Analysis of Farenheit 911
The movie Fahrenheit 911 was produced after George Bush won the presidential race in 2000 this movie was produced to give democrats a lead up in the 2004 election it does this by using propaganda techniques to suede viewers to believe the war on terrorism was just a excuse for bush to lead illegal and unjust wars in Iraq and Afghanistan here are some examples of propaganda techniques used in Fahrenheit 911. First one of the most obvious techniques of any propaganda is omission or not presenting the whole truth. What gives omissions their power is that often not recognized as missing by their audience. By leaving out important information people are allowed to jump to conclusions about the evidence that is presented. The propagandist has, at no point, failed to tell the truth, they've just failed to tell the whole truth. One of the largest omissions in Fahrenheit 911 is the failure to show footage of the terrorist hijacked planes hitting the twin towers. Showing this would have provoked the viewer's anger and turned their thoughts to retribution. Instead Moore shows the aftermath, which provokes the emotion of sorrow. In the next scene Moore immediately shows bush happy, smiling and confident. causing the viewer to wonder why is he smiling and happy after just seeing the aftermath of 9/11. But the truth is he's not it's a technique to make bush seem foolish and change your view of him. Next technique is in-group/out group manipulations or preferring 'people like us' over 'people who aren't like us'. Throughout the movie the Saudis are represented as an out-group of Bush. Moore shows Bush to be close to the Bin Laden family by repeated association. Then he shows the Bin Laden family to be close to Osama Bin Laden again by association. Whether these associations are really this close is a point for discussion but the thing to notice is that the only connection is association. Because a policeman tends to be near criminals, does that make him a criminal?