Criminology Tutorial 03MAR2017

Group work: analysis of historical propaganda images

What does it mean that wars are historically contingent?

● Each war is different due to historical context, political climate, culture,

and structures (there may be similarities but no 2 wars are the same)
● Also differences in technology and types of weapons used
● Propaganda - affected by modern technology, now easier to
disseminate propaganda
● When comparing wars you must recognise the different historical
contingencies

How is gender used in the representation of war?

● Women are portrayed as terrified victims

● Women need protection from the evil enemy (weak)
● Women should play the supporting role to our heroes who are protecting the
country
● There are 2 main masculinities:
○ Men as the enemy (brutal, evil)
○ Men as the hero/fighter (heroic, noble, brave)
● Emotions are used in these types of images to increase the reaction or
response

What sort of emotions do these images stir? How is enemy portrayed?

● Fear - enemy presented as animal like, non-human,

○ By dehumanising the enemy it makes it easier to kill them or to justify
killing them
● Anger - that the evil enemy is trying to kill us and take over our country
● Pride - our heroes are fighting the enemy to save us. They risk their lives to
protect us
● Urgency - emphasis on the need to act now to defeat the enemy

Although, these images are specific to WWII they illustrate who representations of
war are important. The enemy is presented as an animal, our soldiers are presented
and heroes who are protecting our ‘weak and helpless’ women and children

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 Criminology Tutorial 03MAR2017

There are differences today:

● Different gender norms means women are not portrayed as weak
(these images can be considered offensive today)
● Women are shown as fighters and able to participate in conflict
(equality with men).