I think it’s ironic that so many of my designy Western friends are so admiring of the propaganda of the past century (Soviet film, Czech posters, American cartoons, Nazi set design…), while being so critical of the propaganda of today. The PRC’s latest exhibition of muscle flexing on the its 60th birthday seemed to freak them out universally. But my feeling is that if it’s OK to separate aesthetics from ideology once a regime has collapsed, we, in our Twitterfied 24-hour news cycle world, should be able to make that cut in real time. Besides, one’s anxiety is another’s pride and my feeling is that all the festively painted weaponry is meant to reassure, not threaten. Here is a collection of beautiful contemporary propaganda from China.
First, the parade in Tiananmen Square to mark the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China - as seen in timelapse and slow-motion. Created by Dan Chung:
The Big Picture also has an amazing feature on the 60th anniversary festivities. Here’s a couple of examples:
You can see the rest here.
Next, another very stylish cliche parade. CCTV Ink TV Commercial - Directed by Niko Tziopanos
Last here are some (sorta) oldie by goodies - Paralympic posters from the Beijing games. Art directed by Zhao Meng:
See the full set here.
Thanks to Dan & Jeru for forwarding the Party line.
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COMMENTS / 5 COMMENTS
James said on Oct 09 09 at 00:58LOL at this brazen attempt to get back in the Party’s good graces after your counter-revolutionary previous post.
TD said on Oct 10 09 at 06:44These are beautiful though
Brendan said on Oct 10 09 at 07:15brazen attempt to get back in the Party’s good graces after your counter-revolutionary previous post.
LMAO. Busted
alex pasternack said on Oct 24 09 at 11:52it’s true we love to throw propaganda on our walls, and then love to fear it. then again, the posters on Westerners’ walls are functionally dead. china’s might be more fun to look at if not for the fact that it’s alive and working quite well (if i could just interrupt myself here — zhongguo jia you!). I wonder also if what looks good, like here, may be because this government propaganda has been coopted and reedited and captured differently than the propagandists would have wanted (and with the exception of Zhao Meng — whose work sadly wasn’t seen much during the paralympics — by foreigners). Or maybe because propaganda and the way it’s delivered has undergone a serious shift from the former era to now. For instance, now the military hardware on parade comes alongside some pretty gentle soft power messages, like innovation and creativity (not to mention the guns aren’t just for intimidation but also for sale). Ironically, innovation and creativity are what propaganda and its nasty cousin censorship love to erode. That, coupled with Chinese history and tradition may be why the Soviet propaganda that designy Westerners love is so much better looking (at least I think so).
still, I think that even Westerners who criticize the slippery and slick power of China’s propaganda machine sometimes still get a kick out of it. I wonder if designy types would be more into it if it really looked good, not the tacky and over-the-top wedding party-esque stylings of PRC 2.0.
but along and apart from these lines (and to further help re-ingratiate all of us): if you’re a person in China without a VPN, think of how not being able to access youtube, facebook, twitter, etc, enhances your productivity, and probably makes you smarter and happier.
zhongguo jiayou!
alex pasternack said on Oct 24 09 at 13:44btw, that CCTV video is pretty rad. and it was mostly not foreign-made: http://vimeo.com/6794856.
(but is it propaganda?)
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