Death is inevitable; so many of us
accept it and try not to fixate over it. Then there are the Egyptians who lived
by their Book of the Dead in hopes of
embarking on a smooth transition from the world of the living to the afterlife.
Wide-spread fear of the Apocalypse
reached out to audiences through Beatus’ Commentary
of Beatus of the Apocalypse of Saint John the Devine in 776 C.E. As we
previously read in chapter 4, different interpretations of the end of the world
forced people to prepare for their last moments. This was a time when literacy
was beginning to spread out of churches and evidently, information reached out
everyone through reading.
During the 14th century,
over 25 million people were wiped out from the bubonic plague and as a result
the fear of sudden death was instilled in people’s minds ever since. A sign of
relief came in the form of a block book 23 pages long filled with descriptive
images and text about confronting death calmly. Much like the Book of the Dead, Ars Moriendi (Art of Death) was created
to ease the never-ending thought of death. However, two versions of the book
were issued by the Church. The first was written for teaching priests specific
prayers and rites whereas the second (the one we’re examining) contains
illustrations of the “temptation of the devil and the comfort of the angel on
subjects such as faith, impatience, vainglory, and the final hour of death”
(Meggs and Purvise, 91).
The Church issued this manual for
good intentions as it did ease fear, but as the textbook states, this was one
of the first accounts of printed propaganda. The manual covered topics such as
acceptable behaviors around the dying to helping those who sought redemption.
Church goers took these instructions seriously and adhered to them. But how is
this considered propaganda?
Propaganda (noun) - information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.
Ars
Monrienda is an early example of how successful print propaganda can be thanks
to the invention of the printing press, the understanding of typography, and
the efforts and contributions from knowledge-hungry artists, designers, cutters,
writers, illuminators, calligraphers, carpenters, scribes, book binders,
guilders, sponsors and printers. That's a mouthful.
But it did not just end there; the
Renaissance brought an influx of ideas based on humanism, science, and art. And
from these ideas, our knowledge and perception expanded. Propaganda also gradually
evolved into posters, signs, advertisements, and then multi media. Nowadays we are
surrounded by countless propaganda from a politician’s ad campaign to protest
signs for higher wages for fast food workers. No longer do we have to depend on print media, anyone can post his or her idea within a click of a button. Anyone can produce anything without having to spend a decade's worth of apprenticeship. It seems like there's always a Renaissance in a modern day sense since people are inherently curious and eager to discover something new. Plus with technology, it's easier than ever to get our point across a continent away.
Meggs and Purvis accurately sum up the medieval lifestyle in one sentence: “Medieval Christianity fostered a belief that the value of a human life was primarily its effect on God’s judgment after death” (102). Compared to today, people were constantly
occupying themselves with the idea of death. Centuries after, individual ideas and beliefs changed the way people question about religion and death. We have proof and science. We have more interpretations than ever before. And how did that all happen? Books and text. We live in a day and age of #YOLO
(I cringed as I type) and selfies to document almost every aspect of our lives
on a daily basis. We want the latest gadgets, need to be updated, and never waste
a moment living in the NOW. Many believe that print is dead, but more magazines and newspapers are continuing to transmit information through tablets. Though we can't touch any actual paper through screens, the art of typography still exists and it will continue to improve over time in all forms of art and propaganda. Civilization has made great leaps and discoveries, and it all started with the invention of printing.
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