Wag the Dog? Part Two
``Why does a dog wag its tail?'' Brean asks at one point. ``Because the dog is smarter than the tail. If the tail was smarter, it would wag the dog.'' In the Breanian universe, the tail is smarter, and we, dear readers, are invited to be the dogs."—Roger Ebert in his review of Wag the Dog.
Assignment One: complete at blog before class on April 6
Read Roger Ebert's review first. (also, be sure to do Part One, below)
Write about a favourite scene in the movie. Post your response here as a comment. (Maximum 250 words; minimum 150 words) Make a critical comment, modeling your answer on Ebert's writing. Be specific in your description and be clear on whether you think the scene was (or was not) effective. What were the filmmakers trying to say in the scene?
Please bring a printed copy of Assignment One to class.
Assignment Two: (to be printed and brought to class on Wednesday, April 6) DO NOT POST
Write about your experience with the media unit. What were your favourite activities? What was the most memorable video/film/program for you? What other activities would you have liked to try (use your imagination!)?
22 comments:
“Of course there’s a war. I’m watching it on television,” Conrad Brean asserts to the CIA man who has just told him that there is no war, based on spy satellite reports, the Canadian government (!) and the Albanians. Thus begins one of my favourite scenes in the film, Wag the Dog.
William H. Macey’s character, CIA Agent Charles Young, is adamant about what the spy satellites show, which doesn’t faze Brean in the least. In fact, he challenges the agent to a verbal duel about his (and Brean’s) true work for the government.
Beginning with “If there’s no threat, then what good are you?” Brean goes on to say that “The war of the future is nuclear terrorism.” He argues forcefully that, to protect the American way of life, a war (or enemy) is a necessity. Whether it is a truthful enemy matters less or not at all.
The film predicts the future of American government policy while, at the same time, making a satirical and essential point. To do so, the writers needed only look at the historical record. To my mind, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said it best, warning Americans in his farewell speech in 1961 of a “military-industrial complex” and that “Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
The 2010 U.S. military budget took up 20% of American’s GDP and represents 40% of world defense spending! I think, alas, that Brean has a point.
—265 words
-response to a movie:
Even now, I’m still thinking to myself “Why Canada?” and if you saw a scene of Conrad Brean to have Albanian terrorist “suitcase bomb” placed in Canada and infiltrate the bomb to the USA, you would question the same question. We all laughed at that comment, however because the way Conrad thought about Canada to blame and to start a war with Albania. So typical, isn’t it?
I mean, whatever happens in the USA, Americans are always looking for someone to blame. Pretty lame, don’t you think? They’re a bunch of bullies who bullies around and if someone tattles them, they’re looking for someone to blame. Take Iraq, for example--I don’t know the whole story--but by the look of it, Iraq certainly didn’t have “it” and they explained it, but Americans didn’t listen to them, just like Conrad decides to have “suitcase bomb” and everything. I bet the American's government at that time was planning all this to divert something, for God knows what!
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From Shannon:
One of my favourite parts of this movie was when Brean instructs, via cell phone, what the news reporter is to say on the air after he is asked “Just how close to this thing are you?” Verbatim, the reporter repeats what is said seconds later. Brean is the Spin-doctor making everything behind the scenes fall into play. He makes the public turn their heads from the real issues and creates a diversion in order to sway them in another direction. It is mass hypnotism and distraction from the truth.
This scene was effective in that it shows how the media is like a big Hollywood production and that there are always puppet masters behind the great façade. I agree with Roger Ebert’s statement in regards to how creepy and shallow the media is and how everything seems downplayed as if by a “sports caster with pretence of objectivity and detachment” leaving the people to “cheer heroically for their side.”
More and more it is getting harder for the media to hide the truth of what is really happening in our world .
On a personal note, I do not know who coined the phrase “believe nothing you read or hear and only half of what you see” but I remember my Grandmother saying this often while watching the news. I myself believe that a healthy dose of scepticism is vital while viewing any and all newscasts and I believe this is what the filmmakers were trying to say as well.
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One of my favourite scenes in the movie is when Mr. Stanley, the famous film producer said goodbye to Mr. Brean, a Mr. Fixit at the end of the film. Mr. Stanly was proud of his product, which “looks 100% real”. “It’s the best work because it’s so honest.” He wanted credit by disclosing the truth to the public instead of money or the position of ambassadorship even though Mr. Fixit threatened to kill him. At this moment the dog will never allow that the tail is smarter than itself. Then Mr. Stanly, who thought himself the smartest one in the world, died suddenly of a massive heart attack.
There is another “Wag the dog” in the whole “Wag the dog”. The difference is the rulers will never allow that their tails are smarter than them and kill the smarter tail immediately. However, people, the dog of the whole world, sometimes are cheated by their tails. Mr. Stanly said: “ Truth is the daughter of time.” Eventually the history is written by people although it takes time.
(177 words)
One of my favorite scenes in the “Wag the Dog” movie was when Stanley Motss, a Hollywood movie producer, helped the American government to display a fake war scene in order to save the President’s reputation. The scene, which would be seen worldwide, was about a young Albanian girl that is attempting to run away from her village from terrorist reprisals. Motss used many resources to produce the scene effectively like “a picture of a village behind the girl, flames, sound of screaming, sirens, and a burning bridge.” The producer of this scene knew that people would pay more attention to the fake article if it looked like more destruction had happened.
This episode was so effective that it definitely fixed the political crisis. The viewers were focused on the event that never existed that they forgot about the President’s misconduct. This film provides a lot insight into the real world of political corruption. It is shameful to see how Politics take advantage of their position and do unscrupulous things in order to maintain their power. Through this scene, the filmmaker is trying to show us how the government uses the media to distract the public from corruption; also we should be aware that everything that the media shows us is not always truthful. We need to investigate the source from where the news is coming from. - 227 Words
One of my favourite scenes in “Wag the Dog” was when Stanley Motts helped to create some fake war footage of the war in Albania. I thought this scene was quite humorous because of how unreal the screams sounded. However, at the same time they made the scenes look very realistic. Such as the bridge, buildings, the Albanian girl running away with her cat, and other background sounds they have included. Also, the fact that they created that footage to save the presidents reputation was also humorous and true. Apparently, the media succeeded in making everyone forget about the Presidents scandal, and paid more attention to the so called “war” in Albania. Unfortunately, this is not the kind of situation to be astonished about, because it has happened in the past. Not necessarily the exact situation but similar ones. The movie gives us a great example of real situations that should concern us. Also, we obviously should not believe everything we see on TV even if it comes from the media. Like the saying goes “things aren’t always what they seem”.
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“Wag the Dog” is a satiric movie which has been mostly interpreted as a jest; however, there is a grain of truth in every joke. My favourite scene in the movie is the conversation between Ames and Brean in the airport. At the end of this scene Brean asks “What did Albania ever do to us?”, and Brean answers with an indisputable phrase “What did they ever do FOR us…?”
These words demonstrate the real meaning of recent American resolutions about local conflicts around the world. Almost always these decisions have been made in order to conceal some enormous, internal problems and change the attitude of the public. In my opinion, the filmmakers were trying to distract people from the corrupt media sources and show the truthful way of making historical decisions.
If we take a quick look at today’s political situation in the world, it is obvious that the campaign in Libya is directed at getting an access to the huge reserve of cheap oil for the Americans and becoming a European leader for the president of France Nicolas Sarkozy. The worse thing here is that the Canadian government acts like a marionette in this campaign being ready to support Americans and send its fighter jets to bomb a terrible dictator which is supported by the majority of Libyans. Is that the best way of spending taxpayers` money? - 234 words
“The war ain't over til I say it's over”, Stanley Moss said. This guy does not give up and came with the idea of an act two. This scene is very interesting to me when he said, “American Serviceman…a brave American Serviceman… is left behind and discarded like an Old shoe”. William Schumann is their aces where they can easily persuade people that the war is not over yet. This is so effective showing the ‘hero’ allegedly tortured by an enemy who’s only mean to send a message to his mom is through the Morse code; “Courage, Mom..”. This targets every mom who easily melts down their hearts in such situation. Another thing is the theme song an “Old Shoe” aired repetitively to support Schumann’s heroism. Then the throwing of an old pair shoes in the trees, and eventually people throws as well in the power cables and in the court games showing their support to the issue and patriotism. These are made to avoid of circulating again about Firefly girls issue and to prove that war is really happened to retain President’s good reputation.
The President in this film is like a basic commodity that needs repackaging to be saleable. On the other hand, Mr. Brean and Mr.Moss are advertisers who did their job effectively. Now I see clearly how Politics and advertising world work together closely. Thus, the government uses the media to cover up the rotten administration. So, critical thinking is a must to perceive the true issues and not to be fooled by “Mr. Brean” in the real world.
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One of my favourite scenes is when Conrad Brean asked, “Why do people go to war “, and CIA agent answered soullessly “to ensure the way of their lives”. Brean said “who would be against ...the war in the future is nuclear terrorism”.
This sentence remind me of September 11th .They certainly had planned many years ago the most recent war in Afghanistan and Iraq .They started war to ensure their source of oil and other advantages but not to guarantee their peoples’ lives. Their reason for going to war apparently was “nuclear terrorism” as Brean mentioned, but after years that everyone knows about September eleventh (they already had emptied the two building) who is responsible for what did they do in two unfortunate countries. Albania, Afghanistan, and Iraq are countries many people even do not know where they can find those on map, but they took good advantage of starting war there.
Very amazing scenes are base on reality and facts that show how skilfully media can manipulate everything just for power and money. I am not sure that they are really good liar or people are very optimistic who believe what they see or hear.
The movie “Wag the Dog” is not only a funny but very cynical movie that I have ever seen. It made me both laugh and think about the society in which we live. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is the scene in which the Albanian girl is running with the kitten in her hands. Stanley Motss wants the calico kitten; however, during the phone call the President asks to use the white kitten instead of the calico one. For me, it is so unpleasant. The person, means the President of USA, has to sit quietly waiting for a miracle that will allow him to continue his career; nevertheless, he has the overconfidence to set his own conditions. White color is a symbol of purity and innocence. The president, whose stigma in the gun, has neither shame no conscience. What I cannot absolutely understand is why these people, who (I believe) do not respect their President, are trying to divert the attention from the President’s sexual harassing; why they do not want to say the truth. Is the President a marionette in their hands? Who is a real owner of this expensive doll?
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Elated by success, Stanley Motss exclaims, “Do you think we could line him up for the Peace Prize?” “If they can give Kissenger the Peace Prize” though he had supported the Vietnam War for many years, they could award it to the President for the war which had never been. It is one of my favorite scenes in the movie, Wag the Dog. The film was made as a satire on the US invasion of Grenada; however, this dialogue manifests a new problem, the world bureaucracy.
We do not trust governments and politicians because of knowing their cynicism, sleaze, and corruption, but we still believe non-governmental and non-profit organizations. What about allegations of bribery in the FIFA and the IOC? Citizens limit and change governments through elections; in contrast, even such reputable organizations as Greenpeace and Amnesty International forming public opinion around the world are not controlled.
They gave the Nobile Peace Prize to Al Gore for his environmentalism, Al’s house uses twenty times more electricity than the average household, and to Barack Obama for nothing. How will be the next? Maybe Colonel Gaddafi, if he will hire new “Motss” and “Brean”.
– 192 words
One of my favourite scenes in the movie, Wag the Dog, does not contain much action such as shoot-outs and car chases; rather, it is a simple one. Robert De Niro’s character, Conrad Brean, meets the President’s staff at the White House during the election campaign of a president. When he was informed a sex scandal that the president was involved in, and was asked by one of the president’s aide, Ames, if he wanted to know whether the news was true or not, he simply said, “What difference does it make if it’s true ?”
Indeed, information is carefully controlled and distributed by interested groups through various forms of media. The Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda of Nazi Germany, Goebbels once said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”Like Goebbels, in the film, Wag the Dog, Brean hired a Hollywood film director and various music talents to successfully create a wave of terror that Albania was on its way to destroy the United States of America. In addition, in favour of the president whom he works for, Brean purposely constructed fake information to distract the media and the opposition parties.
The director does a good job of exposing the dark side of the media. Brean’s action illustrates that media is a way of spreading selected information from a certain source. His action reminds viewers of analyzing the information from the media critically at all time.
248 words
‘’Wag the dog.’’
This movie was so interesting, full of creativity and imagination. At the same time, it is educating the public about politics, politicians and their games.
My favourite scene in this movie was almost the entire movie, from the beginning to the end. I enjoyed the sense of imagination and the focus used. The idea which was brought up, to take the public attention away from the presidential sex scandal. The producer had shown it clear, how much the public remains blind when it comes to politics.
This movie has actually illustrated what happens in so many countries around the world, when it is time for elections and especially if the outgoing president is not ready to leave. Whatever reasons used to end up the ruling regime, politicians always have a serious game to play to maintain their site. They know very well what the public want to hear, how and when. A good example in this movie is a about the war in Albania and the B-3 bomber coming to America, ahead of elections. The outgoing president is accused of sexual scandal, but at the same time he is heroically ending the war. It is clear and simple; the president will be naively re-elected because he had shown how much he cares about his nation.
As for me, in short, filmmakers want the public to be very much aware about games played by politicians, so that they may be critical when choosing their leaders.
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I have ever believed that we are smart enough not to be cheated twice. As I grew older, I knew it is not true. We believe we are good at memory but actually we are forgetful. "We remembered the slogans, we can't remember the war." as Mr. Fix-it told the producer, "Five marines draging the flag, you remembered the picture for 50 years, you forgot the war". Absolutely true! Time can eliminate the negative things from our memory, and remain the glories in our mind. How many of us though of "Mr. Old Shoe" when we were anxious for Jessica Lynch. Is there anybody who took the responsibility of directing the "Saving Jessica Lynch"? We are cheerful of Iraq people dragging down the Sadam's scupture. We are all happy of the crash of the dictatorship. But how many of us still remember the reason for the war, WMD-weapons of mass destruction. We have been wagged a lot of times. And, we will be wagged again and again later if we, as individual, can only remember the abstract concepts like freedom, democracy or human right. How about Libya? How about the Jasmine Revolutions?
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Ugly Game
Politics is the ugly game of power. Now that I watched Wag the dog, I hate politics with passion. One of my favourite scenes from the movie is when Stanley Motss wants some credit for the producing the war in Albania. He fights with Conrad Brean that he deserves some credit and the government kills him. Also, to cover up for the murder, the government makes it look it was due to Stanley’s health issues that he passed away.I like this scene because it speaks the truth about politics. First people are used then abused. When Stanley was helpful, they used him and when he was dangerous to the government, they killed him. They do not care about people. In the end the government always tells public that they are sorry about whatever mishap happened. So why bother with politics when they play ugly and all they want it money!
The film Wag the Dog was pure genius, it brought to the forefront the corruption of politics and the manipulation of the public by the media, with clever satire and hidden truth.
It is interesting how Conrad Brean claims he just needs “one day” to come up with more convincing story for the public. I enjoyed when Brean was brainstorming different diversions to buy time to come up with the perfect distraction, proving to be a true “spin doctor”. A favourite part of the movie was when Brean brought in a Hollywood producer, Stanley Motss, to help collaborate. Brean says, “It’s a Pageant… like the Oscars…” this was a pinochle statement setting off a spiral of events to cover-up the president’s crime. It was ridiculous and shocking movie thereafter when Brean decided they “needed to produce a war”. The editing of the video of the Albanian girl was one of the most entertaining parts. This made me realize how easily we can be influenced by what we watch.
I believe the film was made with the intention of bringing to light the corruption in American politics. The film focus seemed to highlight the statement, “everything is not what it seems”. Apart from the entertainment value this film exposes a lot of myths of government corruption making Americans question: why do we go to war, are we being told the whole story by our leaders and are we being persuaded by the media or patriotism?
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“I’m a Jew in Show Business. Why come to me?” asks Motss. “I’m gonna to tell you why...” Brean starts to give the images and slogans but Motss can’t remember where they were from. Then Brean says, “We remember the slogans, we can't even remember the fucking wars. Y'know why? Cause it's show business. That's why I'm here.” This is one of my favourite scenes in Wag The Dog.
The film shows us how the war is composing, directing, and acting. The spin doctor Brean with the Hollywood producer Stanley Motss make up a non-existent war with Albania to distract the press from the Firefly Girl scandal involving the President before the election. They use frame-up, touching video, songs, slogans, and “good old Shoe” hero. They know how to bring electorate to cry, to laugh, to believe. This is a backstage of politics – pure show business.
The film is on target. It came out even before the sex scandal of Clinton and Lewinsky and the war with Yugoslavia. Through satire it puts us up to the reality of how the political businesses do. I enjoyed Wag The Dog; it is one of the best movies about masters of political intrigue showing “politics at its finest”.
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When the Hollywood producer Stanley Motss looked through the window and said: “Look at that. That is a complete fucking fraud, and it looks 100% real. It is the best work l have ever done in my life, because it's so honest.”He distracted people’s attention from the president's scandal successfully by by inventing an inexistent war and erecting a heroic image for the president as a “peace maker”. The scene was effective when those words were said by the producer of the big show. Nobody knows so a film can be either something people cook up or the truth. “This is politics at its finest” as Stanley proudly concluded.
I think before Stanley Motss wanted the credit for the production he was professional. The only mistake was that he forgot “No where could you have that happy feeling when you aren't stealing that extra bow .” So he was a victim of his own egotism.
The biggest lesson the movie taught us was “Seeing may not be believing” and keep critical eyes on source of media. Just today, I read the news from twitter of Barack Obama’s PR Team: Today we are filing papers to launch our 2012 campaign. Wow...
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Wow ok I left this assignment pretty late but when I watched the film I was late for the class also so the beginning for me wasn't there. My fault really, when I was watching the film it took me a bit to understand what was going, the thing I liked best was that one of the characters was named after me well not exactly but we just have the same name. The scene that I blew me away was when they had the guy who suppose to be the hero but when they met him they found out he was crazy, I mean the guy was nuts a prisoner. This was suppose to be the part when everything comes to place but no nature had other plans, which meant Stanley had to re-think everything and you know what he did, because he believed in his work and loved his work he got himself a new angle to work from. The whole film is a joke but that scene is very effective because its what most of us go through everyday. We just have to persevere in our own daily work and hope for the best.
I too, just like Roger Ebert think that the media is dumped down. It's too shallow they think they are making it easier for their viewers by not saying EXACTLY what's going on. These media guys need to take a note from my book and do what's right and that is printing the truth for a change.
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Despite knowing the answer to that, one of the interesting questions that came to my mind after watching this movie was if it was created before or after certain interesting events in the US recent history. The scandals of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, and the Iraq war of George W Bush are good examples of that. Of course, the movie is made long before all those events. But that is giving you the idea how close to reality this otherwise satirical comedy was, and more importantly how much you could trust all these politicians at all.
“I want you to produce a war” is what the president’s top adviser Conrad Brean asking the top Hollywood producer Stanley Motss at the beginning of the movie. This is exactly the scene that is shaping the rest of the movie and the main theme in the movie. Yes, they need to create something very significant to overshadow some other significant matter. There is a major scandal going on just eleven days before election and something significant is needed to divert public attentions from that negatively influencing possible reality to a positive and patriotic national duty of president that he is having brilliantly under his control and performing his best there.
In this movie the producer is conveying an important reality: The media can create and control. It does not matter if it is our trust on a detergent product we choose in department store or the man who we choose to decide the fate of our country, the media can have a control and deciding effect on everything.
266 Words.
One of my favorite scenes from the movie, “Wag the Dog”, is the beginning scene where they have a meeting and when the sex rumor about the firefly girl was brought up, Winifred Ames asks Conrad Brean if he wants to know the truth about the incident and he replies “what difference does it make if it’s true? It’s a story and if it breaks, they’d have to run with it”. Brean sounded courageously bold and smart.
The other scene that was pretty amazing was when the CIA finds Brean and Ames and tells them that the spy satellite show no war and Albania has no nuclear devices or the capacity and Brean replies saying, ‘Of course there’s a war, I’m watching it on television.” And he continues with the whole “you’ve got to be prepared for a nuclear terrorism war in the near future” and ends it with “cause there aint no war but ours” which was well said. I must say that this scene was the best scene from the movie.
The movie was good and from my point of view, the filmmakers were trying to say “Believe nothing you read or hear and only half of what you see” which shannon stated. I have even heard of a phrase that was said by Buddha who quotes “Believe nothing what people say, only believe it when it happens to you” which is kind of similar.
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First of all, when I start watching this movie “Wag the Dog” I was confused as well as shocked. There are many things happening at the same time in the politics everyday. The poor innocent people are not aware of all this. However, my favorite scene in this movie was when they start singing a song about old shoes. There were old shoes everywhere: on the trees, terraces, at the intersection lights and all over the place. I was impressed when they create the fake war scene, an Albania girl was screaming and helpless running around. The fake war scene with fake screaming, fake cat, and fake background really look very real. In this movie Mr. Stanley shows that anything could happen in the politics. No matter how big or small issues in politics, everything could be solve in few minutes. In the politics, politician always plays with people emotions. They are always thinks about there advantages; they don’t care about others. This movie also shows that everything that media shows are not always truthful.
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