Neil Hollander: Modern Propaganda Films
Propaganda film tends to act on some specific, concrete actions of people like the purchase of certain goods, to vote for a given politician or party, to actively support some particular ideology, etc. Educational films on the other hand tend to act in the long-term patterns of behavior, to those underlying the functioning of a given community which is formed by an individual. Nowadays the most important outcome is the effectiveness and the impact on people's behavior and propaganda particularly tends to use all means available to ensure efficiency in a given occasion and in relation to the target audience. As the writer and director Neil Hollander states, propaganda takes innumerable forms and is all around us. In fact, early cinema thrived on the overt type of propaganda, and although there is no true-to-form propaganda film in today’s American movies, still there are films released that equate propaganda.
Therefore, they show the above mentioned features like to convince the customer to buy a given product, and as 'science' explains the effectiveness of the product, then the propaganda film gets an educational structure. If it is considered that a given product can be sold easier if you connect to subconscious cultural values, then they will set it in a desirable event, with advertising features of a film set, and a narrative story. Another method that Hollander points out as a typical propaganda move is coming up with a special design for the entire advertising, a design that has proven its emotional and connotative value, and will create emotional attachment. Usually propaganda filmmakers strive to include as many of these factors, or create their perfect combination in order to strengthen the basic effectiveness.
Motion picture has been used for propaganda since the beginning of the 20th century, and Hollywood has a long history of promoting US policies. In fact, as Neil Hollander states, motion picture is the greatest carrier of propaganda in today’s world, and it is the greatest distributor for ideas and opinions. After all, Hollywood is an important part of the corporate media, and like other media, it is shaped by fewer and fewer big players who push their own ideas, replacing the creative people who once made films interesting.
