Propaganda can be well-intentioned. It can be dangerous. It can be art. It can be uplifting. It can be hurtful. It can be anything and everything. With all communication, the motive and purpose of the message are key. But so are the reception and perception. While misunderstandings and misinterpretations are not necessarily the fault of the messenger, they’re also not always mistaken reactions. The documentary Torn: The Israel-Palestine Poster War on NYC Streets should serve as a reminder that images (including text) can contain multitudes. In support of its own theme, though, the film’s statement shall be divisive. That only proves it’s a success.
Torn explores the creation and evolution of a piece of artistic transmission that became personalized and politicized to the point where its initial purpose was lost. Following the October 7 attacks by Hamas in 2023, posters showcasing Israeli hostages began appearing around New York City. As presented in the documentary, for some, these posters were cathartic. For others, they were propaganda meant for the justification of the ensuing bombing in Gaza. Many were torn down. That act begat actions and reactions that themselves became propaganda via social media. The hostages were exploited and re-exploited for political reasons, often performatively so.
Much of the individual activism on both sides was empty and uninformed. Or, merely informed by simplistic ideology spouted in less than a minute on social media. But it added up to attention to two sides of an issue, and it could result in a conversation had by anyone not afraid to tread the gray areas of complex discourse. Torn does lean more toward one of the two sides, but not at the expense of the other. The filmmakers claim, via a title card, that they invited representatives for the poster-tearers but were turned down. However, they did get anonymous arguments to share, which are read and given fair consideration in the film by one of their more objective interviewees.
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It’s a shame that none of these pro-Palestine commentators show their faces because director Nim Shapira shows a clear interest in people over politics. It’s the whole point of the documentary. Many of the participants were affected personally by the October 7 attacks, the kidnappings, and the posters, whether they were blood relatives of hostages or former acquaintances. As with any war movie, this one about a fight with and over posters is better for focusing on individuals and the human element. It relates to the fact that at the center of this particular conflict, and the greater war, are real people, most notably here, both the Israeli hostages and innocent victims in Gaza.
Phrases like “both things can be true” and “at the same time” (the latter used in the film by one interviewee as a conjunction) tend to be forgotten in these times of (as is also acknowledged) the “moral binary” of today’s society. We all need to think more about how our speech and actions will be received, not for self-censorship but for social awareness. Immediate, spontaneous, and passionate statements are powerful but may be met with the same, and it’s up to both parties to eventually come to an empathetic discussion. So many clips in Torn showing angry people on both sides yelling their opinions and insults, and then walking away is where it’s all going wrong.
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