History Main / PropagandaHero

* Creator/ClintEastwood's ''Film/FlagsOfOurFathers'' deals with the iconography of the famous flag-raising photograph in Iwo Jima and how the participants of that photograph deal with becoming larger-than-life heroes especially when they deal with SurvivorsGuilt and post-traumatic stress.

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'': Cap's set up as the poster boy for the American troops, mostly to sell war bonds. [[SubvertedTrope Ironically]], the men actually on the front line have no respect for a leotard-wearing shill who has never seen combat, but [[FireForgedFriends that changes]] once he actually gets to put his boots on the ground. [[MythologyGag This is a neat reference to the meta origins of Captain America]], where Cap was created in real life as entertainment and propaganda during the actual Second World War (and as part of the gag, copies of the actual 1941 ''Captain America Comics #1'' are shown and passed around).

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'': Cap's set up as the poster boy for the American troops, mostly to sell war bonds. [[SubvertedTrope Ironically]], the men actually on the front line have no respect for a leotard-wearing shill who has never seen combat, but [[FireForgedFriends that changes]] once he actually gets to put his boots on the ground. [[MythologyGag This is a neat reference to the meta origins of Captain America]] as mentioned above in the Comic Book folder, where Cap was created in real life as entertainment and propaganda during the actual Second World War (and as part of the gag, copies of the actual 1941 ''Captain America Comics #1'' is shown and passed around).

* ''ComicBook/TheBoys'': The superheroes are all created by a serum that is dispensed by a MegaCorp that desperately wants to turn said superheroes into human weapons so they can get all the money and power that comes from being a part of US defense spending. Having failed to do that so far, they settle for peddling lame, Silver Age style stories that people eat up and make them imagine the heroes are saving the world on a daily basis. Of particular note is the ComicBook/CaptainAmerica CaptainErsatz Soldier Boy, a DirtyCoward whose WWII heroism was faked and pure propaganda (which is incredibly meta, considering Captain America also appears in this list).

* In ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'', Katsuya's immense talent as a hunter makes him the poster boy for the pro-young hunter faction of Drankam. The leaders of this faction prop him up as a rising star among hunters in order to steer the direction of the gang away from veterans like Shirakabe in a political civil war.

* ''Film/TriumphOfTheWill'' was intended by Creator/LeniReifenstahl to make UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler into one, orchestrating a Nuremberg Rally (deliberately staged by Reifenstahl for the film) with Hitler getting an epic entrance to show how godlike and powerful he is.

* ''Film/TriumphOfTheWill'' was intended by creator/LeniReifenstahl to make UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler into one, orchestrating a Nuremberg Rally (deliberately staged by Reifenstahl for the film) with Hitler getting an epic entrance to show how godlike and powerful he is.

* ''Film/TriumphOfTheWill'' was intended by Leni Reifenstahl to make UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler into one, orchestrating a Nuremberg Rally (deliberately staged by Reifenstahl for the film) with Hitler getting an epic entrance to show how godlike and powerful he is.

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'': Cap's set up as the poster boy for the American troops, mostly to sell war bonds. [[SubvertedTrope Ironically]], the men actually on the front line have no respect for a leotard-wearing shill who has never seen combat, but [[FireForgedFriends that changes]] once he actually gets to put his boots on the ground. [[MythologyGag This is a neat reference to the meta origins of Captain America]] as mentioned above in the Comic Book folder -- Cap being created as entertainment and propaganda during the actual Second World War (and as part of the gag, copies of the actual 1941 ''Captain America Comics #1'' is shown and passed around).

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'': Cap's set up as the poster boy for the American troops, mostly to sell war bonds. [[SubvertedTrope Ironically]], the men actually on the front line have no respect for a leotard-wearing shill who has never seen combat. [[FireForgedFriends That changes]] once he actually gets to put his boots on the ground.

** Commander Cash. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=OddnvlQgH9w Bringing the credit crisis to a super-fight near you!]]

Related to FamedInStory, ShroudedInMyth, HistoricalHeroUpgrade, PropagandaMachine, CaptainPatriotic, and EngineeredHeroics. See also CultOfPersonality, where the leaders of state are made into heroes or gods, either by themselves or their party after the leader's death, and FakeUltimateHero, where ''everything'' about the character turns out to be a lie.

** Soldier Boy's predecessor ''did'' participate in WWII, except [[RealityEnsues his team's bright uniforms and flying around gave away their position]] and got themselves as well as nearly everyone else involved killed. Naturally this was swept under the rug and the one met in the present day is a DeadPersonImpersonation with the same powers.

* ''WesternAnimation/WingCommanderAcademy''. In "The Last One Left", Maverick and Maniac are captured by a renegade group of ex-Confed and Kilrathi SpacePirates, and are shocked to find their leader is Daimon Karnes, a NotQuiteDead PropagandaHero who became so disillusioned with the war he turned renegade. Karnes and his pirates end up getting killed by the Kilrathi, but when Maverick and Maniac report to Admiral Tolwyn he orders them [[WeShallNeverSpeakOfThisAgain never to speak of what happened]]. "People need heroes."

* John Henry, the famous "steel drivin' man" of song and story. From what little is known, he really did win his famous duel against the steam drill, a truly herculean feat that required him to [[DualWielding swing a 12-pound sledgehammer in each hand]]. While it's probably not true he then "laid down his hammer and died" afterwards, the steam drill was able to repeat the feat the next day [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu and John Henry]] [[HeroicRROD was not]]. Over the years, various people have re-purposed an event that was probably staged to settle a bet into everything from the story of a generically American folk hero to a specifically African-American folk hero to a heroic labor action. As for the real John Henry, his name appears in the pension records of the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, and the Norfolk and Western Railroad later named a powerful experimental locomotive after him.

* John Henry, the famous "steel drivin' man" of song and story. From what little is known, he really did win his famous duel against the steam drill, a truly herculean feat that required him to [[DualWielding swing a 12-pound sledgehammer in each hand]]. While it's probably not true he then "laid down his hammer and died" afterwards, the steam drill was able to repeat the feat the next day [[HeroicRROD and John Henry was not]]. Over the years, various people have re-purposed an event that was probably staged to settle a bet into everything from the story of a generically American folk hero to a specifically African-American folk hero to a heroic labor action. As for the real John Henry, his name appears in the pension records of the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, and the Norfolk and Western Railroad later named a powerful experimental locomotive after him.

* John Henry, the famous "steel drivin' man" of song and story. From what little is known, he really did win his famous duel against the steam drill, a truly herculean feat that required him to [[DualWielding swing a 12-pound sledgehammer in each hand]]. While it's probably not true he then "laid down his hammer and died" afterwards, the steam drill was able to repeat the feat the next day and John Henry was not. Over the years, various people have re-purposed an event that was probably staged to settle a bet into everything from the story of a generically American folk hero to a specifically African-American folk hero to a heroic labor action. As for the real John Henry, his name appears in the pension records of the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, and the Norfolk and Western Railroad later named a powerful experimental locomotive after him.

* In ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'', magical girls are the primary and most visible line of defense against the monsters that attack every night when the city's protective barrier goes down. Because of this, the girls enjoy a celebrity status and there are television shows, such as the Daylight Update, dedicated to their exploits. Magical Girl ConspiracyTheorist Rue calls the D.U. propaganda, controlling public perception of what magical girls do to downplay how serious it is. The slightly more grounded Heartful Punch expresses a similar sentiment, that groups like the Foundationists and even the City Defense Department have a vested interest in keeping magical girls perceived as perfect warriors when explaining why [[TeenPregnancy things like the effects of an active magical girl having a child aren't public knowledge]].

The people need a hero. The war is not going well, and the troops are running out of food, ammo and steam. The propaganda department is about to fall on its collective sword when in walks a vision: a square-jawed, broad-shouldered, clear-eyed, clean-limbed HERO...to deliver the mail. A hero who is the personification of everything good, true and pure of the nation, who you can follow into battle and inspire you to fight and die for a cause. Immediately, he is snatched up, given a shave, a haircut, a heroic backstory and put on display. His story might even be true, but that's less important to the Powers That Be than his effect on morale. And even if it is true, it will exaggerate out of proportion, misinterpreting small-scale motives for grand ideology.

Inevitably, our Made Hero will grow into his legend, and eventually even exceed it. On the other hand, if the hero was truly a hero, he will at times express reluctance about his image being used against his intentions and actions, feel guilty about how his actions divert attention from TheRealHeroes and likewise struggle to repress those parts of his life and past that would otherwise fracture the myth. However, the image of the hero takes a life on its own and too many people and organizations are invested in that propaganda for a little matter of personal feelings to get in the way.

* Creator/ClintEastwood's ''Film/FlagsOfOurFathers'' deals with the iconography of the famous flag raising photograph in Iwo-Jima and how the participants of that photograph deal with becoming larger-than-life heroes especially when they deal with SurvivorsGuilt and post-traumatic stress.

** The painter Creator/JacquesLouisDavid played a major role creating paintings on classical themes, such as Lucius Brutus and the Horatii, that linked contemporary Republican sentiment with their classical predecessors. His most famous work, "The Death of Marat", made a martyr of [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolutionMajorFigures Jean-Paul Marat]] and made Marat into a Christ-like figure of veneration. Indeed, after Marat's death, the First French Republic promoted a cult of Marat, where busts of Marat replaced those of Jesus Christ in many parts of France and he became a secular saint.[[note]]This was a deliberate co-opting by the state of Marat's genuine popularity among the public. Marat was the most controversial and extreme RabbleRouser who was outside the mainstream of the Jacobin Club, and someone even Robespierre would not touch with a ten foot pole. Upon his death, and after David's painting, they went all-out in promoting him into a Hero.[[/note]]
** UsefulNotes/MaximilienRobespierre was rather fixated with finding the IdealHero for the French Revolution. His reputation of humility precluded him from actively promoting a CultOfPersonality, but he settled on Viola and Bara, two ChildSoldiers who illegally joined the armies by lying about their ages and ended up KIA. David, Robespierre's friend, worked on paintings showing Bara's death and Robespierre intended to inter the bodies of both children into the Pantheon, noting that the French Republic alone could boast having "12 year old heroes".[[note]]Robespierre's downfall happened ironically in the week before the ceremony was completed, and after being politically discredited, the propaganda attempt was blocked.[[/note]]

** Perhaps the most notorious case is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadiyya_Jabrayilov Ahmadiyya Jabrayilov]]. His legend includes heroically fighting in the Red Army, getting captured after being surrounded, vastly outnumbered and rendered unconscious, fleeing from a German concentration camp by [[HighHeelFaceTurn hooking up with a local girl]] and BuriedAlive, fighting just as heroically in the French Resistance, with daring raids and taking part in liberating a few key cities towards the end of the war, and becoming a personal friend of Charles de Gaulle who specifically wanted to meet him during his later visit to the USSR. There are monuments and museums of him in Azerbaijan and France, complete with photos, medals and memorabilia... Then the Russian and French Wikipedia's articles about him were deleted after the editors found out that likely '''''nothing''''' of what is known about him is true.
* John Henry, the famous "steel drivin' man" of song and story. From what little is known, he really did win his famous duel against the steam drill, a truly herculean feat that required him to [[DualWielding swing a 12 pound sledgehammer in each hand]]. While it's probably not true he then "laid down his hammer and died" afterwards, the steam drill was able to repeat the feat the next day and John Henry was not. Over the years, various people have re-purposed an event that was probably staged to settle a bet into everything from the story of a generically American folk hero to a specifically African-American folk hero to a heroic labor action. As for the real John Henry, his name appears in the pension records of the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, and and the Norfolk and Western Railroad later named a powerful experimental locomotive after him.

* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' has government-sanctioned heroes like Dr. Manhattan and The Comedian. The former is a PhysicalGod with BlueAndOrangeMorality who is essentially a living nuclear weapon living off government funds, while the latter is a SociopathicHero and rapist war criminal whose actions are enabled by the government so long as he delivers results and projects American strength.

[[folder: Web Original]]

* ''Literature/TheLostStars'': Ten years before the Battle of Ulindi, Dupree's unit managed to HoldTheLine against heavy Alliance forces for six hours. They were interviewed extensively by news crews and promised early discharge from the armed forces as a reward. [[TheCakeIsALie as soon as the news crews left, their discharged were canceled, and they were sent back to the front lines.]]