PowerMedia

Today we saw "the Triump of Will", a German movie from 1933 by Leni Riefenstahl.

The film presented the Nuremburg Rally where Hitler addresses the Hitler Youth. In class we discussed the audience size, the role of peer pressure, the emotional appeal of the national flag, and Hitler's use of rhetoric.

In addition we discussed the relatively limited role of advertising in the first part of the 20th century. The fact that the Nazi "spectacle" at Nuremburg, and Josef Goebbels' use of Riefenstahl's film, showed the world the first powerful example of a combined mass media campaign to win public opinion decades before American network commercials. In 1933-34, Goebbels considered the medium Radio obsolete, envisioning the power of television.

Further discussion elaborated the development of propagangandized communication, beginning with British Propaganda bureau headed by Masterman and including famous British novelists, journalista and scholars that crafted a strategic information flow culled from in-coming and out-going information in WW1, Goebbles' development of the National Socialists mass media, the Rowe letter of 1948, and vernacular of the present US presidential campaign. Terms used today include, the Echo Chamber, Staying On Message, and Talking Points.

My email is now posted upper right, first line, all should email me so that I can begin inviting you to add your work to the Blog.

Leni Riefenstahl: BIOGRAPHY

Leni Riefenstahl made the movie, "Triumph of Will". This controversial woman made an undeniably effective movie that promoted the Nazi party, and befriends Mick Jagger in later years.

After reading up on the events that surround the burning of the Reichstag, can you discover how did the Nazi party manipulate public opinion?

Did they lie?

What Appeals did they make?

Did "Us vs Them" appeals arise?

Read the Link regarding Goebbels theory of Propaganda to find support for your findings.

We covered some course basics.
- No required text, AND all students agreed that they are responsible to download and print out any files I specify in lieu of an official text book.

- We discussed how mass media can change the attitudes of a given population to a level where they will do the "unthinkable'. Given appropriate circumstances, a person will go as far as to kill another, either with minor remorse or pride. If they would take another's life, the question "what else could they be capable of doing?" is worth examining.

- We discusssed the role of Mail Order catalogs in stratifying prices and wages in the US, creating new standards for public utilities, and even an American aesthetic for architecture, coast-to-coast.

The class was asked to research "february 27, 1937", the burning of the Reichstag in Berlin.

Please see the "reichstag" link to the right.