Monday, December 21, 2020

TODAY'S NUGGET: Wag the Dog (1997) - In Satire, Using a Betrayal to Show the Obstacle

[Quick Summary: A political player and a Hollywood producer create a fake war as a distraction to an upcoming US election.]

Satire (n.) is 

the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, deriding vice, folly, etc.

However, as film critic Roger Ebert points out: 

"It is getting harder and harder for satire to stay ahead of reality."

So what keeps a satire relevant? I think when it jabs home a perennial problem.  

In politics and war, that problem is attrition.  It's one thing to lose a battle to the other side, but when your own rank and file lose faith? Double ouch.

In the scene below:
- Ames, the political aide, is about to leave for the airport, but stops to overhear a phone conversation.
- Notice that this betrayal is not simply a jab in the gut, but is used to show the hurdles that the protagonists have.
- The irony is that one expects betrayal from a foe, not a supposed supporter.

INT. SIDE OFFICE. NIGHT.

 ...AMES: I'll see you at National.

BREAN NODS, AND EXITS.

HOLD ON AMES.
HE HEARS SOMETHING, AND TURNS.

ANGLE
HIS POV.
A YOUNG STAFFER, IN THE CORNER, SPEAKING SOFTLY ON THE PHONE.

STAFFER (ON PHONE): Tell him, well, tell him we, I know we just signed it, but we're going to cancel it. (PAUSE) Because, because we're not going to be staying here the next four years. (PAUSE) Well, I can't tell you on the phone.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This is what satire does best: poke fun at our humanness.

Wag the Dog (1997)(10/4/96 draft)
by David Mamet
Based on the book, "American Hero," by Larry Beinhart

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