I’m doing something a bit different this week because I want to talk about the power of words and images to create monsters, both in fiction and in real life. I want to talk an about propaganda. I write a great deal about monsters on this substack. Besides a deep love for mythology, folklore and monsters, I do this is because I am fascinated about the type of monsters different cultures choose to create and how and why they turn certain groups of people into monsters. When we are afraid, it seems we prefer a black and white, good versus evil story even when it is a lie. We especially prefer that story in our real-life conflicts. We want to be the hero, and we want our opponent to be the monster. I am amazing by how words and images can transform a completely normal, relatable living being into something grotesque and horrible, something to be feared, hated, and exterminated. A different combination of words and images can then turn that same being into something god-like, pure, and heroic.
I think this is clearly represented in the many different interpretations of Frankenstein’s monster. The monster has many versions out there, and they are all telling us a different story about the creature. The way we feel about the monster in the different adaptations is all about how the storyteller presents the creature, both visually and with their words. Should we hate the monster? Should we laugh with the monsters? Should we love the monster? Should we cry for the monsters or should we grab our pitchfork? Partially, that is up to what we bring to the story as an audience member, but mostly, those feeling are directed and created by the storyteller.
In storytelling, we know how to use these tools to make our monster terrifying and repulsive or to make our hero relatable and just. It’s all about how we arrange the words on the page and whose perspective we tell the story from. It’s mostly all about point of view. It is also about where your audience’s sympathies lie. The things we write and share are rarely just words or pictures. They have a message that can wield incredible power.
Humans have been using propaganda to make monsters for as long we have been printing words and images, even longer. A long time ago, villains learned to use it to control the masses when there was conflict. I’m relatively sure many of these villains think they are doing what is best for the people. I’m also absolutely sure we have different opinions about who the villains are and who they are not. Also, my use of the word villain is a form of manipulation. I want you to think people who use propaganda for nefarious means are villains but most of them would probably consider themselves just, that their means justified the ends. After all, these players who use propaganda are only making it clear to us who is the monster and who is not. That could be perceived as a valuable service. However, just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, often, so is who the monster is in a scenario and who is the hero. There isn't always one clear monster or hero, just two sides. Countries, organizations, and individuals have long used words and images to tell a negative story about their opponents and a glorified version of their story. Even before the invention of the printing press, the Greeks shared their propaganda orally at public assemblies such as theater and games to disperse their beliefs. The Greek’s propaganda and all that followed was filled with embellishments and often lies with a little truth to validate those lies. These types of stories are often told to dehumanize or ridicule the other side. And all sides do it to each other. When in a battle of any kind, it is in our best interest to be fighting a monster. It is in our best interest to have the sympathy of our audience, to be perceived as the hero. However, when we use or share propaganda, even when it is dressed up to make us seem civil and just, we are engaging in time-honored, potentially villainous behavior. We are othering our opponent.
The sheer amount of propaganda being used on the internet, in the news, and even in activism has always been concerning and alarming. However, with social media and the rapidly expanding world of A.I., propaganda and its ability to spread is terrifying. The words and images we put out and share in the world matter more because of our ability to reach millions of people with a few keystrokes. The way we interpret these words and images is important, but the way others interpret them is just as important. That combination is what makes up their true meaning or at least, determines their impact on society as a whole. Now, we also have A.I. interpreting those words and images along with us at dangerously rapid rates. More than ever, we must choose these words and images carefully and be extremely mindful not to weaponize them.
I am not going to share actual images of historical propaganda used to turn the enemy into monsters. The images are always going to be painful to someone. You can do some google searching to find as many examples as you desire. The way the U.S. depicted the Japanese in World War 2 is a powerful example. The U.S. often depicted the Japanese as parasitic insects and ape-like monsters, not just the soldiers but the civilians. They were creatures that needed to be eradicated. This propaganda helped lead the U.S. to drop two atomic bombs on the Japanese people after intense fire-bombing campaigns on their cities. The Nazi’s use of propaganda against the Jewish people was more intense and unjustified, and it led to death camps and genocide of not just 6 million Jewish people but an additional 6 million people who the Nazi’s deemed unworthy of life. It is clear that the international community never wants events of those magnitudes to occur ever again. However, we are still allowing ourselves to spread these awful types of stories about the other side. These stories that chip away at our opponents humanity do intensify the horrific events that unfold daily in our world.
Once again, we are separating into sanctions because of wars, military conflicts, and political and societal differences. Today’s propaganda machines are so much more active and influential than they were in World War 2. The mechanisms to deliver their poisonous messages against the other side are so much more advanced and far-reaching. We see this type of propaganda deeply dividing us in our national conflicts around protests, wars, immigration, and the climate crisis. We’ve experienced it dividing our nation for decades but now it moves so quickly and with deadly accuracy through our social media networks, showing just the right image or slogan to just the right group of people. These images and words are turning people against each other, making us less likely to come to consensus and more likely to perpetrate or accept violence against those who are not like us. These words and images are putting us in danger of becoming the grotesque, repulsive monster of the story, rather than the relatable one who can find ways to coexist.
I partially wrote this to remind myself that when I read or see something and it makes me feel irrationally hopeless like there is only one violent way to resolve a problem that a villain has just whispered in my ear. That villain has used propaganda to nudge me toward turning another into a monster just because they don’t agree with me. I need to remain mindful of the power of propaganda and not fall victim to it because I don’t ever want to look across a battlefield and feel I must kill a monster that I helped create. But to prevent that type of moment, we all need to remain mindful.
For next week, Necro will be sharing a trickster story. There are many trickster entities in mythology, folklore, and horror. A trickster is a disrupter of harmony, sometimes a demi-god who wants to rewrite or challenge reality so it fits his/her own objectives. Sometimes a trickster exists to teach us valuable lessons. Other times, a trickster is a darker entity, a demon, that wants you to betray your core beliefs for some nefarious purpose. I would argue that propaganda is very much a tool of a trickster no matter the entity’s intentions.
Please share your favorite trickster in the comments below.
Aside from Loki in various forms, I love the Cheshire cat
This is certainly true when it comes to the murder mystery genre as well — readers love to hate the villain, and sometimes they love to hate the victim, too! In crime fiction, Moriarty is the classic monster. In comics, I always liked The Swamp Thing.