Psychological warfare and audiovisual propaganda in the Chilean military dictatorship, 1973-1975

Abstract

This article analyses the psychological war strategy implemented by the Chilean military dictatorship between 1973 and 1975, focusing its study on audiovisual production as an instrument of political propaganda. After the coup d’état that overthrew the government of Salvador Allende, the Military Junta used audiovisual production —among other tools— to consolidate its power and control the public narrative. A corpus of six films recently recovered by the National Cinematheque of Chile is examined, differentiating between productions for artistic purposes and those produced by the State to justify its political agenda. The state films constructed a discourse that narratively legitimized the coup as a defense against international communism and a safeguard of the “natural” and social order. In short, these works were key tools to disseminate the ideology of the regime, extolling its actions and justifying the repression exercised.