While the Action stasis seems most prevalent in this particular propaganda, insight may also be offered on the Fact, Consequence, Evaluation, and Jurisdiction stases. Overall, this poster isn't necessarily factual. In reality, there are no "Space Marines" for one to join and they weren't literally cleaning "the Communist Filth" off the moon, but the purpose behind this poster was very real. It's job was to spur forth action in America to get people interested in science and technology, specifically in regards to space, so that America could claim the title of "top dog" in the space race. While the scientific implications may seem important now, our main goal in the 60's was simply to be better than the Soviets and "prove" that our way of life was far superior to that of the communists.
Upon seeing this poster, some people might immediately jump into action and yell at the top of their lungs "DOWN WITH THE COMMUNISTS!!" and the go and build a rocket ship for the moon. However, the average person would be far more likely to take a moment to ponder the idea. What would they benefit from joining this? They could help beat the communists and put America on top of the technological tree. Is it worth it? Well yeah cause we're beating communists. These questions, and obviously a few more, are also what the creators of this poster had to consider. They had to weigh what the positives and negatives of creating such a powerful piece of propaganda would be. Could there be possible consequences for creating a piece that was so aggressive? It could be seen as offensive and rude and too demanding. The mindset back then, however, was far different to that of today. If you didn't hate the communists, then you were a traitor. You weren't a true American if that was the case. The creators of this knew that, and used it to their advantage as best they could, to ensure that the American people would take action against their communist enemies. In the though, it was the people of this nation that decided what our future would hold.
Excellent analysis of Stasis Theory. I like that you recognized the over-the-top aggressiveness of the poster and its absurdity, which, given the aforementioned mindset of times, wasn't that absurd.
ReplyDelete- Robert
DeleteComing from the Red Scare group, I love the points you make about the kairotic moment of the american propaganda. I think that corporate america, which we talked about, went about trying to destroy communism in a different way than the space race did. Yet there are some similarities - namely total demonization.
ReplyDeleteHayley A.