Spicy and ironic, this good word-of-mouth movie from 23 years ago is best for watching today

Eugenia 2021-12-09 08:01:31

Today is election day in the United States.

Prior to this, celebrities including "American Team" Chris Evans , Lady Gaga, etc., had fancyly called on the American people to vote.

As outsiders, we watched the political contest between the two presidential candidates come to an end. The debate and the rotation of the cards some time ago are still vivid.

At this time, a pungent, sharp, black humorous American political film appeared to be particularly suitable for the scene——

Wagging dog

Wag the dog

Director: Barry Levinson

Screenwriter: Hilary Henkin/David Mamei/Larry Beinhart

Starring: Dustin Hoffman/ Robert De Niro/ Ann Heche/ Dennis Leary/ Willie Nelson

Release date: 1997-12-17 (U.S.)

Duration: 97 minutes

The film is adapted from the novel "American Hero" by Larry Beinhart. It won the Silver Bear Award at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival in 1998 and won 7 nominations including the 70th Best Adapted Screenplay in 1998 .

Among them, Dustin Hoffman won the Oscar nomination for best actor for this film .

The political metaphor in the film is extremely exaggerated, but it is hard to deny that it still has some clever overlap with today's reality——

Why does a dog wag its tail?
Because the dog is smarter than its tail.
If the tail is smarter than a dog,
The tail is about to wag the dog.

Washington, DC, two weeks before the new presidential election.

The former president who was seeking re-election fell into a sensational harassment of underage girls.

But at this critical juncture, the scandal was revealed by the woman.

Once the media hype, there is bound to be a lot of noise, and the chances of a successful re-election of the president will suddenly take a turn for the worse.

In order to quell the turmoil, the president who was visiting China urgently summoned a scheming political adviser- Conrad Brian (Robert De Niro) .

Brien, who is good at manipulating the direction of public opinion, quickly offered a "cunning plan" at a critical juncture.

In order to divert the public's attention from the sexual harassment incident, Brian fabricated a vain patriotic war-the Albanian War .

Is it possible?

Brian asked the assistant to the president Winifred Ames (Ann Heche) to speak out to the media, denying that the United States was deploying B3 bombers, and it really caught the reporters.

Subsequently, in order to make this fictional war believable, Brian made a special trip to visit the famous Hollywood producer Stanley Moss (played by Dustin Hoffman) .

Brian said that people remember only the slogans, images, and videos of the war, not the war itself.

Naked girl covered in gasoline
V-shaped gesture for victory
Five marine members set up national flags on Mount Orbachi
People remember this painting 50 years ago, but forget the war itself
The Gulf War, the smart bomb fell from the chimney
A video about the bomb Mr. Moss
This is the war that the American people believe in

Therefore, the presidential campaign, war propaganda, "This is something the entertainment industry" .

Moss, who was rich in money, happened to be dissatisfied with the lack of reputation and lack of attention to the work of the producer, so he immediately threw himself into the "creation" of the war script.

He set the first act of the script at the border between Canada and the United States:

Albanian terrorists planted a suitcase bomb in Canada and attempted to bring it into the United States.

Brian and Moss joined forces and, with the help of a large amount of money from the White House, began to produce a film called "War-torn Albania".

They invited local actors to play Albanian refugees under the war, and carefully designed eye-catching and sensational scenes:

With the blessing of advanced digital photography technology, the actress in the studio holding a potato chip shrunk her head and turned into an innocent and fragile Albanian girl holding a cat and running out of the terrorist bombing ruins.

It also arranged for the president’s flight to land in the rain, and hired young actors to speak Albanian and to thank the president with the "first sheaf of rice", earning tears from the audience.

Under their "seamless" director, the public really believed it and paid more attention.

Another presidential candidate, Senator Neil and others questioned the president’s sexual assault scandal , but the wave of public opinion in Albania did not arouse any splashes.

At the same time, patriotic songs to match the video tape are also being produced intensively. Stars gather to celebrate democracy, freedom and the American dream .

However, this war made out of nothing, of course, cannot deceive everyone.

When the major media hyped up the crisis and the Albanian government struggled to argue, the CIA investigator Charles Young (William H. Messi) finally found out that there was no war in Albania, and there was nothing wrong with it. "terrorist".

As a result, the CIA intervened in Brien's actions and publicly announced on the TV program that the "Albania War" had ended.

Voting is approaching day by day, and under Brian’s pressure, Moss has a whim to make up another farce:

Alleged that a brave American soldier was captured by terrorists on the front line and stranded in Albania.

They named the soldier , "Schumann" , the nickname "Old Shoe" , for stakeholders shoes paving business.

Moss wrote a very sensational draft for the president, ingeniously designed photos of Schumann captured, the hole in the clothes conveyed a message in the form of Morse code——

"Courage, mother".

Schumann was quickly touted by the press as a legendary hero, and the voter approval rate of the current president also headed against the wind . With the help of the Albanian crisis and the hero Schumann, it soared to 86%.

In order for Schumann to attract public attention again the day before the election, Brian and Moss decided to perform a "hero return home" scene.

Unexpectedly, the "hero Schumann" chosen by the White House for this purpose turned out to be a prisoner suffering from mental illness.

To make matters worse, the helicopter carrying the "hero" accidentally crashed on the way to Washington , and the criminal who was imprisoned for raping the nun also fell to the ground and had evil thoughts towards the local girl.

After two bangs, the national "hero" announced that he had been killed by the girl's brawny father.

Seeing the hero's return to his hometown, Moss had a clever idea, and directed a grand funeral.

Seeing the American flag on the coffin of "Schumann", surrounded by solemn and majestic American soldiers to offer sacrifices and mourning, Moss sighed with excitement because of this unusual "creation":

This is totally a scam but it is 100% real. This is the best work of my life because it is so real

But at this moment, Moss heard a conversation from people commenting on the election on the TV:

The 89% approval rate of the president’s success in today’s election is not due to something that is now under his control. Some people say that campaign propaganda helped him win advertisements, advertisements, advertisements, advertisements, advertisements... The president is just a commodity.

It turns out that his greatest "work" will never be made public. On the contrary, people owe the success of the president's re-election to the campaign advertisement made by his most despised "film school idiot"!

Moss felt absurd and angry, and he decided to tell the American people the truth.

For this reason, Brian severely warned him to shut his mouth.

But Moss, who worked as a producer for many years and was fed up with being an "unsung hero", did not accept it, preferring to win the honor he deserves regardless of the consequences.

Brian watched Moss leave, thoughtfully.

The flying American flag was reflected on the windowpane in front of Brian, dyeing the face of the manipulator behind the scenes.

The presidential team will not allow the possibility of leaks.

A few days later, news of Moss' death from a heart attack spread from Hollywood, and he died inexplicably.

Everything he did before the election became an eternally silent secret according to the "plan" .

However, even if Moss is dead, the "Albania crisis" he created during his lifetime is still making news.

A group of people claiming to be the "Albanian Coalition Army" claimed to be responsible for the bombing that occurred not long ago. The bombing occurred in Albania. President Carlo commented on this, but General William Scott, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that we would definitely send it. Fighter jets and army to complete their missions

I just don’t know, what is emerging this time is a new round of political show;

It was the unwarranted anti-terrorism operation that gave birth to real terrorism , which made everything impossible to turn back.

According to the meaning given in the story, the more accurate translation of the title " Wag the Dog " should actually be " Wag the Dog " .

When the presidential election became a grand show of election stories, Brian and Moss meticulously concocted a scam, using slogans, pictures, images and music to reverse the election.

The helmsman, who is hidden under the ocean of public opinion, can sway the nation by simply letting one wave be submerged by a bigger one.

Communication theory has used Plato's "metaphor of the cave" , thinking that we are like prisoners in a cave with their backs to the light source and facing the cave wall, and what we see is only the shadow of the facts.

How similar the shadow is to the object it produces depends on the light, so the more the public spreads, the less important the truth is—

Because the light is in the hands of the public opinion.

Be vigilant and don't let the "tail" shake the "dog" easily.

*Author of this article: Wen C

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Extended Reading
  • Amelia 2022-03-28 09:01:03

    Hahahaha, someone was hacked. The year was just right and the talented screenwriter also predicted what would happen a year later.

  • Chris 2022-03-28 09:01:03

    After watching the movie, if you realize something, then your heart is full of enthusiasm, and you will never believe what the media says. Wasn't the passionate emotion instigated by this movie? Whether the public can see the truth of the matter is not the media, but the individual's ability to think and judge.

Wag the Dog quotes

  • [Stanley, sitting in the Oval Office, has just reduced a room full of White House secretaries to tears with his speech for the President]

    Stanley Motss: [looking around the Office] You know, Connie? I felt very much at home in there. Simple quirk of fate. I could have gone this way. It's all a change in wardrobe.

  • Stanley Motss: You know, you can't save the world. All you can do is try.