The Cavaliers 2016

[N.E. Brigand]

If drum corps was only judged by the first two minutes, the Cavaliers would be killing it from 2012 to now. I just don't understand if they try to put all the ideas into the opening or what, but it seems like they really fizzle after that opening push.

While it was rough, I loved the last minute of their show. Maybe the best mobbing of the sideline since BD '96. We'll see.

[Channel3]

Cavaliers

Opening compliment: What an incredible job these young men did. Their performance skills are a freaking triumph. Incredible talent. They are the future of music and performance. Wow.

The rest of this post deals with the faulty show design.

I'm not sure the Cavaliers designers know what propaganda is. The selected speech clips are just wrong-- why play clips of the good guys in a show negatively titled Propaganda?

1. The promotional video included Martin Luther King footage. That's just wrong for a show titled Propaganda. MLK was a humanitarian and Nobel peace prize winner. That was our first clue something is amiss.

2. FDR wasn't a propagandist, he was a world respected leader and humanitarian. Including his voice, even if to just set up an era, makes the audience think you're calling FDR a propagandist and letting Hitler off the hook. Here's an example of what it sounds like. Announcer "Propaganda" Next Voice "The only thing we have to fear is..." Do you get it? That's a problem. That's a mistake. That's like announcing "The Evil that Men Do" and then showing the Teletubbies. It just makes no sense in a twelve minute medium. If you're doing a half hour art film with juxtaposed messages, fine. But clearly that doesn't work here.

3. The guard uniforms are stripped away to reveal sports uniforms that look an awwwfffulll lot like the Tommy Smith and John Carlos 1968 Mexico Olympics. These African American athletes raised their fists to make a political statement about equal rights. A politcal statement. Not propaganda. Is this what the Cavaliers are alluding to with this costume? If so, that's just wrong in a show titled Propaganda.

4. Chaplin's good natured barber speech from The Great Dictator is played out of context. That's confusing. It's a good natured humanitarian message on the surface to the casual viewer. But without the context, it appears that you're calling a heartfelt message of human understanding "propaganda." Again an amateurishly confusing message.

5. The only clip I heard that has sinister and manipulative underpinnings was Trump's Mexican wall. I thought "Finally, they got one example right." A clear case of manipulative deception and demagoguery. The other clips, no.

The show coordinator might do well to take a basic history lesson to learn the difference between public communication and manipulative deception.

These "good guy" speeches are a problem, and give the show a sinister almost nihilistic and hollow and nonsensical feel, like a video game where you score points if a human baby's eyes are bitten out by wolves. It's just not right. In a show labeled "propaganda", and in our present day era where we see examples of frighteningly deceptive demagoguery every day from a politician getting free air time, you probably shouldn't play clips of FDR, King, or Ghandi for that matter. They're simply not propagandists. That muddies the waters for this show and gives it a sour taste as if the guy in charge of the show has a screw loose. If you want to set up the Nazi or Moussilini era, some simple shouting in German or Italian would suffice. But don't include FDR, even as a counterpoint-- because we can't tell what you mean by including his voice. FDR has never been labeled a propagandist, and that ridiculous notion should never be suggested, except by high school sophomores stuck with an impossible debate topic in competition.

Earlier in the season, I could swear there were two clips -- Reagan's wall speech and Trump's ridiculous Mexican wall speech in an earlier taped version of this show, which made some sense, paralleling the two manipulative messages about "walls" but I didn't hear these clips last night. Perhaps it was cut because it endangered too many corps fundraising efforts. Maybe Trump's still in, but I didn't hear it last night. And yes, this discussion matters, because a show like this should have some sense of conscience and logic about obvious manipulation of political messages. Knowing the prowess of the broadcast technicians, did they drown these clips out intentionally?

FIX:

1. Cut sound clips whose speakers are not propagandists; substitute history's most egregious examples of deception

2. Develop a clear Point of view about propaganda, not just examples

3. By the end, thwart the propaganda or succumb to it, don't just let it all pile up and leave the audience hanging about your point of view. If you're searching for an ending, why not do a chilling, dark ending, as if the entire corps has succumbed to false messages, and they march off with miiltary bearing, falling in line-- a sobering condemnation of sheeple.

Right now it's an overheated Powerpoint slide show in a blender with mismatched subtitles, meandering, and with no point of view or resolution. Easily fixed.

Edited June 25, 2016 by Channel3

[Clutchtow]

EDIT: meh, not worth

Edited June 25, 2016 by Clutchtow

[N.E. Brigand]

Hey, the corps if from Chi-raq[/i], Illinois . . .

Is that necessary?

Ask Spike Lee.

I heard that his retelling of Aristophanes' Lysistrata was pretty good, but haven't seen it.

(Let's see a corps present that story in musical form. Tell us how it could be done, C3!)

[jjeffeory]

Cavaliers

Opening compliment: What an incredible job these young men did. Their performance skills are a freaking triumph. Incredible talent. They are the future of music and performance. Wow.

The rest of this post deals with the faulty show design.

I'm not sure the Cavaliers designers know what propaganda is. The selected speech clips are just wrong-- why play clips of the good guys in a show negatively titled Propaganda?

1. The promotional video included Martin Luther King footage. That's just wrong for a show titled Propaganda. MLK was a humanitarian and Nobel peace prize winner. That was our first clue something is amiss.

2. FDR wasn't a propagandist, he was a world respected leader and humanitarian. Including his voice, even if to just set up an era, makes the audience think you're calling FDR a propagandist and letting Hitler off the hook. Here's an example of what it sounds like. Announcer "Propaganda" Next Voice "The only thing we have to fear is..." Do you get it? That's a problem. That's a mistake. That's like announcing "The Evil that Men Do" and then showing the Teletubbies. It just makes no sense in a twelve minute medium. If you're doing a half hour art film with juxtaposed messages, fine. But clearly that doesn't work here.

3. The guard uniforms are stripped away to reveal sports uniforms that look an awwwfffulll lot like the Tommy Smith and John Carlos 1968 Mexico Olympics. These African American athletes raised their fists to make a political statement about equal rights. A politcal statement. Not propaganda. Is this what the Cavaliers are alluding to with this costume? If so, that's just wrong in a show titled Propaganda.

4. Chaplin's good natured barber speech from The Great Dictator is played out of context. That's confusing. It's a good natured humanitarian message on the surface to the casual viewer. But without the context, it appears that you're calling a heartfelt message of human understanding "propaganda." Again an amateurishly confusing message.

5. The only clip I heard that has sinister and manipulative underpinnings was Trump's Mexican wall. I thought "Finally, they got one example right." A clear case of manipulative deception and demagoguery. The other clips, no.

The show coordinator might do well to take a basic history lesson to learn the difference between public communication and manipulative deception.

These "good guy" speeches are a problem, and give the show a sinister almost nihilistic and hollow and nonsensical feel, like a video game where you score points if a human baby's eyes are bitten out by wolves. It's just not right. In a show labeled "propaganda", and in our present day era where we see examples of frighteningly deceptive demagoguery every day from a politician getting free air time, you probably shouldn't play clips of FDR, King, or Ghandi for that matter. They're simply not propagandists. That muddies the waters for this show and gives it a sour taste as if the guy in charge of the show has a screw loose. If you want to set up the Nazi or Moussilini era, some simple shouting in German or Italian would suffice. But don't include FDR, even as a counterpoint-- because we can't tell what you mean by including his voice. FDR has never been labeled a propagandist, and that ridiculous notion should never be suggested, except by high school sophomores stuck with an impossible debate topic in competition.

Earlier in the season, I could swear there were two clips -- Reagan's wall speech and Trump's ridiculous Mexican wall speech in an earlier taped version of this show, which made some sense, paralleling the two manipulative messages about "walls" but I didn't hear these clips last night. Perhaps it was cut because it endangered too many corps fundraising efforts. Maybe Trump's still in, but I didn't hear it last night. And yes, this discussion matters, because a show like this should have some sense of conscience and logic about obvious manipulation of political messages. Knowing the prowess of the broadcast technicians, did they drown these clips out intentionally?

FIX:

1. Cut sound clips whose speakers are not propagandists

2. Develop a clear Point of view about propaganda, not just examples

3. By the end, thwart the propaganda or succumb to it, don't just let it all pile up and leave the audience hanging about your point of view. If you're searching for an ending, why not do a chilling, dark ending, as if the entire corps has succumbed to false messages, and they march off with miiltary bearing, falling in line-- a sobering condemnation of sheeple.

Right now it's an overheated Powerpoint slide show in a blender with mismatched subtitles, meandering, and with no point of view or resolution.

Propaganda is a form of biased communication, aimed at promoting or demoting certain views, perceptions or agendas.

[corpsband]

Some people are so locked into their worldview, they literally lack the capacity to see events through another's eyes.

I suggest you (Channel3) google OWI (The Office of War Information) for FDR's long history with propaganda.

There were millions of Americans who considered MLK a propagandist.

There were millions of Germans who thought Adolph Hitler was a patriot.

Propaganda has little to do with moral authority (which is itself a cultural judgement rooted in the observer's point-of-view).

</soapbox>

Edited June 25, 2016 by corpsband

[N.E. Brigand]

I'm not sure the Cavaliers designers know what propaganda is. The selected speech clips are just wrong-- why play clips of the good guys in a show negatively titled "Propaganda"?

Well, somebody does seem confused.

From the Encylopaedia Brittanica:

"Propaganda, dissemination of information--facts, arguments, rumours, half-truths, or lies--to influence public opinion."

See, the "good guys" do it too.

[cube]

Come on guys. That was a very good post about what he thought was wrong with the show. Hell, I didn't even notice it was Channel3, because he raised some very good points that don't come off as trolling.

[N.E. Brigand]

Come on guys. That was a very good post about what he thought was wrong with the show. Hell, I didn't even notice it was Channel3, because he raised some very good points that don't come off as trolling.

I didn't think he was trolling. The problem is just that he's very, very wrong, since his arguments depend on a misunderstanding of what "propaganda" means.

[skevinp]

From the Encylopaedia Brittanica:

"Propaganda, dissemination of information--facts, arguments, rumours, half-truths, or lies--to influence public opinion."

Dude, that's just what they WANT you to think.