Blog #2: Manufacturing Consent

The film, Manufacturing Consent, employs multiple techniques in order to maintain the audience’s attention and further instill Chomsky’s propaganda model in their minds. In one speech that Chomsky delivers, he addresses a large crowd at West Edmonton mall via a large screen. This is a prime example of a visual technique on Chomsky’s part because the screen is so large that it draws people in and compels them to listen, and therefore simultaneously promotes his propaganda model. The film emphasizes this effective way to address his audience by opening the film with this speech and showing reoccurring clips of it throughout the documentary. The film zooms in and out of the large screen displaying Chomsky’s speech; the camera focuses on close ups of Chomsky’s face as well as zooms out to show the pedestrian’s reactions. The public, according to this video, are aware the media is bias and not always correct, but they choose to follow the trends or things that stand out and attract them because it is just easier. Hence why Chomsky displaying himself on a large screen with a resounding voice drew people’s attention and got them to listen to his message. Chomsky’s propaganda model promotes that the government censors our media and manipulates it so that it is geared towards their own political agendas. The media only says what they want the public to hear and hide what they wish to keep secret. Chomsky further highlights how the public fails to acknowledge the omitting of these crucial facts because it is easier to remain ignorant than to accept the truth. This simple yet effective technique of displaying multiple angles of the same scene through the act of zooming in and out was used for multiple scenes of the film. One other instance was when they zoomed in and out on the length of unrolling newspaper articles regarding the war and genocide. This zooming effect helped create suspense in determining how much material was being unraveled. The dramatizing affect of this technique also helps to enhance its importance in supporting Chomsky’s government-influenced, antidemocratic propaganda model.