Propaganda in Britain

  

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Propaganda plays a large part in the socialization of people. Propaganda targets and appeals to audiences of a culture in hopes of persuading their beliefs to a side. I randomly stumbled upon British propaganda on Google Images and it lead me towards thinking about what propaganda does within a society. It enlists important fundamental ideals that people in power want the masses to believe or ascribe to their collective belief of what is right. In the image above, a little girl looks at her father after asking him the question, "Daddy, what did you do in the Great War?" This was meant to enlist guilt into the hearts of men who did not fight in World War I and let their fellow countrymen fight for their lives.

In this image, we see a woman surrounded by airplanes who looks to be in military clothing. It can be assumed that men are flying these planes, but there were also a very well-regarded group of female pilots (but the government doesn't want you to focus on that). What they want you to focus on is that if you are woman, your war efforts should be in the factory because your husbands and sons are not there to work. Production and product must go and your husbands aren't there to do it. They want women to fly those plans or even contemplate flying those planes because the ideology they are imparting is to mainstream into the jobs of men.

 

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British propaganda today looks very different from the past. There is no great war to fight for, but the image above shows a potential war of technology and humanity. These two forces conflict because humans have created technology, but technology has begun to do all the thinking while humans sit back and let technology do all the work. This propaganda appeals to the mind in the same appeal that the other two images do, but has a more modern approach. It is meant to insight guilt and fear into those who look at this image.

What are your thoughts on British propaganda? Let me know down below in the comments.

See you soon,

Sarah Johnson 

British Horror Story

 

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 One of the most famous and culturally relevant TV shows of the last seven years is American Horror Story. The show has reached critical acclaim because of its expansive setting across America and its connection to important social and political topics of past and modern events that have shaped the American culture into what it is today. The show incorporates elements of horror into the storyline and this is important because horror is the best way to grab human attention. As humans we are constantly looking to be scared and for a thrill. The best way to get human attention towards important topics is to incite fear through almost unimaginable events. The lines between fictional horror and real life are blurred through the elements of the show. 

 

The question I want to know is what horrors would a show set in Britain tackle? What would make a  British Horror Story different or the same as an American one?

Social and political topics covered in American Horror Story:

 Adultery

Insanity 

Feminism (Women's Rights)

Inclusion & Equality

Sin

Racism

Political Parties

End Times

Desire for Fame

Obsession

Overarching Theme: What makes a monster a monster?

Most of these themes are prevalent throughout every season because these are the basis for the American culture. I believe that a lot of themes that are prevalent in American Horror Story would also be covered in British Horror Story. Topics that I could see overarching through every season are feminism, racism, politics, and inclusion. The other topics are more human individual plights compared to the overall societal horrors that one has to face. 

What themes do you think would be in British Horror Story? Let me know down below in the comments.

See you soon,

Sarah Johnson 

The Harry Potter Movement

Back in 2001, the first Harry Potter novel was released. At the time I was only 2 years old and these books are aimed at an age of middle school/high schoolers, so clearly I could not read it at that age. But as I grew up and got older I started seeing these books everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE. I could be watching a football game and there was a kid sitting with his family a couple seats down reading Harry Potter. I even remember going to Rhythms on the River (a local event where random bands would play) and I saw one of my friends sitting in a lawn chair reading one of these books. This was around the time of when I was in 6th grade. Now I am currently 19 years old and to this day, I have never read a Harry Potter novel or watched a single movie. I have watched parts of some of the movies, but I have never sat down and fully watched a movie. I will say that it is astonishing how much these novels took over the world when I was a kid.

J.K. Rowling is the British author of the Harry Potter series and since its release, there have been numerous more books made. Movies have been done based off of the books and they have blown up. When I was in middle school I remember almost everyone reading at least one of the Harry Potter books. The books were very large in size, ranging from 200-700 pages. The main reason why I never read them was that I was never a fan of books as a kid unless they were small and had a good story. For example, I really enjoyed The Lightning Thief series. But because some of the Harry Potter books were so large I was honestly too afraid to read them. Even though I never read them or saw any of the movies, I was still able to notice the impact it had on literature. 

First off, J.K. Rowling is a British author so you would expect the books to mainly only be recognized in Britain but that is not true at all. The books BLEW UP... everywhere. They spread like a disease all over the globe. It really shows how dominant fiction is to the younger audiences. I know there are many adults who have read the novels too but the main audience was the younger side. I personally feel like literature is losing it's touch as time goes on. People are more interested in technology and watching films rather than reading a book. I feel like the growth of this series rekindled British literature, especially in the 2000s. There aren't many series that take the world by storm but I feel as if Harry Potter was a big step forward for the culture of British literature. It really shows how much fiction is taking over in the literature realm right now. I may eventually read the novels but I know for a fact I will eventually watch the movies because they do seem really interesting and for them to get as popular as they did I have to see what the hype was about. 

Ian Ransonet

My Thoughts on University

About a month ago in class, we were assigned to read "Discourse 5. Knowledge, It's Own End" by John Henry Cardinal Newman. A brief summary of what John says in this essay is that the student does and can make whatever they want of the knowledge they receive. He states the idea of a university is different to everyone and basically says you get out of it what you want. Depending on what the student decides to major in, they will leave the college with that knowledge if that is what they want. I completely agree with what Newman is trying to say here. He thinks that colleges should provide a variety of opportunities so everyone can experience and take part in what they want to do. He believes in more of a liberal education. Because there are so many people in this world and so many different opinions and beliefs, he says that schools should offer a wide range of subjects and classes to take and I think for the most part schools do that. People should not be restricted to do what they want to do.

Newman also wishes that students would go to school for the sake of knowledge and not necessarily just for the degree and I don't really agree with this. Currently, I feel as if schools force every major to take classes that are not going to be useful later in life. I'm currently in Mechanical Engineering and I feel like the school forces me to take subjects and classes that don't pertain to engineering at all. Because of this, it demotivates me to pay attention to some of those classes because they are unimportant to me. I don't want to learn the knowledge presented in those classes because I'm not interested, I just want to be able to get my degree so I have to take some of those classes. I feel as if Newman wanted people to mainly focus on the knowledge, then schools shouldn't force students to take classes that are uninteresting to them. For students to want to learn the information brought up to them, they should be able to have a little more say in what classes they get to take or don't want to take. 

Most people these days just care about the money. I would say most students think that what they are learning isn't that interesting to them but it's just something that wouldn't be incredibly boring. Most students just want to get out of college as quick as possible so they can get a job and start making money. Now there are some students who do really enjoy what they are doing and want to take their time and enjoy college. But if we're being real most people are in college just for the degree and not for the money. And the reason for that is because the schools force a lot of unnecessary classes in my opinion. I do agree with Newman when he says there should be variety in schools. But I don't think there will ever be a day where most students are in college for the learning rather than just to get a degree.

Ian Ransonet

Importance of Britain in World War 2

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Importance of Britain in World War 2

There is a rumour about a famous quote Stalin apparently once said: ”England brought the time, America the money and Russia the blood.”

There is a lot of truth in Stalin words when it comes to Britain buying time in the second World War. By staying in the war, Britain made it possible to allow a bridgehead for US and allied troops and also a vital line of supply to the USSR. This played a huge part in terms of material delivery but more important in keeping up the morality of the soldiers.

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Also the rescue mission of Dunkirk played a huge role in World War 2. After Germany invaded France, Belgium and the Netherlands the British army was trapped in Dunkirk, a small town located at the shores of northern France. By the time, when the German troops slowly moved in to kill the nearly 500000 trapped soldiers there, the Britains started on of the biggest rescue missions ever. They managed to rescue almost all of the 500000 soldiers and bring them back to England. Those soldiers played a huge role later on in the following fights against Germany. If the Britains would have lost this amount of soldiers the possibility of loosing important fights in the World War against Germany would have been much higher.

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Another important contribution that Britain made in World War 2 was by winning the Battle of Britain. When Germany tried to invade Britain, the british air force managed to defead the Luftwaffe (German air force). Britain destroyed 2000 planes and killed or captured all of their pilots. This was an major achievement for the allied forces, because as a result the German air force was not that powerful, after this defeat, anymore and it made it easier to fight them. Therefore Germany had to divide its military forces and split it up, to defend against the Britains at its coast lines on the one hand, and on the other hand it also had to send troops to Russia because of the on going invasion there. This also made the defence and the attacks of the German military much weaker, which also led to more success in the war against them.

But the Britains not only helped in a military way, they also helped by supplying and in a logistical way. Because the Britains had such a big marine and air force they where able to supply they other ally forces all over the world. The british army was constantly supplying the other allied forces with supplies and important war equipment, like tanks, ammunition, weapons, etc. There were also constantly shipping or flying reinforcements to any needed place in the war zones to help out wherever it was needed.

This is why Britain played such a big part in winning the Second World War against Germany. It was crucial that Britain decided not to stay out of this war, because it was such a big factor in winning this war.

Dominik König

A Recommendation: The King's Speech

The King's Speech is a movie that was released in 2010 and was directed by Tom Hooper. Before my senior year of high school, I was forced to watch the movie in the summer. I was never a fan of the movies we were forced to watch and books we were forced to read. I never found them interesting until I watched The King's Speech. This movie is about a man named Bertie but he's not just any ordinary man. He is second in line to the throne. His father King George V currently is King of the nation. Bertie's brother is next in line. Soon into the book, King George V passes away and Bertie's brother takes the throne. Soon after that, Bertie's brother leaves the throne to marry a divorced American, meaning that Bertie is now King. There's only one problem with him being King. Bertie is very determined and knows his duties as King, but he has a severe stutter. 

Every single time Bertie is required to speak to mass amounts of people, he stutters an insane amount. It is so hard for him to get out a single sentence. If he were to recite an entire speech in front of a large crowd, with his stutter it would take hours for the speech to finish. We're never really given a reason as to why Bertie has a stutter, but the cause seems to be because of childhood trauma. Bertie's stutter is so severe, it is pretty much impossible for him to be able to give a single speech. Bertie has a wife (Elizabeth) who's very supportive of him and trying to fix the solution. So Bertie and Elizabeth try speech therapy for him. They go to many therapists but it seems pointless as no one is helping. Just when Bertie is about to quit, Elizabeth convinces him to go to one more person, named Lionel. Bertie thinks that there's no use and no one and nothing will ever fix his problem. So Bertie goes in being very skeptical.

In the beginning, Bertie is very uncooperative with Lionel but Lionel is convinced by the end of the sessions that Bertie's stutter will completely disappear. At the beginning of the sessions, Bertie says it's no use and says he's never going back. But eventually, his purpose drives him to return to Lionel. There is a scene where Lionel makes Bertie listen to music while reading and reciting different lines. Lionel recorded Bertie talking, and for the first time ever, Bertie spoke completely normally. No stutter at all. Since Bertie couldn't hear himself speak, he thought he stuttered throughout the entire thing. Bertie left with feelings of failure and anger towards himself. But Lionel gave Bertie the recording of him speaking. One day at his house, Bertie decides to give the recording a listen and realized, that it's himself speaking with no interruptions. There wasn't a single stutter and this drove Bertie to go back to Lionel and not stop going back. After multiple sessions throughout the movie, Bertie ends up having to give a speech at the end of the film to the entire nation. Great Britain is about to go to war so he has to give speeches to rally the nation to give them courage. Bertie goes into a broadcasting room with Lionel to give the speech and does it perfectly, inspiring people all over England. 

The main reason why I enjoyed this movie, and recommend it to everyone else, is because it has an element of everything. The movie is rated R but the only reason for that is because of some of the language. It's a very calm movie with a smooth plotline and I feel like it has a little bit of everything. There are strong themes of comedy, friendship, marriage, responsibilities, and self-motivation. The relationship between Lionel and Bertie is very important too. As a King, typically the kings feel above everyone else, especially people who are Australian (which is Lionel's nationality by the way). And to see Lionel and Bertie form this friendship is not common in the setting of this movie, the 1930s. Lionel and Bertie ended up being best friends for the rest of there lives and that was not common of people in higher class England. The conversations between the two were also comical every now and then. It gives good comic relief to the tension of wondering if Bertie will ever lose his stutter. The film also has a very good, non-cliche ending. It was a very simple ending with Bertie inspiring the entire country with his words. This movie also can relate to many common people. It shows how even those who are given everything at birth still struggle with problems within themselves. There's a reason why this movie won 4 Oscars in total. It provides a very good story without overdoing it. I recommend this movie to anyone who's looking for inspiration or just a good story enriched film. 

Ian Ransonet

Racism in Britain

 

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As Americans we are generally under the impression that only are our country experiences racist viewpoints. While our country was built on racist values and a lot of our laws and even the Constitution excluded anyone who wasn't white being a free person. It is important to keep in mind that our country and its values originate from Europe. Before America was a free country it was a colony of Britain. This means that a lot of systematic forms of racism translated from the motherland over to America. Racism stems from those who desire power and oppressing those who they deem below them allows them to have stature and rise above those they believe to be inferior.  

  

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White Teeth by Zadie Smith focuses on the racism and underlying disdain that colonized British people face from British people who see themselves as true British people. The characters we follow are a British man who marries a young woman from Jamaica, his friend who is from Bangladesh, the child of the British man and Jamaican woman, and the twins of the man from Bangladesh. They face many rude comments from British people because they don't look British. Millat and Irie in particular face comments from other British people who expect them to have been born from an exotic colony when in reality they were born right down the road. 

 

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The racism that Smith tackles shows that racism's roots stretch far and wide. The people of Britain look upon British subjects who are not white as not being truly British. They think they take their jobs and potential housing. This ideological mindset reflects the American thinking of racism. Racism has been born from Britain and carries across the sea. This has left the American population to battle racism as much as British people. Color blindness, pretending that racism is dead, and systematic forms of oppression are the same in both countries. They just present themselves in slightly different ways, but the root of cruelty is reflected across the sea.

What are your thoughts on the racism presented in White Teeth? Let me know down below in the comments. 

See you soon,

Sarah Johnson