Propaganda Perspective

This week has been full of learning new information and expanding my knowledge on topics I thoroughly enjoy, but there is one thing that has popped into my head everyday since we learned about it. That is the reading on World War 2 propaganda, specifically when I was put in a group to be discussing that topic. Not only was the reading itself interesting, but the image that went along with the article interested me. The photo of the gloved hand holding a wrench with the caption of “America’s Answer? Production.” was the center of what I discussed with my group. I have always resonated most with images, since they tell so much about a topic in such small details. I could tell the image was using clever illustrations to plant a seed in the onlookers mind that production is what Americans needed in war times. Also it was extremely interesting to see how my group all had very different opinions on the reading. Where some people focused more on the negative aspect of the staged photo propaganda, others focused on the moral boosting and clever image propaganda. All of us worked together to share our opinions and force each other to see the topic in multiple lights. For example, those of us who thought negatively of propaganda were asking, “How was this used in positive ways” and “How can I divert my thinking of the negative side of it to appreciate the moral boosting propaganda”. As someone who loves looking at images to find deeper meaning, as well as someone who enjoys learning about World War 2, this small area of a broad topic grabbed my attention and kept it for the rest of the week.