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What do you call redefining your opponent's argument to better suit your own prejudice ?

For instance, declaring that those who 'think' that a film will not be successful in Europe actually 'wish'  so.

Mari-Lou A
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Anne Guedes
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    This is a "framing the argument" issue rather than a "logical fallacy" (that is, "faulty reasoning") issue. It doesn't make the tactic any less deceptive, but I don't think that "logical fallacy" is an appropriate category name for what you're talking about. (Then again, perhaps I'm guilty of the very redefining "fallacy" that you have in mind.) – Sven Yargs Nov 30 '14 at 04:28
  • Hi, I'm just going through posts which have "How do you call....?" in their questions or titles. See the discussion in this post: “How do we call (something) in English?” Would you mind editing yours to “What do you call redefining ....?” Thank you! – Mari-Lou A Mar 25 '16 at 20:00

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Are you looking for "straw man"?

A straw man is a common type of argument and is an informal fallacy based on the misrepresentation of an opponent's argument. To be successful, a straw man argument requires that the audience be ignorant or uninformed of the original argument.

The so-called typical "attacking a straw man" argument creates the illusion of having completely refuted or defeated an opponent's proposition by covertly replacing it with a different proposition (i.e., "stand up a straw man") and then to refute or defeat that false argument ("knock down a straw man") instead of the original proposition.

Wikipedia

Roaring Fish
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The technical term for the fallacy of negating an argument by discrediting the person making it is: argumentum ad hominem

Oldbag
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Special pleading, I believe, is what this is called. You can look it up if you are interested in more detail.

Ornello
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