I teach high school art twice a week and was surprised to hear the kids talking all about Ukraine and Russia. They were repeating what the news and their teachers were saying (which were one in the same) and my hackles went up. This morning the principal prayed Putin would have a change of heart and withdraw. It’s a conservative school, but the majority of parents, students, and staff don’t have a clue. I have them again on Tuesday, and I want to be prepared. I’m going to do a lesson on propaganda in art, using what’s going on now to show them how what we’re told and even what we’re shown isn’t always the reality. Here’s where I need help. When things like this come up where there’s so much information and a limited amount of time and some know-it-all teenagers, I get tongue-tied and I can’t get the information in my brain to come out in a calm, sensical manner. Any suggestions are welcome! I’m planning on showing the map of the US bio labs and where Russia bombed those areas, the picture from last week, I think, of the kindergarten or daycare that was bombed yet the toys were still neatly put away and the video of the people running in front of the ancient tank on the green grass in winter and the dummy flying through the air. Sorry for the long post, but I want to do the best job I can to get through to these kids who will hopefully get through to their parents and other teachers.
You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.
Comments (33)
sorted by:
Since you're an art teacher, you've got a lot to work with.
Here's what I'd do.
Give all your students a piece of paper and ask them to draw a super hero of their own design.
Give them a decent amount of time to do this.
Then, surprise them all by telling them to hand their drawing to the person to their right.
Tell them to now draw one item in the other person's drawing that will turn the hero into a villain. If you want to keep it clean, tell them it has to be something non-violent -- which means no guns, gore, or anything else inappropriate.
...
What is the message of this exercise? To show how very easily you can vilify a hero by introducing one element that goes against their character.
Ultimately, you're showing them how easy the Media can spin real heroes and cast them as villains.
Please, don't mention Putin, Ukraine, Russia, or anything political. Just show them how easy it is to manipulate someone's character by context alone.
I like that! And you’re right—there are lots of examples of propaganda in art I can use. I don’t think I’d get in trouble for mentioning Ukraine and Russia, but my end goal is to teach them to not take everything at face value, and there’s lots of other times in history I can use.
That's the point. You want to foster those emotions, so they can come to terms with them. More importantly, so they can not lose control when their favorite politician gets railed.
The exercise is supposed to show how things we get attached to personally can be vilified and cause us to support destructive things.
Just because you like X politician now doesn't mean when bad crap comes out about them you should take it personally and start defending them.
Hell, I used to look up to Bill Cosby. See how that turned out? I'm not gonna say for certain he is guilty, but I'm not gonna defend him either.
There's no better demonstration of how destructive these emotions can be than the liberal left right now. Look at Biden.
You got people defending his deals in Ukraine. They aren't even bothering to deny it anymore, they admit he did it but still try to blame Trump for trying to catch him in his deals as if Trump is at fault.
They grew attached to the Democrat party, like they would their superhero drawing, and get into a frenzy when someone tries to vilify their personal vision of their hero. It's not healthy to be that attached to something, even if its your own Creation. Doing so only turns you into a control freak, and can lead you down some dark and unhappy paths.
I know what you're saying though...
If I had some advice on how to handle those who couldn't take the swell of emotion this project would illicit, don't tell them it's a group project. Instead, tell them they won't be able to keep their drawing but you still expect them to try as hard as they can.
You could also have the students do it themselves, like the paintings in Disney's haunted mansion, the ones that look innocent until they stretch and you see other stuff.
Or even have the person to the right make up the story about that character. It will probably be completely different than what the original artist intended. Any news story with “someone familiar with the way they think” is propaganda. Check out the Smith Muntz act which legalized propaganda. There’s a picture out there too somewhere that shows a media camera showing someone getting stabbed when it’s really the person running away.
Such a good idea 👍🏻
Great strategy.
/Thread.