How dangerous can a poster be?
On June 19, 2017, Otto Warmbier, a student from the University of Virginia, died in Cincinnati after being held for over a year at a North Korean prison. His felony? Trying to steal a poster from the hotel room where he stayed in Pyongyang. In March, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, but things sped up for him due to a cardiopulmonary arrest that made him lose his sense of sight and hearing, and eventually he was repatriated to the US. There, he would die in the company of his parents just a couple of days after arriving. The causes of his affliction are undetermined, yet the evidence points out that it was caused by the brutal mistreatment he received at his interment. And all of this because he wanted to take a poster home.
His case brings up how much power can be hidden in propaganda posters. These simple images have the ability to distort our whole sense of reality, twisting the truth while promoting alternative facts that are capable of bending the minds of the masses. This was a pretty common practice during the nineteen thirties, which led to one the most violent and dark decade of the twentieth century.
“The German Student fights for the Führer and the People – as a member of the National Socialist German Students’ League.”
Taking up walls is the most effective way of bending people’s sense of reality.
Goebbels did it in Germany as did Stalin in the USSR. The former would shape the minds of German people by promoting the idea that Aryans were a superior race. The latter would bend the reality of the country, covering up the famine that the Union suffered with illusions of proletariat grandeur. One thing both had in common was calling to kill and exterminate whomever they considered a menace to their governments.
Posters are one of the most effective ways of brainwashing a nation. They produce massive hallucinations by diluting the barriers between fact and fiction. They make certainties uncertain and illusions appear more real than they ever were.
“Glory to the Soviet forces, raised the banner of victory over Berlin!”
Posters are an instrument through which regimes —particularly totalitarian ones— warp the perception of their people. They make their power seem stronger and stabler than it really is. By showing only what they want to represent, they glorify themselves. They twist facts and numbers to their favor, showering lies in color to make them more attractive and believable. And we let ourselves be deceived by the images we see. Even when we despise the people in power, there’s a part of us that would like to agree with what they say, specially when they’re telling us that we’re gonna be fine and that we deserve the world. Isn’t that something anyone would like to hear?
“When provoking a war of aggression, we will hit back, beginning with the US!”
Propaganda posters are the perfect medium for promoting nationalist feelings and pride, and at the same time, spreading fear and hatred towards others. A simple image with a powerful slogan could go, according to Hitler, to the “primitive sentiments of the broad masses,” and that would be just enough to induce people’s loathing of other cultures and nations. By appealing to emotions, they try to convince us of ideas about reality that are just not true.
Death to the fascist-German invaders!
There’s no better call to war than a fine poster. A simple composition has the power to convey a straightforward message. There’s no room for misunderstanding. That’s why they have the power to meddle and distort the truth.
“Death to U.S. Imperialists, Our Sworn Enemy!” (via Business Insider)
Why would North Koreans fear so much a foreigner stealing a piece of propaganda? Perhaps, because it’s one of the cornerstones of their regime.
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If you want to know more about North Korea, you should definitely check out the 65 photographs that reveal its mysteries . Also, if you’re interested in control of the masses, you should read about the manifesto that shows how art has been hijacked by fascists and racists .
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References
The Guardian
Id.
Business Insider
