May 31 2003
Wag the Dog
I have not yet seen this movie.
An administration hypes the threat posed by a foreign power. It talks of links to Islamic fundamentalist terrorism; it warns about a nuclear weapons program. The news media play along, and the country is swept up in war fever. The war drives everything else — including scandals involving administration officials — from the public’s consciousness.
The 1997 movie “Wag the Dog” had quite a plot.
Although the movie’s title has entered the language, I don’t know how many people have watched it lately. Read the screenplay. If you don’t think it bears a resemblance to recent events, you’re in denial.
Should I try to rent it this weekend, or will it just seem kind of redundant, given what we’ve been living through lately?
