The Role of Media in Politics - Assignment Example

Full The Role of Media in Politics The media is gaining power by the day. With the growing technological advancements, the influence of media is similarly taking an increasing impact on people. The wide use of media by a large percentage of population among countries makes it easy for political, social and even personal information to be issued and sustained in a few minutes. Communication has become easier and faster during these days and the media is simply getting more accessible to many people. Consequently, information is easily transferred and received. Nevertheless, with such growth of technological efficiency, one can never tell which stories are true or which ones are false. This influence of media is clearly seen in the movie entitled Wag the Dog. This paper aims to critique the aforementioned movie in terms of the effects of media and the movie itself as a form of media. Wag the Dog tells the story of a film producer named Stanley Motts, played by Dustin Hoffman and a political adviser, Conrad Brean who is portrayed by Robert De Niro. After a scandal about the president molesting a young girl just a few days before the election, Brean is tasked to ensure his win despite the scandal. Consequently, Brean goes to Motts to “produce” a war in order to divert the attention of the public to a more important and serious concern. A play about a young Albanian girl running from a village is run as a real news event that mobilized the CIA. Consequently, the produced “war news” lost its magic when the CIA declared that there are no signs of war or threats on the country. The adviser and producer again make a story about a war hero. This time, the production works its wonders and makes the president a good product. Unfortunately, the producers failed to investigate on the background of their choice actor and they faced the problem of answering the possible questions of the people. The producer however, finds a solution to their every problem and they finally bring home their fallen hero for his highly publicized funeral. This made the president’s statistics positive, assuring him of a win during the elections. Meanwhile, the producer craves for the credit for his best production yet. Wanting to protect the confidential information, Brean has to silence Motts. Later, he is announced to have died of a massive heart attack while sunbathing. The president was re-elected and the show continues regarding the Albanian war. The aforementioned movie portrays the effect of media to how people perceive their surroundings. A war can be created and it does not simply become a rumor but it can become something very real to the people. In the case of the Albanian war in the movie, it is initiated by the mere mention of Brean of a war and a bomb in the hope of some stupid employees leaking the information out which could actually happen. In the movie, the leaks did happen and the rumor spreads as quickly as a forest fire during summer. The CIA may have stopped the rumors by assuring the people that there is no threat of any kind at all but the rumor clearly worked its purpose. It marshaled a respected agency to verify all information and secure America’s borders. In addition, it bought the people behind the show some time to think about their next move and it diverted the attention of the people to the war away from the real scandal which the president is trying to cover. Secondly, when the first act or the story of the war is settled, a war hero is created. Through the people involved, they produced the person they needed and worked the paper works without problems. They even produced a song which they antedated and placed in the library of congress which was supposed to be used for the play to make it more dramatic and touching. The producer’s story simply continues from wherever real circumstances place them. For instance, when they finally find out that their war hero is a convicted criminal who has been in prison for the past twelve years, Motts suggests that they can easily explain that such is the claim to their hero’s situation as well as the other victims because of the secrecy involved in the case. When the criminal/hero dies while attempting to rape a woman, the convicted soldier still receives a hero’s funeral and the people honestly grieved for him. The president’s popularity grows because the people believed that what was happening was real. Consequently, the president earns a winning edge against his presidential opponent. All these are due to the help of the mediamen and the media which were watching the unfolding of the production of an event without their knowledge that it is a hoax. The aforementioned events show the power of media. Advancements in technology surely can help create issues such as the war and the war hero. Photos and videos can be easily produced and be accepted as the real thing. Nevertheless, with the help of the same media, people are now getting smarter, more inquisitive and vigilant. More than a decade ago, when the internet and other technological advancements were not as popular and accessible as they are now, the idea in the movie could be acceptable as true. When videos and photos are edited to create events and circumstances that one wants to portray, they were difficult to find out if they were edited. Now, that could be easily verified and so the act performed in the movie may now be difficult to pull. Placing the setting on an earlier date, the movie could be very believable and one could easily accept the contents as real. In fact, the production of the movie itself is very believable so that a viewer can perhaps question if the movie is not simply fictional but is based from real situations. Consequently, as mentioned earlier, the advancements in technology makes the people become more critical of what they read through the papers and the internet or watch on TV. Say, perhaps if the movie was set not more than five years ago, viewers would have been cynical about it because technology already can determine a fake and a real one by that time. People could not have easily believed a news such as the one portrayed in the movie about the young Albanian girl but they would question the source and be proactive in finding out the facts. However, considering that ideas also progress along with the development of technology, it could be safely assumed that pivoting on the same theme, there could be some revisions to the script to make it realistic to the modern day viewers. One element that makes the movie pragmatic is that, it incorporates true to life events. For instance, there have been political figures who were involved in various sorts of accusations. Whether such circumstances may have been black propaganda to destroy the reputation of certain politicians or real, such insertion in the movie validates it enough to make viewers consider the possibility of the events. As a result, after viewing the movie, one can actually become more cynical about politics and politicians. Questions about the abuse of power may arise. As a form of media, the movie stirs the critical minds of viewers. It helps them become more wary about politicians. They become more interested and involved in what politicians are doing to ensure their peace and progress. The movie is not only for entertainment purposes but it somehow illuminates viewers about their ignorance about what is being done behind the scenes. This makes them more careful in accepting news events. Viewers have now grown more intelligent, questioning and verifying information before accepting them as true especially with the help of the internet and social media. In the movie, the producer tells Brean that he should have approached him for rain machines for the president’s “news-making performance” toward a mother whose daughter expressed a touching message of thanksgiving for his efforts in Albania. Indeed, modernization has made a lot of things possible like making rains. As a result, while watching the movie, many thoughts may be crossing a viewer’s mind. In my case, when the film reached the scene where the PR advisor, Winifred Ames, played by Anne Heche, follows the team of soldiers out of the plane, I cannot help but wonder if the rain is real or machine made. The lightning and sound effects were very realistic that the audience actually cannot have a clue if it is real or not. Similarly, the film makes viewers consider the truth behind the scenes. Indeed, some may easily accept that the film is just fiction but with the incorporation of real situations in it, one cannot really help but wonder if it is a reflection of facts. The world of media is competitive which is good because it challenges talents to further improve on what the world has today. One can see no decline in such improvements but will only expect more challenging and wonderful changes. As a result, we can only think about where these technological advancements will bring us. Will they just bring more confusion or will they help people become more informed and knowledgeable? Will they make a brighter tomorrow for proactive citizens or will they create passive viewers who might easily disregard what they read and watch? Such considerations are important because as seen in the movie as well as what is happening around us, media certainly affects our way of thinking, the way we live and making the choice of who to vote. Media has become a part of our everyday life and we cannot deny that it somehow affects us. Wag the Dog is not simply a form of entertainment but a form of media that has disturbing political and social theme. It presents the media as a powerful tool that can turn people’s minds to what it wants to suggest and somehow control their ideas. It makes people consider how they are supposed to react about the information gathered through the media. It makes viewers become more watchful and inquisitive about what they see and hear. On the other hand, the movie also makes viewers question the validity of the information in the movie itself. With the help of technological advancements, anything can be possible. Fake rains can look like real rains and the fictitious story might actually be real. The inquisitive and watchful viewers now become the product of modern media. Read More