The Intentional Image: Essays on Film Propaganda

This anthology offers a concise but comprehensive theory of propaganda, and employs it to analyze a wide variety of propaganda films. These films range in origin over a full century. We interrogate these films for their rationality. We also examine the ways in which critics of a given piece of propaganda respond to it. The theory and practice of propaganda are of increasing interest in this century, as authoritarian regimes make growing use of it. This anthology compiles the author’s recent articles on film propaganda. The book begins by presenting a clear and concise theory of propaganda, explaining how it can be rational though it rarely is. It then focuses specifically on propaganda in film. The anthology discusses various films, evaluating their rationality and the effectiveness of counterarguments against them. It covers a wide range of propaganda films, from The Birth of a Nation (1915) to some contemporary films, including two featured on HBO and Netflix, along with the ways their critics have effectively countered them.