See How Scary It Can Be

There are a great many ways to encourage the imagination, and fear has often been one of them. Often instilled into the minds of young children. For example, while looking for a particular nursery rhyme for my sister just the other day (she wanted the ‘apples and pears’ one about cockney slang. If anyone knows it, I would love to hear from you as I cannot find it despite various books and even Internet searches) I came across a classic example of how the imagination is fed on imagery rather than proof.

Baby, baby, naughty baby, Hush you squalling thing I say.

Peace this moment, peace or maybe, Bonaparte will pass this way.

Baby, baby, he’s a giant. Tall and black as Rouen Steeple

And he breakfasts dines, rely on’t. Every day, on naughty people.

                                                            The Mother Goose Treasury ©1966

And that was just the first verse. Had Napoleon Bonaparte stood before us of course, we would have seen only a five foot six (or seven) inch tall man, not a 250 feet tall giant (as the Rouen Steeple was). But such was the propaganda, which of course relied entirely on fear. Instilling in others the fear they could be terrified, beaten, or possibly eaten by the ‘enemy’ of the time.

Propaganda has always relied on instilling fear as opposed to facts. I recall my mother, who unfortunately had suffered a lot through the second world war as a child in England claimed, when I was doing research for a school assignment and had asked her about what propaganda she remembered, “We (The British) never used propaganda.” Oh dear. How effective was the propaganda then? That it was never recognised as such. But then again, I highlight the fact it was propaganda. Sometimes you weren’t even supposed to know it was happening. A wonderful example, of positive propaganda was the classic 1942 film Mrs Miniver. While an American production, it was set outside of London during the war. While it was a ‘fearful’ film about the hardships and tragedies of a family during that time, it was also inspiring in its story and script. Even some parts of the script were used by the President of the United States in moral boosting speeches and in letter drops over occupied Europe. Like I said, pure propaganda. Just making use of a different approach. Yet relying so much on the imagination. You didn’t see anyone shot to pieces or blown up directly. But you knew they suffered by the splash, smoke or expression.

But as children, the imagination, whether stimulated by our parents for training behaviour, or just random moments, was brought into effect, as much as possible. The mind could play horrible tricks on a child with a good imagination. I recall the common childhood fears of the dark, the closet monsters (and no, Pixar® had it wrong, they were very scary sometimes) and even war of the worlds aliens, the cold war and babysitters. A vivid imagination could play havoc with a child.

(Continued tomorrow)