WAG THE DOG : A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

WAG THE DOG
“Political campaigns are designedly made into emotional orgies which endeavor to distract attention from the real issues involved, and they actually paralyze what slight powers of cerebration man can normally muster”. James Harvey Robinson, The Human Comedy, 1937 Cable television, Video news releases, Databases, E-mail, Fax machines, Satellites, Websites, Cellular phones, Networks, Internet. What else? Technology continues to create a multitude of new ways to send and get information. We are truly in an information age. Although many audiences still rely on newspapers and television, they are drawn to a dazzling array of faster electronic sources of information and entertainment. Wave after wave of invention invites attention, analysis, and adoption. Developments seem to appear faster than they can be mastered technology has enabled communicators to produce more efficiently and quickly, just as it has allowed users to access information faster and in greater quantities. Technology also has broadened the field for communicators. That is why News is now accessible, but is everything that we hear from News true? Do you believe in everything that you see o television? It is now your responsibility to answer these questions. I have seen the movie Wag the Dog which made me realizes that it is not that good to believe in everything that is being feed to us because all can be manipulated especially now that we are a technologically driven age. The film Wag the Dog goes that, the president of the United States has a political trouble, which is a sexual misconduct with a teenage girl. The presidents political rival, take it as an advantage that is why it was it was aired 11 days before the election. To be safe and to be sure that he will be elected again as president his press secretary who is Winifred Ames together with Conan Obream, the spin doctor created a distraction so that voters will forget about the sexual misconduct of their president and will focus to that said diversion. They think of so many diversions and they come up to have a war. The problem there is that it is very costly, and lack of worthwhile enemy. Their solution was to create a believable illusion with the help of the best producer in town Stanley Motss. They managed to convince the public, using media manipulation techniques that America is at war with Albania . The “fake war” is an instant ratings success which is now the talk of town and not the presidents alleged sexual misconduct with a teenage girl. They created a perfect war with footage of bombed-out city. The problem was the president stages a war without any consent from congress. As a result, the CIA agent Charles Young sets an appointment with the press secretary Winifred Ames and also with Conan Obrean. They thought that the CIA agent was convinced with their arguments but they were wrong instead, the CIA agent ended the “fake war” the fact that Albania has no nuclear capacity. They make another diversion they made a meaningful song and a heartbreaking hero with the help of Fad King and Johnny Dean. Nevertheless, it takes all their energy and intelligence to stay on top of the secret. Especially, when Sergean William Schumann gets into the scene, he was the guy that they thought from Special Forces but unfortunately he’s not instead he came from special prisons. William a drugged-out, psychotic, and was once raped a nun. Schumann will supposedly play as their war hero, the corporal shoe man. The film takes a harsh and unlikely turn. They need to let William take medicine for him to calm down and the worst thing is that as they were going back to their place their airplane crushed in the middle of the farthest state they luckily survived. The day after, they have nothing to do but to look for a house. When they found a house they sat down for a while watching the News on television about what is happening in their state without knowing that William was roaming around an unfortunately saw an old woman picking something in the garden he finds the old woman sexy taking into consideration that she haven’t seen women’s for quite a long time. He attempted to rape the old woman wherein he was caught by the husband and unluckily he was killed. There is no more reason to make their hero a reality, especially since he ends up dead. Furthermore, their hero was buried with the military honors and during his burial he was abided with a dog. Stanley Motss on the other hand got mad since the victory of the president was accordingly because of the Advertisement campaign but he insisted that it is not true instead he was the reason why the president won because of the line that he used to say “Do not change horses in the Midstream” that is why he was caught and was killed and said to be died in a massive heart attack. The setting of the movie was crystal clear that it happens in the United States in which they will once more elect a president. The setting speaks of what the story is all about when it comes to politics or election; imagining the scenario especially during campaign in the US though they only have two political parties the two parties will really do anything just to persuade and do everything to please everybody, and to win the trust the trust of the people, so that they will soon be installed as president. A particular film needs to have very convincing characters because they are the so called “tellers” of the story. In the film Wag the Dog they have the following competent characters:Conan Obrean- portrayed as the spin doctor working for the Presidential re-election campaign.Stanley Motss- portrayed the best producer in town who was the main manipulator of the “fake war” using media manipulation techniques.Winfred Ames- portrayed as the press secretary of the president and was also one of the people behind the diversion.Tracy Lime- portrayed as the Albanian refugee in the so called “fake war” with the white kitten.Johnny Dean- portrayed as the one who unite the saccharine war songs. They are really good when it comes to singing there voice are convincing and emotional.Fad King- portrayed as the old man singer of the war song and is has also a convincing voice as if it the song was really old.CIA agent Charles Young- he was the CIA agent who set a meeting with the press secretary and the one responsible for the ending of the diversion which is the “fake war”.Sergean William Shumann- who was supposedly their war hero, but unfortunately he came from special prisons because he raped a nun. He died at the end because he was killed by the husband of the old woman whom he attempted to rape.Old Woman- she was the one who was attempted to be raped by Shumann as she was picking something in the garden.Store Owner (Old man) – he was the one who shot Shumann for attempting to rape his wife. Their house was where the place the “Diversion manipulators” arrived after their plane crushed.Senator Neal- portrayed as the political rival of the president.Liz Butzky- portrayed as the personal assistant of Stanley Motss. President- he was the one who was actually the main character in the story because he must be re-elected after his term, but he had a trouble because he was accused to have a sexual misconduct. The characters really did a spectacular performance in the movie. I can say that they really gave their best performance. Though some of them have small roles but they did it excellently as if true to life drama. I would just like also to commend the musical director with its background music, taking into consideration the fact that it is rare for me to notice the music in a certain film, but as I am watching the movie I was totally caught by the subtle guitar background especially during the beginning. The most breathtaking or thrilling part in the movie for me was when it was aired on the television that the president has a sexual misconduct it was the most thrilling for me the reality that there are only eleven days left before the election day and that issue was published. Moreover, they really need to make diversion so that people’s attention will not fall into the sexual misconduct of their president instead to another story. That is why they make a diversion which was actually a sure hit to the masses. Though it was not a good diversion but for them, they have to do it so that it can grab hold of the attention of the people and for them it is of great help for the president. I considered the last part of the movie as the denouement when Sergean William Shumann was buried and that Stanley Motss was killed. It is the denouement for me because it marks the ending of all the falsehood and that what they were planning vanished away the plan of bringing Shumann as the war hero. It will help us become conscious that whether we like it or not everything has to end. In addition to that anything bad will not last for a long time. In the beginning of the movie there was this very comprehensive line: “Why does the dog wag its tail? Because a dog is smarter than its tail. If the tail was smarter the tail would have wag the dog. We might ask why is it that the movie is entitled “Wag the Dog”? Actually, as I go over the movie I come to realize how easy it is to whip up the American populace into an emotion using patriotism. Every event conjured up by Conan Obream such as; the “fake war”, the war hero who was Sergean William Shumann, the theme song songs which are carefully crafted to incite the populace. And the fact of the matter is that the general populace follows the media, even the tabloid kind. The “tail” symbolizes those who control the media and the “dog” which lets itself to be wagged by its own tail is represented by the American people or the public. What Wag the Dog doesn’t show, but what we should become conscious is that real life events can be staged more easily than the tricks in the movie. That is the reason why the movie is entitled “Wag the Dog”. The media portrayed in the movie was not good and I think they are not commendable to be called media. In the movie they are manipulators in which they are feeding the American populace with “false alarming news”. I do not agree with their portrayal because they are not doing there duties and obligations instead its of big twist, they put News in their hands, they are giving wrong information’s to the public and that it must not happen because they are leading their audiences to the wrong side. The real essence of being a media is not anymore their but totally gone. Wag the dog succeeds in letting us know that the media is in the business of making money, and they will report whatever sells the most. That is why we need to examine before believing or agreeing with the news being fed to us. I would just like to make a comment on the media’s conspiracy in the movie that their manipulation of the news is both convincing and scary. It makes us doubt what disturbing pieces of information are being manufactured to us to swallow or what the government was trying to keep secret from us. So we must learn to investigate what we are reading because that might seriously mislead us. We cannot deny that we have journalist whom they will keep secret or they can protect some officials because that particular official is their friend or does something good for them. A useful approach for gaining and understanding of the situation is facing at a particular time called SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats. It is important to assist the movie Wag the Dog for its SWOT analysis. If given a chance I can assist the situation describe in the situations of movie through SWOT analysis first with its Internal analysis through its strengths and weaknesses we have the following strengths in the situations of the movie: the two political rivals in the movie have good competitive skills, the media manages to convince the public with the “fake war”, the media was good upon turning out a messy situation disappear for the goodness of the election when they created a situation that will distract the public from the Presidents scandalous affair. With the weaknesses we have the following: the media have no clear “fake war” direction, they lack of managerial depth with regards to the hero man, that is why they end up having a hero from a special prison, unable to cope up with the disadvantages of having their diversion, plagued with panicky, ridiculous excuses when they met the CIA agent, no proper planning of the diversion. Let us now go to the External analysis which comprises the opportunities and threats. Here are the following Opportunities in situations of the film: ability to move to a better diversion, determining their advantages from their political rival, evaluating alternatives except diversion, consideration of a certain proven and tested diversion, setting objective to a certain diversion, getting feedback from the people what they think of the sexual misconduct with their president before making an action. Here are the following threats of the situations in the film: no enough time to have other alternatives so they had a “fake war” as their diversion, changing of the audience perception on the president’s credibility, and the political rival pressure. The solutions or alternatives I can give on the weaknesses identified are; first, having a proper management when making a big diversion because there are instances that you will not be successful because, there might be some people who are knowledgeable with regards to your diversion that is why they will of course make a comment. Second, proper identification of the advantages and the disadvantages of a certain diversion so that they can level it and that will help them whether to pursue or not to pursue the plan diversion. The three scenes in the movie that epitomizes the agenda-setting role of the media; first, we have the scene when Winifred Ames the press secretary with Conan Obren the spin doctor and with the help of Stanley Motss made a diversion which is they managed to convince the public, using media manipulation techniques, that America is at War with Albania but it was just a “fake war” I can relate it to Agenda- Setting role of the mass media because in the given situation the media people don’t tell people what to think, but what to think about. They made a diversion so that the people will think about it and not the alleged misconduct of their president. They are giving the people idea what to think. Second, scene was when the talk of the whole town was about the war and they seem to forget the sexual misconduct of their president, so with the matching NEWS on TV all about their politics. Under the Agenda- Setting theory we have the vividness of presentation and under it is a staple of contemporary television news might focus too much attention on the specific situation/individual rather an issue at hand. In the movie the media focuses all about politics and not to the more important issues about their country for instance the economy stability of their country etc. The Last but not the least scene which I can relate to the agenda-setting is when the people accepted the so called “war hero” which was William Shumann they all believe in it which was not good because according to the agenda-setting theory, people accepted the news programs implicit designation of a lead story as most news worthy, in this matter the public really believe to the “war hero” and they accepted it but they did not come to realize that it was just a mere lies. In my perception I can apply the said responsibility theory in the movie with the following reasons; first, accepting and fulfilling certain obligations to society, the media must feed the people with pure news and not with lies or bias news. In the movie it was clearly elaborated how the media works and how they twist their duties and obligations. Second, feeding information’s to the people accurately, objectively, balance and must be true. Third, the media in the movie should avoid whatever might lead them to crime, violence because of their “fake war” they are leading their audiences to the wrong tract. They must prioritize cultural pluralism; they must not focus on the elite groups and in the person of the politics. They did not mind how the people are affected with what is happening to there country. Lastly, they must preserve the democracy in the world because with what is happening they are not preserving the democracy they do not respect the right of the people especially the right to choose who is to vote they only leading the people to focus only to the one side and that the people have no more freedom to choose because their minds are already set. In conclusion, no matter how believable the news that you’ve seen on television it is still not good to believe in it, because everything now can be manipulated by technology.