In "Wagtail Dog", the scheming Brian, the assistant to the president Ames, and the famous Hollywood producer Stanley Moss (including his team) are the communicators. Among them, Brian is accustomed to manipulating politics and news. And political theory, because the president was scandalized eleven days before the general election, which is likely to make the president's re-election plan fail, he came up with a countermeasure: to create a worldwide crisis and divert the public's attention from sexual harassment. And this worldwide crisis is the Albanian war, which is to spread the content. The medium of communication in the film is mainly television, and I think it also contains media such as newspapers, radio, and the Internet. In addition, the purpose of the Albanian war this time is to let the American people "don't change horses halfway" and allow the president to be re-elected. Therefore, the audience is voters in the US general election. In the definition of communication, feedback means that the audience reflects their acceptance status and opinions to the communicator through a certain channel after receiving the content of the communication, which leads to the exchange of roles between the communicator and the audience and maintains the continuity of the communication. In "Wagtail Dog", feedback is through public opinion surveys (may include questionnaire surveys, telephone interviews, online surveys, etc.). The last component of communication is the effect of communication. At the end of the film, we were told that the president was re-elected and Brien and his team won a big victory, indicating that Brien’s communication has achieved the expected purpose, that is, it has a better communication effect.
Some people say that if the dog is smarter than the tail, then the dog is wagging its tail, and if the tail is smarter than the dog, then the tail is wagging the dog. Indeed, whoever manipulates the mass media and guides public opinion in "Wag a Tail Dog" is the final winner. The mass media not only influences people's viewing and hearing to a certain extent, but also influences the public's thinking. It was Brien’s strategy to cover the scandal with a bigger wave. The vain Albanian war was reported by countless media. This bigger wave attracted the attention of the people, and the beneficiaries were politicians who deceived the people.
Brien is a typical communicator. He is the leader of the incident, manipulating the media and politicians’ spokespersons. He is in line with the communicator’s psychological characteristics and feels excited. He instills his will into the audience and forces the audience to accept himself. One-way information. Moreover, in the spread of the Albanian war, he had a contempt and control mentality towards the people.
"Don't change horses halfway" means that the communicator uses the audience's nostalgia to guide their thoughts. Similarly, the people also have the psychology of ordinary audiences, the psychology of conformity, the psychology of blind obedience, the psychology of curiosity, the psychology of seeking new things and the psychology of rebellion.
"Wagtail Dog" reflects the reality of society to a certain extent. The president’s peachy news reminds us of Clinton and Lewinsky. The Albanian War is similar to the Iraq War. The media's role is so great that it is well demonstrated in the film. Nowadays, books, magazines, newspapers, radio, and the Internet are flooding our lives. Are all kinds of news real facts, the tip of the iceberg of facts, or illusory bubbles? The answer is unknown. As an audience, we need to face the news calmly, verify it in many ways, think independently, and form our own correct communication vision.
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