From the Editor: State propaganda does not belong in popular media

Propaganda is made with intent to sway public opinion. Sometimes, propaganda can be influenced by political bias — whether that’s pro-war bias in the case of Hollywood or algorithm bias — a side-effect of the modern internet. 

Propaganda makes sure certain things are portrayed in the media under a favourable light.

While the existence of propaganda in TV shows and movies goes far back, including during the Second World War and Cold War, where anti-communist sentiment was big in Hollywood, the awareness of this propaganda existing is fairly recent. 

But what can be done when the propaganda is so creatively embedded that you can’t tell it is propaganda? Let’s go back to the early 2000s and Gilmore Girls’ weird obsession with Israel — were pro-Israel Yale dropouts all the rage in Y2K? I hardly think so. 

To consume media that might be influenced by propaganda, viewers should have awareness of what propaganda looks like and how it exists in a particular political context. 

Propaganda can be dangerous when it oversimplifies and groups a narrative into black and white, overlooking nuance and complexities. Propaganda becomes problematic when we don’t know or can’t tell what it looks like. 

Popular culture isn’t doing blunt propaganda anymore. It’s carefully veiling it in the form of micro messages and aggressions.

When the delivery of popular culture or media becomes sanitized, controlled, or strategic, it’s difficult to overlook that bigger forces might be at play. And state propaganda isn’t something that just affects popular media like film and television. Historically, it has been known to exist notoriously in news media, fashion, art, and more industries. 

But it’s interesting to look at how creative mediums are increasingly being affected by state-sponsored messaging and influence. 

In the age of artificial intelligence and the internet, a lack of critical thinking becomes progressively pungent. This doesn’t mean we no longer possess the ability to judge between good or bad content. It means that it is becoming demanding, and somewhat strenuous, to distinguish between what’s propaganda and what’s not. 

Polishing historical or political narratives are problematic as they are on their own, but when these narratives are polished in a pop culture context in just the right amount, they are consumed almost immediately without question by the masses.

This mass consumerism — when grouped with other elements, such as well-networked public agents like actors — helps spread the narrative almost immediately. Will I watch a propaganda movie with Timothée Chalamet? You bet! Will I be able to tell that it was propaganda? Absolutely not!

Maybe propaganda was better when it used to be straightforward and clumsy — when we could make out its international agenda and messaging, and tell who was behind it.

Unintentional propaganda, and the millions of mediums and platforms to spread it, have ruined popular culture in the worst way possible. The only way to know what’s propaganda and what’s not is by knowing the propaganda itself.