Wag The Dog: 6.7

This would be the third time our PR professor asked us to do a reaction paper. Of course, this task still entails critical thinking, comprehension, and guts.

Apparently, another good job fro yours truly.

My professor's verdict: Good reaction paper.
My professor's rate: 6.7 out of 7

Indulge...

Unlikely

Being a
movie-buff is apparently one of my characteristics – and yes, I love being
that! Though I admit I’m picky in terms of the genres and story, watching an
unlikely good film is considered for me as a great experience. And when our
professor told us a couple of meetings ago that we would be having a film
showing, my mind buzzed! Film showing, in a PR class?! Now that’s what I call
very, very unlikely.

At first I was
startled on the fact that I don’t know if there would really be a movie fit for
our lectures, because the lessons we’ve studied is too formal and professional
in my point of view – beat that for a flick’s story! Then goes the title, Wag
The Dog. It sounds funny actually, I can’t imagine a dog having booty-shaking
or strutting and waving all around the place in a movie. But I was wrong, I
took it literally – shameful me.

Tag this to
your thoughts: Why does the dog wag its tail? Because the dog is smarter than
its tail.

That line is
actually opened at the beginning of the movie; that line sparked the whole
attention-grabbing feel of the film.

Wag The Dog is
a 1997 release directed by Barry Levinson, which stars Hollywood
almighty-actors Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro. The flick is about diverting
the publics’ attention from the alarming scandal of the president, who happens
to be re-running for a second term – just two weeks before the Election Day.

DeNiro plays Conrad Brean, the manipulator of politics,
press, and the publics in America.
He happens to be the one in charge of creating a massive issue to reroute
American people’s attention from the revolting scandal. And then there’s
Hoffman as Stanley Motss, with an entourage of the bests among their field, who
happens to be a famed Hollywood producer and
director. The two, along with Hoffman’s entourage, teamed up and created the
biggest alarming issue there is! Talking about diverting attention, right? Now
PR is becoming visible.

I admit, I did
enjoy watching the movie. Though at first I wasn’t at ease because I was mesmerized
with the opening tag line, still, I managed to grab the essence of the film –
PR is present here.

The film is
actually a vivid manifestation of Public Relations as a tool for oneness.
Though manipulation is the key in the movie, it still relates to PR’s way of
attracting its publics’ attention, sustaining it, and making it as if it is the
only thing existing. In the film, their first desperate attempt to reroute
public attention was making a fake video, with a lady wandering on streets of Albania where
war takes place. It quite worked though, people somehow believed it and
sympathized with what they saw. Isn’t that PR? Another good example was when
the core group (DeNiro and Hoffman) released another desperate attempt to
divert the attention of American people, by making up a fake video of a US soldier that
was left on the spot of the war. Same thing happened, same reaction from the
publics – they believed and sympathized. They even did a movement, a kind of
silent rally, where they hang boots on tree branches to show support for that US soldier.
Isn’t that yet again PR?

The fact that
kept the movie in tact with PR is this: public persuasion.

Upon analyzing
the film in the broader view, I imagined a scenario – what if this happened
here in the Philippines?
The “Hello Garci?” scandal of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is not that far
from what I’ve seen on the movie. But sadly, I can’t remember whether there was
a much alarming issue that exploded that time to surpass the scandal. Though I
surely remember one thing – PGMA apologized. And, if I consider it right, I
presume that that triggered the public’s eventual memory loss for the scandal.
Mind you, though she did not actually admit her mistakes, what she said was
powerful enough. The “I am sorry…” line raced a thousand ships. And in this
case, PR is also present here. But what if the president on the film did what
PGMA did? Well, the story’s ending would have been different I guess, but I’m
not Barry Levinson – I don’t have the
final say for that.

Now, the lines
on the beginning of the film: Why does the dog wag its tail? Because the dog is
smarter than its tail. This simply means that the brain is much wiser than any
other part of our system. On the film, it was mirrored in two. First, it shows
that the publics are effortlessly persuaded by the so-called manipulators of
the society – the dog’s brain are the manipulators, its neurons are the media,
and the tail is the publics. Second, the publics are not always easy to
persuade with, especially at times when you serve undeserving and fishy facts –
the dog’s brain now becomes the publics, its neurons are the publics’ acts of
disobedience and lack of cooperation, and this time the manipulators are the
ones being wagged. And on human-speak, the translation for me would be: Why
does a person chooses who to trust? Because that person knows the difference
between right and wrong, and he knows what’s best for him.

Wag The Dog
really taught me something to ponder about in my career as a student. Now I ask
myself, should I let others tear down the very foundation which made me who I
am now – myself? Of course I won’t! After all, I know what’s right from wrong,
I know what’s best for me – and I don’t need a tail to wag around to show my
faith.

Now there goes
another good film in my list. Though it’s quite hard to imagine, I still admit
that I enjoyed the experience. Now… film showing for a PR class? It’s
effective, worth it – and not that unlikely.