Animal Farm Propaganda Project (Due Wednesday, October 24th)

Animal Farm Propaganda Project

 *This project will count for 2 test grades (commercial and poster) and 1 quiz grade (propaganda newsletter)

You will be graded on creativity, delivery of idea/message, and length. 

There are THREE parts to this propaganda project.   1.  Propaganda Commercial   2. Propaganda Poster   3.  Propaganda Newsletter

Part One:

 First, you need to decide which option to pursue for this project:

1)      The first option will be to create propaganda commercial based on the very beginning of Animal Farm whose purpose is designed to inspire the animals to their first rebellion against the overthrow of Farmer Jones. You can use characters like Old Major, Napoleon, Snowball and Squealer. This should depict an optimistic outlook on the future. It should depict a time in which humans are the animals’ enemies and Napoleon has not become a tyrant yet.

2)      The second option will be to create a propaganda commercial in which you are Squealer serving as Napoleon’s spokesperson.  Snowball has been chased out, and your propaganda continues to blame the farm’s misfortunes on Snowball. Furthermore, the propaganda machine continues to deceive the animals into believing they are free, they are equal, and their lives are better off than they were before the rebellion, etc., while simultaneously the case being the opposite.  

3)      The third option will be to create a propaganda video from Snowball who was kicked out of Animal Farm by Napoleon. This option requires you to be creative because it obviously does not occur in the novel. Snowball will create a video to persuade the overthrow of Animal Farm’s current state from Napoleon, the pigs, and the dogs.

4)       The 4th option will be to create a propaganda commercial as Benjamin, the donkey, set in a time in which it’s common for pigs to walk on two legs, to drink alcohol, to carry whips, and conduct business with humans. As the oldest animal in the farm, Benjamin remembers how life was before the rebellion, before Napoleon, and before his friend Boxer dies. Now approaching old age and death, he looks around the overworked and underfed animals around him, and he finally decides to act for once in his life. Like Old Major before him, he decides to inspire the animals into rebelling against the pigs and the dogs.  

5)  Create propaganda (3 posters, one commercial, and one newsletter) on behalf of the pigs in Animal Farm, in which, using crows, the pigs attempt to spread news of their “successful” rebellion to the rest of the animals in neighboring farms. Although life for the animals in Animal Farm, after the rebellion, is not exactly ideal in all areas, they would still like for farmers and animals outside animal farm to believe their rebellion was a smashing success. Therefore, the propaganda being sent out will try to claim that life for the animals is better in all areas. It will proclaim that all animals are equal, it will proclaim that the animals are free and are their own masters, it will proclaim that no more whips and cruelty abound in Animal Farm… and obviously more things of this nature.

There are THREE parts to this propaganda project.   1.  Propaganda Commercial   2. Propaganda Poster   3.  Propaganda Newsletter

Once you select one of the four options, you will need to create a propaganda commercial, a propaganda poster, and a propaganda newsletter designed around one of the four scenarios you selected. The message in your commercial, poster and newsletter will basically support the same mission of your scenario, but will accomplish it in different ways. Ultimately, this project will observe the manner in which propaganda works in a variety of ways: written, visual, multi-media (video)  

 Part One: Propaganda Commercial (One test grade) You will create a short, propaganda commercial designed around whatever choice you selected (2 – 3 mins)  

Part Two: Propaganda Poster (One test grade) You will create a propaganda poster to support your commercial. The poster can include words and slogans to support the accompanied propaganda imagery. Remember, your poster should be designed around the scenario your group selected and should communicate, alongside the video and newsletter, the mission of the scenario you selected. Make sure to be creative regarding what your poster visually communicates to the animals. How can a poster “inspire”/brainwash  the farm animals to suit the specific agenda you have chosen?  

Part Three: Propaganda Newsletter (Quiz Grade) You will write a ONE and a half page newsletter, whose audience will be the animals, which will support your poster and commercial.  Papers must be one and a half page, typed, double spaced, and 12 point Times New Roman font. Your propaganda newsletter serves the same function as your commercial and poster, except it accomplishes this with words and rhetoric. In a way, the newsletter could be seen as an essay/article meant to persuade the animals to feel strongly about the mission of your scenario.

As you work on this project, keep the following in mind:

1. Which propaganda techniques are used in the poster/commercial/newsletter?  2. How do you demonstrate propaganda techniques in each medium?  3. What are the benefits/disadvantages/limitations to print (posters) propaganda?  4. What are the benefits/disadvantages/limitations to multimedia (commercial) propaganda?  What are the benefits/disadvantages/limitations to written (newsletter) propaganda? 4. Which method (print or multimedia) is better for propaganda?  Why is that method stronger? 

You will be graded on your group’s thoroughness in supporting the selected scenario, effectiveness of propaganda techniques used, as well as on creativity and effort. Be sure to consult your propaganda notes and research propaganda examples to ensure you understand what you are accomplishing in this project.