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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.WagTheDog 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.WagTheDog, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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{{quote|''"Why does a dog wag its tail? Because a dog is smarter than its tail. If the tail were smarter, the tail would wag the dog."''|[[Opening Monologue|Opening]] [[Title Drop]]}}
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Conrad decides to create a fictional war with Albania. He recruits Hollywood producer Stanley Motss ([[Dustin Hoffman]]) to create the illusion of the ongoing war. Actors play war orphans, an army convict is cast as a war hero, etc. All broadcast by American networks as real news. They take advantage of the relative obscurity of Albania among the public to make up details as they go.
This film was actually ''not'' [[Ripped
This title is, of course, unrelated to [[Tropey the Wonder Dog]].
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Acceptable Targets]]: In-universe, the Albanians are this.
{{quote|
'''Brean:''' Why not?
'''Ames:''' What have they done to us?
'''Brean:''' What have they done ''for'' us? What do you know about them?
'''Ames:''' Nothing.
'''Brean:''' See? They keep to themselves. Shifty. Untrustable.
* [[The Barnum]]: Conrad has based his entire career on this trope (well... that, and killing people). Stanley and Winifred evolve into this type.
* [[Black Comedy]]
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* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: Stanley Motss comments that "there is no Academy Award for producing." Who do you think accepts the Oscar for Best Picture?
** Probably not a case of this, since Barry Levinson was nominated for Best Picture before this movie came out. More likely, it's just Motss being egotistical.
* [[Dude, Not Funny]] [[In
* [[Everyone Knows Morse]]: "Old Shoe" ripped Morse code into his shirt.
* [[Indy Ploy]]: Sort of done by the spin man, as he has to gauge the media's reaction and then feed them.
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* [[Invisible President]]: The film almost always has the main characters talking to "the president" on the phone. The one time the President is on camera, he is in shadows and seen from the back only. On the other hand, his opponent is frequently shown in TV ads and on talk shows.
** His name isn't said either- his campaign ads just have 'Re-elect the President' as a tag line.
* [[Karma Houdini]]:
** {{spoiler|Also the president, who was able to divert attention away from his actions with the Firefly Girl.}}
* [[Killed to Uphold
* [[Line
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: Dustin Hoffman based Motss look and mannerisms on real-world producer [[Robert Evans]]. Evans is said to have joked on occasion that he was ''really'' good in that film.
* [[Post
* [[POV Sequel]]: Producer Stanley Motss claims to have made an extremely successful film re-telling Moby Dick from the perspective of the white whale.
* [[Running Both Sides]]: Political advisers attempt to create an "artificial war" — and trick the public into thinking it's the real thing.
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* [[Suspiciously Apropos Music]]: Quickly pressed into vinyl and smuggled into the Library of Congress.
* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]: Invoked. Brean tells one of the president's staff to make one of these to the press, saying that the reason the president is late returning home has absolutely nothing to do with the B-3 bomber or the situation in Albania. And right after that, that they misspoke and that there is no such plane and no situation. The results are predictable, and pretty soon everybody's attention is focused on finding out what's going on in Albania instead of on the girl.
* [[The Un
** [[Squick|You sure you wanna know?]]
** There's another example: at the end of the film, there's a news flash telling us that an Albanian terrorist
* [[Villain Protagonist]]: The main characters, and also, the President. Motss, Brean and Ames, no matter how loveable their characters come off, are still despicable people manipulating the American public to protect a President who was caught trying to make a pass at a young girl. The fact that several people end up dead as a result of their actions,
* [[War for Fun
* [[Xanatos Speed Chess]]: ''Constantly''. Almost every plan Stanley and Conrad come up with once the film gets going backfires hugely, leading to a frantic chain of improvisation.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Wag
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