"Wag the Dog" is a movie about an attempt to divert the public's attention from a potential scandal involving the U.S. President. It is fiction yet many people think the film holds some truth, especially the way people in power (i.e. government, the entertainment industry, corporations, etc.) can convince the public, distract the public, and/or confuse the public for political/financial/strategic benefits.
"The War of the Worlds" is a film adaptation of a famous science fiction novel published in 1898 by H. G. Wells. It has been adapted into several films, television programs, comic books, and radio programs. The 1938 broadcast by Orson Wells is most famous for the effect it had on many Americans, who thought the broadcast was true.
Both films demonstrate the effect media can have on the general public, one with a fictitious outcome; the other with real panic occurring among possibly thousands of people.
1. Do you think you would be able to tell if a media announcement regarding a space ship landing in Washington, D.C. was true or false, based on the information presented on TV, the Internet, and in newspapers?
2. If aliens, or an foreign army, invaded your country, how would you react? Would you act like the people described in the NY Times article and run out your homes, or would you plan an escape with food and water, as Tom Cruise's character did in "The War of the Worlds?"
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