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Political Poster Analysis Assignment

A soft drink commercial several years ago proclaimed that “Image is everything.” In our daily lives we are constantly bombarded with images that attempt to direct our actions, from political television advertisements to all types of commercial imaging. Most of this media is designed to get us to react emotionally to a product, commercial or political. Adolf Hitler wrote that "like the poster, [propaganda] consists in attracting the attention of the crowd, and not in educating those who are already educated or who are striving after education and knowledge, its effect for the most part must be aimed at the emotions and only to a very limited degree at the so-called intellect." This was Hitler’s formula for manipulation. Conversely, rational analysis of these messages allows us to better grasp and critically consider the content they contain.

This exercise is designed to allow you to analyze Weimar political imagery. On Web you will find three election posters. You should analyze the messages in TWO of them (your choice of which two) and place them in the political spectrum. The significant German writing has been translated, but the primary message is in the imagery. You need not identify the parties that created the posters, but rather determine their general political positions regarding the republic.

Once you have figured out what the messages of both posters are, you should compare and/or contrast them with one another. Do they come from similar places in the political spectrum? Or do they take very different positions? How do they complement or rebut one another?

Because this is a test of your analytical ability, NO OUTSIDE RESEARCH IS ALLOWED.

What To Submit

Your essay should consist of four or five paragraphs: An introduction in which you briefly explain the issues the posters address and their positions. Introductions should not simply raise questions. They should also provide brief answers to those questions; two paragraphs dedicated to the specific analysis of both posters (here you are providing more detail about the statements of the introduction); a fourth paragraph in which you compare and contrast the two; a conclusion if you have not made concluding statements in the fourth paragraph.

What you submit, then, should take the form of approximately two or three pages of text (300 to 600 words) in double spaced 12-point font.

Final Advice

As you prepare to submit your work, keep in mind the impression that you create about yourself by turning in one essay as opposed to another. If, for example, you turn in a bad essay showing obvious signs of haste and no evidence of proof-reading, then the instructor will draw the obvious conclusions. A better essay, or at least one that shows obvious signs of hard work and effort, will of course create a different impression.

POSTER ASSIGNMENT RUBRIC

CORRECTION POINTS

Paragraph one (Introduction)

The issues are placed in context ____ 1-10

The position of the two posters is generally stated ____ 1-5

Paragraph two (First Poster)

There is a good analysis of the visuals ____ 1-10

The party is correctly placed in the political spectrum

(The party need not be specifically identified) ____ 1-10

Paragraph three (Second Poster)

There is a good analysis of the visuals ____ 1-10

The party is correctly placed in the political spectrum ____ 1-10

Paragraph four/five (Comparison/Contrast)

There is a good comparison or contrast of the posters ____ 1-20

There is a good summary statement ____ 1-5

Overall impression of the paper ____ 1-20

SUB-TOTAL POINTS ____ 100

Points deducted

Paper is late (minus 5 per weekday up to -15) ____

Paper does not meet the length requirements ____ -5

Paper is not formatted correctly ____ -5

TOTAL POINTS ____ 100

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