Stop this Monster that Stops at Nothing

Poster One ­ Dan Ridley
Select three visual representations of war and write a detailed analysis of the techniques employed to promote particular ideas, attitudes and values in each. War propaganda is used by governments to influence public attitude towards ideas of patriotism and the war effort. During the Second World War countless amounts of
Propaganda­style texts were released; in the form of posters, films and music.
Posters were released throughout the United States as the Americans began to lose trust in their government following the Great Depression. In 1941, the American government created a poster to appeal to young working class Americans
. It depicted two political leaders,
Germany’s Adolf Hitler and Japan’s Hideki Tojo, from the Axis Alliance (a triumvirate of fascist political leaders from Germany, Italy and Japan), as a mutated conjoined monster. They are attacking the iconic Statue of Liberty and below, a golden spanner is shown, bearing the word
“Production” on its side. Underneath the image, text declares: “Stop this monster that stops at nothing.... PRODUCE to the limit!” and in red writing, “This is YOUR War!”. In this poster, the
U.S government used rhetorical and emotive language to evoke strong attitudes from the audience towards the message given, with bias perspectives and written attacks on the opposing sides to create a subjugated perspective for the American audience. This poster is an example of their efforts of trying to recruit workers back into factories. In doing so, the
American government have henceforth created a propaganda text that convinces, and also reinforces the audiences, values and attitudes­ which is what a propaganda poster is meant to do. As Hiram Johnson, US senator said in 1917, “
The first casualty in war is truth”. The US government, as propagandists, have use rhetorical language within the poster to evoke responses from the wartime American audience on an emotional level. Rhetorical language is one of the most powerful propaganda techniques as it resonates audiences with past experiences that reinforce or subvert their attitudes upon the idea given by a propaganda text. In this case the opposition, the Axis Alliance, are being name called, and labelled as a
“Monster”. Along with the visual aesthetics of the supposed monster, it automatically creates a negative idea for the audience. It further more represents what attitudes were developed of the two leaders pictured. America’s previous involvement in the Second World War consisted of trading, and staying fairly neutral in international relations. It was not until they got bombed by the Japanese at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbour that they began to fight. They joined the Allies ­ the opposition of the Axis ­ solely with the motive of revenge against Japan. America had already been economically damaged by the Great Depression, and the nation needed convincing to fight for their country once more. Posters such as these were released to ‘scare’ citizens into helping for the war effort. In this case, a literal nightmare was used as the face of the opposition. The audience will see this, be filled with disgust and want to banish the
“Monster”, and furthermore create connotations with deeper meanings relating to their own personal context. This evokes responses on an emotional level for an audience as they feel like it is their duty to help. By using rhetorical language and reinforcing their attitudes, wartime
Americans would usually be attracted to this poster, and it’s meaning, which is what a propaganda poster aims to accomplish.

This poster, as with many other propaganda texts, present bias ideas upon the messages that they are going for and against. A bias perspective is a one­sided presentation of a view or an opinion that strives in influencing the audience by intentionally only providing one side of the argument. This poster is a strong example of how the United States frequently used this technique, as in no way the motivation of any opposing forces presented. The poster is only stating to the audience that there is a “monster” that needs to be stopped. It does not mention the context of the attacking threat, or why they are attacking, so the audience are left uninformed and bewildered. Americans had not received enough information about the war to construct an opposing argument, biased posters were, as a result, one of their primary sources of information on the war. Audiences of this text will therefore see this as the only argument, and only way to see, their country's involvement in the war, abolishing any further arguments that could be made against the higher powers of America and their strive into what needs to be done. Biased attitudes being cast upon an audience will result in lack of understanding when it comes to events surrounding the message being presented. In this case, the minimal information provided will result in a misinterpretation of the Second World
War, as well as what is the productive method to defeat the enemy. To convince an audience to follow ones meaning and message in a propaganda poster, a propagandist must use strong and emotive language. Emotive language is words and phrases that carry strong emotions to be put onto the audience. In this case, the deliberate use of strong emotive language is to play on a readers feelings towards the events that are unveiling in this image. The American government have added a slogan along the bottom which features an abundance of emotive and inclusive language. “Stop this monster that stops at nothing.... PRODUCE to the limit! This is YOUR War!”, the idea that the poster wants to promote is being told through this slogan. The slogan features very short words that carry a great deal of information along with them. The words that are mostly wanted to be remembered are “PRODUCE” and “YOUR”, produce is simply the underlying idea, and what needs to be done, but stating that it is “YOUR [the audience’s] War” is giving the reader the sense of obligation, that they have the right to do something to help their nation. The term
“Unstoppable” is used also to state that they must stop the enemy, which motivates an audience to the task, which was the main intention of the United States government. When the audience is faced with such language, they will gain an emotional connection with the text.
In this poster, the Americans of the 1940’s will take this sense of obligation and pride that they can defeat the impossible and give them hope, emanating positive feelings towards the poster at hand. They are given the opportunity to help and win the war, and go against all odds. With a nation that has been through such hardships, the addition of emotive languages to then let them feel hope and positivity would definitely strive for them to have greater hope. It subverts their previously made opinions of the achievements that they able to consummate, and gives them a brighter and positive perspective to look at. Using emotive language in this poster has left the contextual audience with the positivity that they need to accomplish the goals created through the message. Emotive language carries out emotions that will alter the audience's attitudes towards found in a propaganda poster.

The idea in a propaganda poster, will always come from one side of an argument. This poster for example, is from the perspective of the Americans, and also the Allies. By creating a poster supporting this side of the argument, the US government have actually attacked the
Axis side. The technique of attacking is the sense that a propagandist would attack an opposing idea with their viewpoint in a very strong way rather than a physical attack. These sort of posters became quite common during the Second World War internationally, as it created fear among the citizen, thus making the people want victory so much more. The 1941 poster simply is an extreme attack upon the opposition, labelling them as monsters and destroyers of freedom. In the poster, the monster that represents the Axis Alliance is tearing up the Statue of Liberty, and leaving a trail of fire and destruction. With a horrifying expression on its face, accompanied by the stereotypical images of Adolf Hitler and Hideki Tojo, there is no possible way that this poster can be seen as a positive reading for the Axis Alliance perspective, and the American government have used that to harness it’s audiences reaction.
The audience will, after having no prior information given to them in the context that this poster is entailing, automatically feel negative towards the oppositions and no other further opinions can henceforth be created. This will assist the government to convince the people to follow the message ­ as well as furthermore reinforcing a perspective they are constantly put towards. They have no further argument surrounding the information given, and have no choice to be disgustingly racist towards the idea of fascism and the fascist leaders. The oppositions side of the argument is also silenced, so they are just portrayed negatively with no other option to convince an audience otherwise. By using this sort of method not only against the enemy, but also for the audience; the audience with therefore have reinforced emotions and views, of the very little that they have had. Consequently, impending an attack upon an opposition in the form of propaganda will result in audiences being lead into a more subjugated and limited perspective of events and messages that are occurring in their current context, and any further produced context. Ultimately, this poster created by the United States government have positioned the audience to view the opposing Axis Alliance in a very narrow minded sort of way. The creators had used rhetorical language and emotive language, to evoke a feeling from the audience; as well as using bias perspectives and attacks on the opposition to harness the feelings that were created to go against the Axis Alliance. It continues to either subvert or reinforce attitudes of an audience that do not actually have much prior knowledge upon the war they have just entered. By using this ill informed audience, their perspectives are manipulatable to go henceforth with the ideology that the higher governments want to accomplish. They wanted the audience to be against and fight the triumvirate of Germany, Italy and Japan through their resources. Whether they accepted or not is clear as America did join the battle, and the Allies had triumphed against the Axis Alliance. While propaganda is usually interpreted with war and militarism, it is found all around us today, changing our perspectives like how this poster does to the audience of Americans in the 1940s.