There’s a really cool book that goes over Propaganda Posters and the like across the
various eras in the Star Wars Universe, which offer a unique insight toward the feelings
of the people affected by all the wars and major changes that were happening around them.
Each poster in the book is given a description of its origins as well as how it was used
and received by the public.
For this video, we’ll go over the posters used during the Clone Wars and their reflection
upon events we’ve seen in other media.
One very interesting detail the book highlights is how the Republic rarely created propaganda
posters that included the Jedi Order in any manner, despite the fact that the Jedi were
the ones leading the clone armies against the Separatists.
This was due to the Jedi Order’s reluctance toward glorifying war and having their sacred
Order being mixed in with it.
They didn’t want their idealistic stance of being a peaceful organization being undermined
by having their Knights being portrayed as warriors in a bloody, devastating war.
This decision of theirs ended up helping bring about their downfall, as it allowed the Separatists
(under the strong, secret encouragement of Palpatine of course) to essentially become
the main painters of the Jedi Order’s image.
They painted them as the cause of the war due to their failure of being peacekeepers.
Separatist Propaganda posters also showcased the Jedi as elitists who only cared for the
rich as well as a zealous sect warmongers.
Since the Jedi themselves refused to being included in propaganda by the Republic, they
had no means to effectively counter such claims.
Also due to their absence from being portrayed as warriors during the war, most of the public
didn’t even know how crucial the Jedi were on the battlefield.
Aside from the few who saw the Jedi in action first hand, most of the public wasn’t even
aware that the Jedi were even fighting on the frontlines, which in itself caused suspicion
of their true loyalties to the vast public.
In contrast to the Jedi, the Clone Troopers were given a spotlight in Republic propaganda
and were portrayed as the sole force as to why the Separatist droid armies hadn’t reached
the core worlds.
Early on in the war the public was beyond grateful for the clones and in full support
for them.
Because of this, the clones were included in other propaganda pieces as eye catchers
that were used to persuade Republic citizens to buy war bonds and to make other sacrifices
for the war effort.
During this time of high support for the war, the Republic also created propaganda that
supported the notion of granting Supreme Chancellor Palpatine more authority so he could use it
to assure complete victory.
A few other posters were made that discouraged the purchase of black market goods as well
as encourage saving vital fuel by reducing speeder usage and increasing commuting with
partners.
Of course you can’t have good propaganda without it being used to villionaize the enemy.
The Republic created posters that demeaned the Separatist’ cause as well as Count Dooku
himself.
They highlighted the atrocities committed by General Grievous, and portrayed Dooku with
deceptive visuals, by editing his features to look uglier and more evil.
Another interesting propaganda piece used by the Republic was to dramatize fear by citizens
toward droids.
Since the enemy was using an entire army of battle droids, the public became fearful of
personal use droids as many believed they could be used to help the enemy by spying
for them.
This led to posters that encouraged citizens to regularly mind wipe their droids so they
wouldn’t be suspect to Separatist hacking.
On the other side of the war, the Separatists themselves also had a propaganda machine pumping
out holo posters and vids to help keep the war going.
For them, their battle droids represented a path to gaining independence so they were
showcased in positive light as a result.
They also made note to clarify of how using a army of lifeless, battle droids was far
more humane than using living clones.
Another poster used by the Separatists encouraged citizens to participate by learning how to
become mechanics so they could repair and later construct battle droids for the war.
This became extremely prevalent near the end, as a majority of the automated droid factories
were destroyed by the Republic and a greater dependence was put on organic workers for
creating battle droids.
While the war was heavily supported early on by Republic citizens, as it began to drag
on and services like clean water and consistent electricity were becoming scarce, many of
those affected by these decreases in their living standards began to protest.
As such, they began to create their own posters to show off their lack of confidence in the
Republic’s involvement in the clone wars.
One such poster was an image of a bloody clone trooper helmet, which symbolised that the
clones brought upon more death toward the Republic than saving it, as their over expensive
production budget was one of the main reasons so many essential services had to be cut to
countless citizens.
Other smaller posters were made as well, which were known to be attached on the back of speeders
or carried out by protesters.
They usually targeted both the cloning productions as well as the Jedi Order itself for allowing
the conflict to happen in the first place.
Another sentiment that arose later in the war was the public’s ill feelings toward
the clones themselves, as it later became realized that most of them were technically
only 10 to 12 years old due to the accelerated aging process.
Once this view became widespread, the Republic stopped using the earlier popular phrase “support
the boys in white”, as they didn’t want to remind everyone that the clones were literally
young boys in suits of white body armor age wise.
Although near the end of the war, Palpatine’s approval ratings were starting to go down,
they drastically went back up right as the war came to an end, and the Jedi were marked
as traitors and labeled as a cult that had started the entire conflict as a scheme to
take over the Republic.
With Palpatine being publicized as the one who ended the war and who stopped the Jedi
from taking over the Republic, his popularity went off the charts as he was viewed as a
war hero to many citizens.
With both the Separatists and Jedi now gone, and the transformation of the Republic to
the Empire taking place, a whole new era of propaganda had to be created to suit the new
Imperial rule.