Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire

Killian Casey 

BA [Hons] Film + Television Production

I am a production major of Film & Television Production here at IADT. Over the last four years I have been involved in the production of fifteen short films, and currently have five projects in development for after I graduate. I hope to bring my creativity, resourcefulness and dedication into the Irish film industry as I further my career.


‘You can't handle the truth!’: The Menacing Relationship between Propaganda and Mass Media

This thesis discussed the origins and development of propaganda throughout history and how it adapted to a modern day to spread ideology by utilizing cinema, tv and social media platforms. I started off by discussing Edward Bernays, known as the "father of public relations", who used propaganda to get across ideas to the world under the phrase "public relations". I then talked about the anti-Semitic propaganda (press, advertising and film) utilized by Nazi Germany to shape public opinion and support the party's beliefs.

I finished with propaganda in the modern day, and spoke about the media's role in rationalizing the US Military's actions during the Iraq War (2003-11), and how Donald Trump used Twitter to instigate the storming of the US Capitol in January 2021. After this I did two case studies on Jud Süß, a 1940 Nazi film regarded as "the most anti-Sematic film ever made", and American Sniper, directed by Clint Eastwood in 2014. I closely compared both films in terms of the ideology within them, and how both films portrayed Jewish and Muslim people, and the effects both films had on those communities when released.