly propaganda or not cannot be understood in its entirety without first understanding the concepts in the question above, and how the second world war imagery influenced the audience perceiving it.
A Brief Intro to the Theories
Propaganda Model/Propaganda Theory – The propaganda model is a concept that was created by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman to better understand and analyze how propaganda and systemic biases function in media and how they affect society in a manipulative manner. It can be recognized by its focus on the “inequality of wealth and power”, as it “traces the routes by which money and power are able to filter out the news to fit to print…”(Herman & Chomsky, 1988).
Propaganda Theory on the other hand was created by the three infamous propaganda theorists; Edward Bernays, Walter Lippmann and Harold Lasswell. These theorists took part in the U.S. government’s effort to create war propaganda aimed at foreign enemies and citizens to persuade them to support the first world war (Black, week 2, 2021).
Without the below theory (crowd), propaganda theory would not exist as it is thought to be the “precursor” to propaganda theory itself (Black, week 2, 2021).
COME BACK TO THIS ASAP.
Crowd Theory – As Gustave Le Bon said in his book, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, he attributed crowd behaviour to the “collective racial unconscious” of the mob overtaking people’s sense of self, personality, and personal responsibility… The statement of the theory is that crowds create a type of hypnotic influence on those who are members of the crowd (1896). The idea behind crowd theory was to find a way to explain why individuals and groups behaved a certain way.
Another author who had his say in developing crowd theory was Gabriel Tarde who wrote an essay in 1898 called, The Public and the Crowd. As mentioned in the COMM 365 week 2 powerpoint, slide 5, these two authors were “a part of a larger conservative body of elite opinion in the late 19th century…” on Crowd Theory (Black, week 2, 2021).
Frame Theory –
Media Affects –
Propaganda
What is propaganda? Propaganda is generally defined as information presented in ways that are biased, misleading and used to promote something that is typically political in nature. As Topic 1: What it is & how it relates to (world war two) communication.
Evidence (reasoning/details/facts) to support WHY this is important in your own words. Analysis clarifying the relationship.
Explain with examples of evidence found in the readings of WHY you believe the analysis is true/not true. Convincing statements. (QUOTE)
Crowd
Topic 2: What it is & how it relates to communication.
Evidence (reasoning/details/facts) to support WHY this is important in your own words. Analysis clarifying the relationship.
Explain with examples of evidence found in the readings of WHY you believe the analysis is true/not true. Convincing statements. (QUOTE)
Frame
Topic 3: What it is & how it relates to communication.
Point 1: [example: cultural effects]
Evidence (reasoning/details/facts) to support WHY this is important in your own words. Analysis clarifying the relationship.
Explain with examples of evidence found in the readings of WHY you believe the analysis is true/not true. Convincing statements. (QUOTE)
Point 2: [example: environmental effects]
Evidence (reasoning/details/facts) to support WHY this is important in your own words. Analysis clarifying the relationship.
Explain with examples of evidence found in the readings of WHY you believe the analysis is true. Convincing statements. (QUOTE)
Media
Topic 4: What it is & how it relates to communication.
Evidence (reasoning/details/facts) to support WHY this is important in your own words. Analysis clarifying the relationship.
Explain with examples of evidence found in the readings of WHY you believe the analysis is true. Convincing statements. (QUOTE)
Conclusion
Restate research topic and Reword Thesis Statement [Example: Comm: A Social Reform]
Mention the [5] concepts again in how they relate to topic [example: media and Communication]. NO NEW IDEAS. State outstanding intrigues for continuous research.
Refocus on important points of analysis by stating the significance or results
State how you feel about the topics by concluding with your personal thoughts on the matter.
references:
Black, D. (2021). COMM365 — week 2 — Crowd theory and Propaganda theory — 2021 (2). Victoria; Royal Roads University.
Goffman, E. (1986). Chapter 2: Primary Frameworks. In Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Boston: Northeastern University Press. Pages 21-39. Note that the remaining 5 pages of this 20-page chapter, which merely discuss the remaining chapters, are not included in this excerpt.
Gustave Le Bon (1896). Introduction: The Era of Crowds. In The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind. (pp.7-12) Batoche Books. Retrieved from the Ebook Central e-book database*. Alternate link
Hasic, A. (2016, December 8). The U.S. in World War II: See the posters that urged secrecy. Time. Retrieved September 7, 2021, from https://time.com/4591841/loose-lips-sink-ships-posters/.
Herman, E., & Chomsky, N. (1988). A propaganda model. A Propaganda Model, by Noam Chomsky (Excerpted from Manufacturing Consent). Retrieved September 9, 2021, from https://chomsky.info/consent01/.
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