ipl-logo

Wag The Dog Satire

901 Words4 Pages

Wag the Dog – Review Paper Director Barry Levinson's political satire "Wag the Dog" was released in 1997. The film revolves around two main characters: Dustin Hoffman's (Stanley Motss) and Robert De Niro's (Conrad Brean). Brean is a “spin doctor” who works with Motss, a Hollywood producer, to invent a war with Albania in order to divert attention away from a presidential sex scandal of him and an underage girl. A series of intricate deceptions, including staged photo opportunities, bogus news reports, and even a patriotic anthem, are planned by Motss and Brean. They hide the truth while manipulating public opinion and the media to give the impression that a battle is underway. The battle intensifies to the point where it becomes difficult to …show more content…

Although some parts are true and have happened, for the movie's sake they will intensify and make it more dramatic. The film highlights how the public is vulnerable to well constructed narratives and shows how political spin combined with media cooperation may result in universal deception. It is said of the American political system that truth is flexible and can be molded to fit the needs of the powerful. This vision is an indictment not only of specific politicians but also of a larger system that puts public relations and the accumulation of power ahead of the truth and true democratic principles Even though the movie's details are blown out of proportion for dramatic effect, its fundamental themes stay true. Some themes I think could be applied are: power of propaganda, ethical values and issues, media power and control, and political spin. The one I will highlight is the power of propaganda. The movie highlights the effectiveness of propaganda while being closely related to deception and manipulation. Brean and Motss successfully influence the American people consciousness and mobilize it in support of the made-up war by weaving a

Show More
Related

Lone Star Movie Analysis

1592 Words | 7 Pages

By pulling from problems which rip apart our own social fabric, Sayles uses these patterns of lives to better exhibit the role played by many complex levels of history. With this being said, the movie comes to a conclusion which shows how classically believed concepts regarding the nature of history to illustrates how lack of knowledge on history functions

Read More

Animal House Satire

607 Words | 3 Pages

National Lampoon's Animal House is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis. This was a direct adaptation from the National Lampoon Magazine. The story is all about a group of fraternity members who challenge the Dean of Faber College.

Read More

Barry Levinson's Use Of Satire In Wag The Dog

1456 Words | 6 Pages

Good morning year 10 and invited guests to this year’s satire forum. Today were going to be analysing two satirical texts. Both texts look at deliberate inaccuracies and misinterpretations of facts in the media, the first texts focus on the process of how the media is manipulated and the second text satirises the public’s vulnerability and believing in these manipulations. Wag the Dog is a feature film and our first text today, is directed by Barry Levinson, was released in 1998 and follows the story of a political spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer who work to divert the attention of the American public away from sexual misconduct allegations involving the President to ensure he is re-elected as President in 11 days time. Wag the dog satirises

Read More

Film Analysis: Mr. Smith Goes To Washington

1626 Words | 7 Pages

Honors Exercise 3: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Asha McWilliams Although we have analyzed politics through several books and music videos throughout the semester, for our final project, the honors students have decided to analyze the film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Therefore, this paper will answer the following question: “What did our target of analysis teach us about politics?” In order to do so, this paper will be organized into five major sections. The first section will define the concepts that will be used in the analysis to follow.

Read More

Archetypes In The Movie Hugo Cabret

954 Words | 4 Pages

I don’t believe that this film expresses any political view. I believe that image, speech, sound, music, and writing interact to produce meaning. They are all in sync with one another, but I believe writing dominates because the film is based off of a novel. The facial expressions and speech of the younger actors add to the film, evoking emotion and sympathy from the viewer. The novel emphasizes the spectator more so than in the film.

Read More

American 1976 Film All The President's Men

990 Words | 4 Pages

One significant point of the foundation of the United States is the freedom of press, and All the President’s Men represents this fundamental right of the media to the core. The reporters in this movie are working against officials in the government, yet they are heroes; they are using their right - a right that is supposed to be guaranteed by the government - to reveal the corruption within it. The media was, and will continue to be the source of information for the average American, and the importance of the accuracy of the news is also a topic explored in the movie. Overall, this movie romanticized journalism, and gave the media a positive

Read More

Deep Throat In The Film All The President's Men

931 Words | 4 Pages

In the film All the President’s Men starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, shows a window into the lives of two Washington Post journalists investigating the emerging Watergate scandal and the trials they face in order to expose the truth. The film is wonderfully crafted and portraits the events in as true to life fashion as possible for a film, and like all great films it poses many questions for its audience. Questions such as whether or not the whistleblower Mark Felt, A.K.A. Deep throat, comes across as a hero or a villain in movie and whether or not dirty tactics used by politicians are harmful to the democratic process. These questions may simple, but just like scandal portrayed in movie, there is often a lot just below the surface.

Read More

PTSD In The Film 'Rambo: First Blood'

3242 Words | 13 Pages

Intro The medium of film is just like every other medium. It has the ability to influence people. In an audience that desperately needs to be influenced to change, it’s a rich opportunity for a piece of media to take advantage and bring that audience something they may have not known they wanted in the first place. The setting is America fresh off the embarrassment that was the Vietnam war.

Read More

Zero Dark Thirty Essay

784 Words | 4 Pages

This is relevant to our politics and culture because it gets people to like the government more. It shows the people of America the struggle the CIA went through to get this criminal and to protect America from any more terrorist attack. This movie also shows the excitement of the American

Read More

What Is The Significance Of Perspective In Good Night And Good Luck

512 Words | 3 Pages

By portraying the era of McCarthyism and Senator McCarthy's manipulation of power through fear tactics, the film sheds light on the detrimental consequences of suppressing dissenting voices. Murrow's powerful statement, "We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty," accompanied by persuasive devices such as alliteration and repetition, serves to provoke critical analysis of current political events and discourage complacency. III. Dangers of Fear and Complacency: Clooney warns against the dangers of fear and complacency by drawing parallels between historical events and contemporary issues. He editorializes history to present his perspective on the red scare and criticizes media complacency during the Bush administration.

Read More

Film Analysis: Operation Cyclone

707 Words | 3 Pages

The film was based on Operation Cyclone of the United States of America. The operation was meant to provide enough arms and funding to Afghan rebels in support of their separation from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The interests of the United States in the covert operations in Afghanistan can be considered personal, ideological and of national security.

Read More

Roger And Me Analysis

1529 Words | 7 Pages

Michael Moore has been a well-known name in the field of documentaries since his documentary filmmaking debut of Roger & Me (1989). Using a mix of modes and elements of documentary film, he has created many outspoken films that aim to hammer in his ideals to the audience. However, this has many times created the opposite effect of what Moore desires, and many of his critics argue his tactics have discredited him as a filmmaker. This essay will be focusing on two of Moore’s films in particular: a larger focus on Roger & Me (1989) and then the inclusion of Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004). These films both created an impact on the issues they were concerned with, whether it be in a positive or negative light, due to the different modes of documentary that Moore pulls from in his films, tactics that Moore uses as a filmmaker and level of persuasion that comes out of these.

Read More

Animal Testing Satire

553 Words | 3 Pages

By now in` today's society we have all heard about animal testing and people who are against it such as PETA. But have we all actually thought about animal testing and what we buy every day the product could of been animal tested. Theses are the reasons animal testing is bad. As we know there are animal rights movements for example their is PETA and ASPCA which fight for animal rights.

Read More

Analysis Of The Film Wag The Dog

73 Words | 1 Pages

Wag the Dog is a film that mocks society 's conditional rationale and the way that the people are governed by it. The advance of technology has affected the manner in which information is disseminated and has bound the public to a singular ideology. America 's seemingly democratic culture is in essence, regimented by the true ruling power of the country, the media, which enables them to manipulate the people. The exaggeration of events Modern

Read More

Satire In Animal Farm

1104 Words | 5 Pages

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. ”(Page 97) In this case, George Orwell is using the phrase “more equal” to show how leaders twist words in order to manipulate the population. Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is a classic satire on the Russian Revolution. Satire is a way to use humor, irony, or over exaggeration to expose or criticize people’s ideas, especially in politics.

Read More

More about Wag The Dog Satire

Open Document