Manipulation of Truth in Oliver Stone's Jfk
Manipulation of Truth in Oliver Stone's JFK Oliver Stone is a master of manipulation. Being an expert in the art of directing, Stone is able to make an audience believe whatever he wishes. In the 1991 film JFK, Oliver Stone manipulates facts in order to convey a fictional conspiracy involving the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The Zapruder film and the magic bullet theory are two facts that Stone employs to trick the audience into believing his fabricated tale. Stone unfolds this film through the eyes of Jim Garrison, the district attorney of New Orleans, who believes that there is more to the assassination than what has been presented in the past. Although three years have gone by since the conclusion of the trial, Garrison feels personally obligated to uncover classified information that will prove a complex government coup d'etat. Garrison's idea that the United States government is somehow related to Kennedy's assassination is first seen in the opening of the film. Stone flashes scenes from the Zapruder film (an eight millimeter live video of the shooting) where he mutes the original audio sounds and replaces them with ceremonial music, representative of the United States government. Being that the Zapruder film is a piece of documented evidence; a general audience does not question its validity. This replacement of sound is a conscious attempt to foreshadow the conclusion that Stone wants the audience to come to at the end of the film. By linking together visual images of the assassination with military music, Stone sends a subliminal message that two are somehow related. In reality, this connection is nothing more than a fictional interpretation contrived by Oliver Stone. Where does reality end and fiction begin in Garrison's conspiracy theory? This is a question that one must ask themselves before viewing the final episode of JFK. The final element of the movie is made up of an intense and captivating courtroom scene. It is here where Garrison