The Arts in Propaganda

While researching the social institution of the Arts, something that grabbed my interest was how effective arts have been used in propaganda.

The Arts have had its origins far back in the prehistoric times of human history. "Cavemen", as we know them, began to discover the methods of cultivation and animal domestication. With these new methods of living, they began to focus different aspects of life. Cave paintings serve as the primary evidence of the origins of artistic expression, with the earliest found in Spain, in the cave known as El Castillo. Dating at over 40,800 years old, University of Bristol's study lead,  Alistair Pike, claims this to be"...currently Europe's oldest dated art by at least 4,000 years". These paintings commonly depicted animals or methods of targeting or spotting animals. Others were used to depict gods, which can also depict religion back to this era.

Today, the Arts are very commonly used in propaganda to support politics, religion, government, education, and many more topics. This type of art is used to influence one side of a community to one side or of an argument or cause. These depictions are commonly very racial, but proved to effective in many ways. Although, propaganda is also used as a form of communication, illustrating a time or event within places of history.

 Propaganda had its uses throughout the U.S., with the most famous likely being during the World War II era. There were often depictions of a Japanese man encouraging a worker to take the day off, showing people that if they were to work less, it would help the Axis powers. Others date back to 1887 at the start of the Russo-Turkish War, depicting the scenes of rape and slaughter by Ottoman forces.

These ways of propaganda had many psychological influences over the modern world, as propganda is used as a very effective
way today to influence society as a whole as it has done in the
past.

This image of Uncle Sam is

possibly the most famous in

American history.