Reply #7: FYI

[savemefromdumbya]

copycats?

Much of Goebbels' overtly political propaganda was concentrated in the cinema newsreels, especially during the war. He was aware of the desirability of realism, which is not necessarily the same as reality. For example, the planned German invasion of Britain was filmed in Antwerp harbour so that audiences could be shown the 'invasion' as it happened. The problem with newsreels in a one-party state is that of course people went into the cinema expecting that the newsreels would contain propaganda on behalf of the party. As a result, audiences took to turning up late, coming into the cinema during the newsreel, thus ruining its intended effects. In an attempt to overcome this, Goebbels ordered that there should be a five minute break between the newsreel and the main feature. That didn't have the intended effect, though, as audiences just stayed out in the foyer until the newsreel and the break were over. Goebbels was finally obliged to order that all cinemas should be locked and stay locked as soon as the newsreel had started. Anyone who wanted to see a feature film now had no choice other than to watch the newsreel as well. Taylor (1979) describes how the captive audience, no longer able to vote with their feet, expressed their disapproval by laughing, jeering and shouting, especially during the latter stages of the war.

This hardly seems to support the common view of Goebbels as the consummate master of propaganda. The only way he can get his newsreels seen is to lock his audiences in. This also runs counter to the view we have expressed on occasion that the hypodermic needle view of audiences being injected with media messages can be a reasonably accurate representation in those circumstances where there is central control of the media and all competing messages are excluded. Of course, as the war wore on and death and destruction were brought ever more frequently right to the audiences at home, the optimistic messages of the official propaganda would have been contradicted by people's direct, lived experience.

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