United With Ukraine
The propaganda poster I chose to analyze is a very current situation that is something nobody in the world can ignore. As we all probably know by now, Russian leader Vladimir Putin declared war on the country of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022. In this top image, Russian flag colors are represented on a big mean shark who looks to be approaching its prey. The prey is depicting a small fish in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, which looks to be terrified of the oncoming Russian force. However, the bottom photo shows the same Russian shark, now facing an army of other sized fish, which represent the flags of more countries on the side with the Ukrainian fish. These countries include Sweden, Germany, United States of America, the Czech Republic, France, and Canada. Now, the fish on the side of Ukraine look mean and ready for the Russian shark, while the Russian shark looks a little more nervous and there is a crab tugging on the shark, almost as if to say lets pull back there is too many fish on that side. I feel like this image is pretty straightforward to understand. Russia begins an attack on Ukraine, thinking that it will be an easy fight being a large country against a small one. However, once the attacks began, the forces of all these other countries are backing Ukraine and Russia is now not so sure about if they can take the fight.
The image is very colorful and easy to read. It’s something we all understand, the food chain. We know that a bigger shark will go after a smaller fish as its prey. And we also know that it is still intimidating for an animal at the higher end of the food chain to be intimidated by a group of enemies ready to fight it. Another technique used by the illustrator is emotion on the faces of the animals. We can see that initially, Ukraine is terrified almost as if they know they will lose if they are alone. Russia also looks assured of the same outcome. But in the second image, all the fish on the right side look ready to fight, all together against the Russian shark, while the shark looks pretty nervous, thinking if they made the right decision to pick this fight. One more feature is the crab that is pulling back the Russian shark’s fin in the second image. This crab has a human-like face on it, possibly representing the Russian president who initiated this attack, wanting to come back on his declaration.
Personally I found this propaganda illustration on the Mind Over Media Propaganda Gallery. However, I am sure that it is posted on the internet for any person to see who is looking into the recent attacks on the country of Ukraine. I think this image would be a good way to show everyone, because of its ability to simplify these political ideas that some may not understand. We could even show this to children, because something we teach to children is about bullying. At such a young age, we know about the bigger kids at school and their ability to easily pick on the smaller kids, because the smaller kids can’t defend themselves. If we show this illustration to children, they would understand that Russia is the big bully picking a fight with the smaller country of Ukraine. Another thing we could teach them with this is that with help from other countries, the smaller country of Ukraine can stand up to the bully of Russia.
The genre conveyed in this image is unity. The image shows that alone, a bigger country such as Russia could easily invade Ukraine and Ukraine would not be able to properly defend their country. However, if we come together, united, we can fight against Russian forces, and become as big if not bigger than their army. This gives motivation to the armed forces of the countries who could back up Ukraine in this fight. Even though we may not have the same opinions and beliefs as these countries that are represented on the side of Ukraine, we still need to work with them so they have a fair chance of surviving this fight.
This illustration is definitely on the side of Ukraine. If the interpreter is on Ukraine’s side as well, I believe they will willingly accept this image and agree with what it stands for. However, if the interpreter is on Russia’s side, they may not be as willing to accept it. One example I have seen of people agreeing is to not accept imports or exports from Russia. Some countries that are not able to physically help with Ukraine’s fight are doing their part by not selling Russian imported products. Another way is by not buying exports from Russia such as oil or gas. All together, anyone can feel any way they want about this image. Propaganda images are mostly about interpretation anyway.
