Department of English

This course examines propaganda and political censorship in American media (primarily film, television, and the Internet). We will consider competing theories and definitions of propaganda and the many ways that U.S. film, television, and digital media fit into those categories. Weekly topics include the World War I Creel Commission, Washingtons role in Hollywood censorship, the governments World War II films, the Blacklist, the CIAs support for the arts during the cold war, the effect of media consolidation on news and entertainment, the role of the media in the War on Terror, the Patriot Act, and more. We will read theories of propaganda by Walter Lippmann, Joseph Goebbles, Theodor Adorno, and Charlotte Beers, among others. Films include Orson Welless Citizen Kane, the Armys Autobiography of a Jeep, John Hustons The Battle of San Pietro,Charlie Chaplins A King in New York, Michael Moores Farenheit 9-11, and Robert Greenwalds OutFoxed.