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Wag The Dog: Film Analysis

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DJ: You have joined with us today in tonight’s special segment: ‘People and Politics’. I am here with the director of 1997 black-comedy film, Wag the Dog. Barry, would you like to say hello to the listeners out there?
Levinson: Yes. Hello, I’m Barry Levinson. It’s a pleasure to be here.
DJ: Ok. So, Wag the Dog; I personally loved the film… even though my radio show hardly involves political matters
*laughs*
Levinson: Hey, no worries. I understand that not many people are interested in politics.
DJ: …but all jokes aside, the way you’ve displayed the power of politics in the ending of Wag the Dog was very… solemn. Although the President got re-elected, the Hollywood producer that helped him with this process… was dead?
Levinson: Yes, that’s …show more content…

But the ending… it just didn’t seem fair.
Levinson: I feel your sympathy…
DJ: Well, anyway, thanks for that. I now have Jon Scieszka here with us on the show. He is the author of the fractured fairy-tale, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. Would you like to say hello?
Scieszka: Hello, nice to meet you. It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Levinson.
Levinson: Thank you
DJ: Now it appears that this picture book tells the Big Bad Wolf’s side of the infamous Three Little Pigs fairy tale. He seems innocent, though.
Scieszka: Yes, he is.
DJ: So does the picture book show how power-driven politics can be?
Scieszka: Well, not so much in politics, but in the media.
DJ: How do they manipulate people from revealing their true intentions?
Scieszka: Well, like the Hollywood producer you’ve mentioned in Wag the Dog, the wolf in my picture book also portrays how politics can be insincere towards the little things of their society. An innocent wolf being jailed for unintentional reasons of “sneezing” and “eating the pigs up” ... Do you think it’s right to having an ending like …show more content…

Levinson: Um… no, it won’t.
DJ: Oh yes it will. Because of Conrad Brean; he acts as a representation of the manipulative nature of politics. Through his calm and collected manner, he uses a rhetorical question to persuade the CIA agent to believe in the Albanian war shown on television. Thus, it shows how the public can also be manipulated through the persuasive language often used in media.
Levinson: Hey, calm down. I’m not trying to manipulate you-
DJ: The funny thing about Brean was when he said: “And when there ain’t no war, you can punch out, go home, and take up Oil Painting.” He used black comedy to finish off his conversation with the CIA agent. Therefore, Mr. Levinson, if it weren’t for Brean’s representation of politics, people wouldn’t have been duped, and the ending wouldn’t have been justified. I would’ve felt sad if the president wasn’t elected. *silence*
DJ: Also in The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, you duped me into believing in the wolf’s story. I bet there’s something
*whispers* Hey, I think he’s onto us…
*whispers* I think so too…
ARGH! You’re both messing up with my mind! That’s it, I’m out of

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