Hey @exceptionally-minded ,@imperial-science-officer I was curious as to how you both read this propaganda poster. I don’t know if art is really your guys’ thing, but I figured propaganda might be.
At first glance, it looks like a pro-Imperial piece. With the imposing form of the AT-AT filling the whole frame, pushing the words to the margins, it leaves that enormous amount of negative space in the middle. I think it is showing off the intimidating scope and power of the Empire. The “might makes right” message it pushes is certainly the core of the Imperial philosophy. Essentially submit or be made to submit. It makes the viewer feel small and helpless and watched, all things which the Empire uses to control the population.
My question is: why? The Empire is a utilitarian organization it doesn’t matter if the people believe in their cause, so long as they serve. They don’t need to convince people that their rule is right so much as it is absolute. Because of this, the sloagan “there is no such thing as too much force” makes no sense. Besides that, any reasonable person understands that there is such a thing as too much force. Tightening a bolt too much will cause it to lock, disciplining a child or pet too harshly will cause them to fear or resent you, and subjugating a people who do not want to be ruled by wiping the majority of their population out, decimating their home world and forcing the remainder into slavery will breed rebellion.
I think this might be a cleverly disguised piece of rebellion propaganda asking people to seriously question the Imperial rule. Other Imperial propaganda posters use imposing figures with next to no negative space and push the words to the forefront. This is because negative space is a waste and the words convey the main message: the simplest and most direct way of communicating the point. This poster conveys most of its message through the image and uses very little text. What is stated is mostly philosophical rather than instructional, another impracticality. It begs the viewer to look at the brutalist excess of the Empire and come to the conclusion that it is the unjust rule of a man mad with power.
But that’s just an interpretation. I thought I’d ask the opinion of some folks actually experiencing it.
(Edit: I forgot to link the artist’s website. Sorry! They have a bunch of really cool posters, btw!)
Star Wars work created under license and for sale.
