“All art is propaganda, but not all propaganda is art”–George Orwell, author of 1984 and Animal Farm
The Story of British Propaganda Film, a new book in the British Film Institute (BFI) series, was written by Scott Anthony, the deputy head of research at the U.K. Science Museum Group.
The book shows the central role of propaganda to the development of British film and how it has filtered people’s understanding of modern British history.
While the term “propaganda film” was traditionally associated with war-time narratives, it didn’t end after World War I and II. Instead, it became “a tool for packaging our cultural heritage, promoting tourism and transforming British culture.”
Showing how the emergence of film as a global media phenomenon reshaped practices of propaganda, and new practices of propaganda in turn reshaped film, the book dissects examples of propaganda, such as The Battle of the Somme (1916), Listen to Britain (1942) and Animal Farm (1954).
It also discusses such beloved movie franchises as James Bond, Harry Potter, and Paddington films, along with such TV series as The Crown, digital media and more.
In the age of misinformation and disinformation, Anthony argues that “the response to the ubiquity of the propaganda film has often turned out to be the production of ever more propaganda,” into what he calls “the era of total propaganda.”
The author defines three periods or stages of British propaganda film. “The book describes how the propaganda film went from being a stand-alone object–Triumph of the Will or Battleship Potemkin–to forming part of an expansive media environment.”
