Film Analysis: Wag The Dog

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Recommended: The role of the media in politics

"Advertising is essentially truthful, except political advertising, which ... gets worse every year ... (It's) just the artful assembling of nominal facts into hideous, outrageous lies." - Bob Garfield, AdAge columnist The ability of the media to deceive, particularly in the service of politics and politicians, reveals the worst of human nature. The 1997 film Wag The Dog is about how self-interest overrides the principles of truth and honesty. It raises questions about who really ‘owns’ the media; and demonstrates the influence the media can have on the public and how, when that influence is related to politics, the outcomes can have far reaching consequences. The related text I have chosen is a Leunig cartoon, which is a comment on the 2001 Howard Government refugee scandal. These texts show that the truth can be secondary to self-interested constructions of the truth, constructions that are designed to be manipulate or mislead the public. Wag The Dog, directed by Barry Levinson, is a satirical film that explores the manipulation of the media’s …show more content…

The cartoonist has taken the idea of doctoring to an absurd extreme- repeating fear mongering words like ‘beware’, ‘terror’ and ‘evil’- when talking about Australian’s and himself, he uses words like ‘good’, ‘safe’ and ‘brave’. The use of violent hand gestures, the childlike way he speaks and the repetition are Leunig’s way of commenting on the sly way politicians hammer home simplistic messages to the public- in the same way advertising does. The cartoon ends with ‘now I will take questions’ showing how ludicrous the speech is. This cartoon shows the worst aspect of human nature with an authority figure trying to change the public’s perspective for political

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