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Wag the Dog (1997) is a film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert
De Niro about a Washington Spin Doctor (De
Niro) who distracts the electorate from a presidential sex scandal by hiring
a Hollywood producer (Hoffman) to create a fake war. The scheme enlists the musical talents of Willie Nelson who creates a theme song for the 'war'. Kirsten Dunst, Woody Harrelson and William H. Macy all have cameos. Wag the Dog was produced by Barry Levinson, famous for the television series Homicide and Oz. David
Mamet co-wrote the screen play.
Although primarily a comedy, the film explores serious themes such as the manipulation of the media and public opinion. The
film drew attention at the time for similarities to the Clinton sex
scandal, although the movie also makes reference to the 1st Gulf War as an example
of war used as an electoral tactic. The idea of war as a creation of the media is not, of course, original to the movie. The
French Postmodernist Jean Baudrillard's ideas in particular are relevant to a discussion of the movie - see for example his
essay The Gulf War Did Not Take Place.
The title of the movie is taken from the joke: "Why does a dog wag its tail? Because a dog is smarter than its tail. If the
tail was smarter, the tail would wag the dog." Interpretations differ as to the meaning of this metaphor. Some suggest the dog is
public opinion, and the tail represents the media; the dog is the media, and the tail is political campaigns; or the dog is the
people, and the tail is the government.
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