OUIL601 Context of Practice A study of the manipulation of fear and use of propaganda Paul Brough
My original Four Proposals My original four proposals were:• The human relationship towards fear- how we represent it in art , how it’s used to control or excite people • Where does the urge to collect come from – how this urge can be used by the advertisement industry to sell • Why do we associate animals with different personas – A look into the history of animals in art and what they’ve come to represent •
How our identity is changing through social media and our relationship towards one another- in a modern day society what do we consider to define us.
Delving in The subject of fear connects to my previous dissertation that dealt with the herd mentality and how people react to certain situations under pressure. Both subjects deal with phycology and have relatable studies on people to understand more about the human condition. So I began to look at the possible aspects of fear; • As a natural survival instinct, how it’s developed over time, as well as how our fears still connect us to our primal ancestry, the fear of falling and of the dark. • why there’s an existing industry of entertainment that’s designed specifically to scare us, i.e. horror films, games and books, what do we get from that. • I considered studying the wide range of phobias now listed, both rational and irrational • Then I came to the idea of fear being used as a tool in order to manipulate people into being controlled both in acts of terrorism and in the use of propaganda
Feedback •
My feedback gave me the advice to select the subject that has the most relevance to my development as an illustrator.
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The topic concerning collecting was picked up as being of particular interest as it could lead to me actually creating a collection of items for possible display in an exhibition or as part of a book.
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Fear was also picked upon as being theoretically interesting but the practical side was viewed as being to vague at the moment.
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The other two topics were dismissed as being less interesting and less well thought out.
Research: reacquainting myself with Semiotics •
To prepare myself for the upcoming dissertation I’ve been reading through ‘Media Semiotics An introduction’.
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This allowed me to create a list of key points to pick up upon whilst analysing certain illustrations.
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This analytical side is what I struggled on in the previous brief and it’s what I believe needs strengthening the most in order to succeed this year.
Considering art •
When beginning to look at the subject of fear I started my research in world of of art.
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I believed this would be a strong base for my work as there is always much to be found on the subject matter.
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My ideas developed and I began to narrow my topic down into the artwork of Propaganda
A STUDY INTO PROPERGANDA •
Over the summer I’ve been back and forth to the library on the look out for books specifically on the subject of propaganda
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I’m interested in studying the particular pieces of propaganda that play on peoples fears. The examples I’ve seen are mainly from the World war II era but I’d be interested in seeing more modern day examples.
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Another possible area to look at is propaganda in comic books
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At the moment I’ve only scratched the service of the subject and further reading is needed.
The Literature Angle As a possible root to go forward with I could look at satirical worlds found in fiction that deal with the power of propaganda . One particular example I read over the summer was George Orwell's 1964. A world ruled by a terrible dictatorship where no one is aloud to think for themselves in fear of been accused of being thought criminals I could possibly show how thin the line is now between fact and fiction where ridicules dictatorships do exist in our world This potential body of work would work in line with my goal of being a book illustrator.
Artist of interest- Fran Krause •
One of my worries when approaching the subject of fear is that it will be to dark a topic to handle
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Fran has created a comic series known as Deep Dark Fears
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I like his work in particular as it deals with the thoughts and fears of random members of the public
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The phobias and worries are often very relatable with a lot of then dealing with the silly fears found in childhood
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I’ve ordered his latest compilation for the library and am looking forward to going through it.
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I’d also be interested in having humour in my own work.
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Another book I seen become quite popular recently is the ‘Popup book of phobias’ which shows a number of fears leap out off the page in a fun way for a young audience.
The Next step •
So my next step is to decide whether or not to go down this root or to reconsider my other starting topics of interest, I need to understand what I’m trying to say about the subject then this will allow me to get on to the practical side of the brief
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I will most likely be asking for the tutors further advice as I don’t feel confident as of yet.
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If I keep the practical study of fear general from my early ideas I can branch of into all kinds of subjects maybe showing the contrast of entertainment horror to real life horror.
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My next step is to get past this current lethargy of my subject, I don’t feel invested in what I’m doing, and I need to find a particular way of making my work enjoyable.