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‘Wag the Dog’ by Barry Levinson

Political, Sexual and Personal Power and their interplay

The actions of the powerful (in this case the President) in the personal and sexual arenas impacts hugely upon the political arena and the people of their nations

They implement a political solution in order to avoid scrutiny of the powerful’s personal and sexual behaviour – even in this, the most basic premise of the text, we see the blurring of the boundaries between the arenas of different types of power.

Remorselessly political interests take priority over human lives.

Power of symbols – the power of a person to use symbols to control a group

The use of images and symbols disseminated through the media to control public opinion. Sergeant William Schumann is a personification of this as he is used as a symbolic tool by the powerful, the con men, in order to keep the masses under their sway.

Portrayals of the Powerful

The government portrayed as pretty much completely lacking in morals – the game of allegation and subsequent denial is a powerful political tool at the hands of the government which they implement with very few qualms.

Moral ambiguity of all the main characters – they are portrayed as having no sense of the primacy and importance of truth or the idea of fairness. ‘what did the Albanians ever do to us?’ ‘who cares? What did the Albanians ever do FOR us? ( Twist truth as to fit own agenda.

Hierarchy of influence ( THOSE WHO ARE POWERFUL CONTROL MEDIA WHO CONTROLS PUBLIC- The spin doctor controls media ( ‘it’s only a phone call away’; ‘how close are you to this?’; ‘what do you want him to say?’

Brean holds more power than the president, but there is a power struggle between him and the producer. However ultimately the real power belongs to the MEDIA.

The powerful and the government are represented as abusing their power – however this is seen as common place and the norm and the medium of the comedy and the technique of satire means that while this flaw is highlighted, and poked fun at, the condemnation/judgment is largely left to the audience. However satire is used to attempt to make a commentary on a particularly important theme or issue – in this case the abuse of power by govts and the manipulation of the people by the media.

Brean
The portrayal of ‘mr fix it’ (Brean) – no name – mysterious, blasé, the costuming – old fashioned gentleman almost with coast and hat – his costuming, his mysteriousness, his stance, posture etc all give him a highly evident sense of authority. A somewhat subdued character who we never know much about but we don't really need to. He's the enigmatic hired gun who's ridden into town to take care of a problem and who will disappear into the sunset when the job's done. Confident and memorable. the consummate cynic and manipulator, always reminding his fellow conspirators that the only truth that matters is the one seen on TV. The true nature of his job is never revealed, but one can assume he's a player with real power. He's clearly connected to some powerful people, ones who can make a messy situation disappear for good.

The President
The portrayal of the president interestingly (and ironically) conforms to the long ousted convention of not actually showing the President of the United States – only his hands or the back of his head, but never his face—however while this was traditionally seen as a sign of respect for the office – this technique has been used somewhat sardonically by the composer in order to emphasize/highlight/reiterate the manipulation, the deception etc – the reality of the President is not what matters… The spin doctors could care less about the President – it’s the story not the man that’s important - For a film that never shows the president, ‘Wag the Dog’ nonetheless makes an interesting critique of White House politics and power.

SIDE NOTE: This film deals with not just representations of power but