Character Relationship Map: Wag the Dog

Characters

• Stanley Motss (played by Dustin Hoffman) — protagonist

  Stanley Motss is a Hollywood producer recruited by Conrad Brean to manufacture a fictional war in Albania. He creates the staged footage, theme song, POW story, and military funeral, but becomes angry...

• Conrad Brean (played by Robert De Niro) — protagonist

  Conrad Brean is a presidential spin doctor brought in by Winifred Ames after the President’s sexual misconduct scandal. He organizes the fictional Albanian war with Stanley Motss, manipulates the CIA...

• Winifred Ames (played by Anne Heche) — supporting

  Winifred Ames is a presidential aide who brings Conrad Brean into the crisis surrounding the President’s scandal. She is part of the administration’s effort to redirect public attention toward the fab...

• President (played by Michael Belson) — supporting

  The President is caught making advances on an underage girl in the Oval Office shortly before the election. Conrad Brean and Stanley Motss construct a fictional Albanian war to divert attention from t...

• Johnny Dean (played by Willie Nelson) — supporting

  Johnny Dean is a folk singer recruited for the fabricated war campaign. He records “Old Shoe,” a song designed to support the story of Sergeant William Schumann as a forgotten American hero. The recor...

• Young Man / CIA (played by Richard Lawson) — cameo

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Stanley Motss → Johnny Dean (Professional Producer) — Motss incorporates Johnny's song into the manufactured campaign.

  Johnny Dean records "Old Shoe" as one of the staged cultural artifacts supporting the fictional hero story.

• Conrad Brean → Johnny Dean (Professional Employer) — Brean uses Johnny's performance as part of the media operation.

  Brean and Motss arrange for Johnny Dean to record the song called "Old Shoe" for the fabricated rescue narrative.

• Conrad Brean → President (Professional Strategic Adviser) — Brean acts as the President's crisis strategist.

  Brean is brought in to divert public attention from the President's misconduct scandal and constructs a fictional war for that purpose.

• Winifred Ames → President (Professional Political Aide) — Winifred serves the President by coordinating the crisis response.

  Winifred Ames is identified as a presidential aide and brings Brean in to protect the President from the scandal.

• Conrad Brean → Winifred Ames (Professional Collaborators) — They work together to manage the political crisis.

  Winifred Ames brings Conrad Brean in after the President's scandal, and Brean develops the response strategy.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Young Man / CIA → President (Conflict Government Adversary) — The CIA's knowledge places pressure on the President's political operation.

  The CIA's discovery of the fabricated war threatens the administration's effort to protect the President from the scandal.

• Conrad Brean → Young Man / CIA (Conflict Adversarial Negotiator) — Brean neutralizes an institutional threat through persuasion.

  Young Man / CIA confronts Brean after the CIA learns about the fabricated war, and Brean persuades him not to expose it.

• President → Stanley Motss (Narrative Indirect Beneficiary) — Motss's production serves the President's political survival.

  Motss's fabricated war, songs, footage, and funeral help the President recover in the polls and win reelection.

• Conrad Brean → Stanley Motss (Alliance Creative Partners) — Brean supplies political strategy while Motss produces the media spectacle.

  Brean contacts Stanley Motss to construct the fictional war, including music, footage, and staged public events.

Story Analysis

A political crisis is transformed into a manufactured war, revealing how media spectacle can overpower reality and consume its creators.

Plot Progression

1. Scandal And The Spin — The President's misconduct scandal threatens the election. Winifred Ames brings in Conrad Brean, who proposes a fictional war and recruits Stanley Motss to produce it.
2. Manufacturing Albania — Brean and Motss construct a convincing war through staged footage and emotional imagery. The hoax initially succeeds, and the President's poll numbers improve.
3. The Hoax Under Threat — The CIA discovers the deception and confronts Brean, but he persuades its representative to remain silent. When the war is reported over, the original scandal returns to the news.
4. The Old Shoe Hero — Motss invents a missing hero and uses Johnny Dean's song and staged shoes to create an apparent grassroots movement. The campaign forces the operation to retrieve the supposed hero.
5. Victory At Any Cost — The retrieval mission reveals an unexpected criminal reality, followed by a crash and a staged military funeral. After the President wins reelection, Motss's demand for credit leads Brean to silence h...