This is my propaganda poster supporting the Machine and Book from The Machine Stops. I used Canva.
Follow the Machine
I was inspired to create a propaganda poster to conform with the Machine because of the religious ways society began to worship the Machine and the book, even though religion is banned. To create my poster, I incorporated the technique of deification by making the Machine appear holy through having a sun behind its head, using calming colours like blue, and adding open hands holding food and other things to represent the giving nature and openness of the machine. I used the idea of having plain folks and bandwagon to convince the audience that the Machine should be supported and worshipped because everyone else is. I did this through adding a slogan above the hands that is said by society from the Homelessness section: “’The Machine,’ they exclaimed, ‘feeds us and clothes us and houses us… in it we have our being.’” (Pg.22) This quote inspired the design of adding open hands which symbolize honesty and openness, holding various things to give the incentive that you will gain these things if you start to praise the machine. Another propaganda technique I was able to utilize is cherry picking by adapting Kuno’s statement, “‘You are beginning to worship the Machine,’” (Pg.12) into the simplified slogan, “‘…worship the Machine.’” This manipulation shifted Kuno’s distrust into support for the Machine. The slogan influenced the central design, featuring a robot representing the Machine, holding a book, and appearing holy with the sunlit background. Creating this poster challenged me to apply creative thinking by designing an idea inspired by The Machine Stops and supporting it with evidence from the story. I used critical thinking to reflect on my design choices and how they aligned with the requirements for a propaganda poster. Experimenting with symbols and colors allowed me to refine my design to effectively convey the message of supporting the Machine. This project helped me explore the themes of The Machine Stops and demonstrated the persuasive power of propaganda through thoughtful use of techniques and symbolism.