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The Post

211 statements
40 feature instances
5 referencing feature instances

The Post	type	TVTItem
The Post	label	The Post
The Post	page	ThePost
The Post	comment	The Post is a 2017 historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, and a slew of well-known character actors you would probably recognize from TV.It tells the true story of how The Washington Post, led by its publisher Kay Graham (Streep) and executive editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks), defied the Nixon White House in 1971 to publish the leaked US Department of Defense documents later known as the "Pentagon Papers", which detailed how government leaders had spent years misleading the public about The Vietnam War.The film was given a limited release on December 13, 2017 before a wide opening on January 12, 2018. The trailer can be seen here.The film is dedicated to the memory of Nora Ephron.
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The Post	parsed	2023-04-05T01:28:07Z
The Post	processingComment	Dropped link to ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid: Not a Feature - ITEM
The Post	processingComment	Dropped link to HistoricalDomainCharacter: Not a Feature - IGNORE
The Post	processingComment	Dropped link to LockAndLoadMontage: Not a Feature - ITEM
The Post	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Post / int_10dcbe05	type	Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other
The Post / int_10dcbe05	comment	Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: After Ben has spent much of the film ignoring his wife while her house gets turned upside-down and she provides food for him and his colleagues, he goes to help her clear up her art studio, and accepts the gentle "The Reason You Suck" Speech she gives him. She, for her part, shows that she tolerates his bad moments for the sake of his good ones.
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The Post / int_15b2cab3	type	Tempting Fate
The Post / int_15b2cab3	comment	Tempting Fate: Done twice. Kay wonders if something "catastrophic" could happen in the seven days after the company goes public, thus risking the paper's funding. Like say, The Washington Post getting copies of the Pentagon Papers, thus becoming part of the injunction against The New York Times? At the end, Kay and Ben are relieved they won't have to go through anything like this again. Cue the Watergate break-in.
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The Post / int_1f250372	type	I Need a Freaking Drink
The Post / int_1f250372	comment	I Need a Freaking Drink: When Marina is offering lemonade to the reporters while they're reading the Papers, Meg quips, "Does it have vodka in it?"
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The Post / int_27a42ebc	type	Spiritual Successor
The Post / int_27a42ebc	comment	Spiritual Successor: to both All the President's Men (with which it shares both a setting and the Real Life character of Ben Bradlee, though it takes place years earlier) and Spotlight (with whom it shares a co-screenwriter in Josh Singer). Spotlight also features Ben Bradlee's son, Ben Bradlee Jr., in a supporting role.
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The Post / int_2dc0d2bf	type	Hidden Depths
The Post / int_2dc0d2bf	comment	Hidden Depths: At first, Kay seems to be a wishy-washy owner more concerned with solvency than legitimacy. Once she makes the decision to publish the Pentagon Papers and especially after it becomes apparent she may go to prison over it which gives even Ben pause, her inner strength and bravery shines through.
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The Post / int_4e7c4536	type	Wham Line
The Post / int_4e7c4536	comment	Wham Line: In-Universe, when one of the team finds the passage above indicating that the government knew the war was a dead end.
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The Post / int_56515a39	type	Artistic License â€“ History
The Post / int_56515a39	comment	Artistic License – History: The characters all treat the study as "proving" that the war was "unwinnable". The real life study was largely intended as a history, and it didn't draw any conclusions about whether the war was "winnable" or not. Publishing the study had the impact it did because it showed that the US government had been lying to the public about some of its motivations at getting involved in the war and that it had kept many of its actions that would have been viewed as controversial or illegal a secret from the public.
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The Post / int_5989e3b6	type	Enemy Mine
The Post / int_5989e3b6	comment	Enemy Mine: The Post finds itself on the same side as their major rivals in Boston and New York at the Supreme Court hearing, as freedom of the press affects all of them.
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The Post / int_5f52cfcf	type	Intrepid Reporter
The Post / int_5f52cfcf	comment	Intrepid Reporter: Much of the Post's staff, but perhaps most notably Ben Bagdikian.
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The Post / int_6293c185	type	Sequel Hook
The Post / int_6293c185	comment	Sequel Hook: Right when the camera zooms out and you think the movie's going to start telling you what happened to the characters later on, it cuts to Nixon saying the Post will never be allowed in the White House again and then a security guard discovering a break-in at the Watergate Hotel. You can practically hear the guard say, "here we go again!"
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The Post / int_69cce3dc	type	Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!
The Post / int_69cce3dc	comment	Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Roger explains the exact wording of the injunction against the New York Times and correctly guesses Bagdikian got the papers from the same source as the Times. Thus Bagdikian quietly freaks out.
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The Post / int_71105dfc	type	Everybody Smokes
The Post / int_71105dfc	comment	Everybody Smokes: The free use of tobacco in the 1970's is lightly touched upon throughout the movie, but when the Post's senior reporters start digging into the Pentagon Papers, they start sucking down cigarettes while filling Bradlee's living room with thick smoke.
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The Post / int_7b6e47a5	type	Armor-Piercing Question
The Post / int_7b6e47a5	comment	Armor-Piercing Question: Not a single line, but Kay gives a slew of them to her old friend Robert McNamara, asking how he could send soldiers (including her son) into a war which he knew was unwinnable. His response is a stumbling rehash of buzzwords like "containment" and "the domino effect" which even he doesn't sound particularly convinced by.
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The Post / int_7d89315b	type	"The Reason You Suck" Speech
The Post / int_7d89315b	comment	"The Reason You Suck" Speech: While it mostly takes the form of one Armor-Piercing Question after another, this is very much the effect of Kay confronting McNamara over how he could stand with her as her son went off to fight when he knew full well the war was unwinnable. A more subtle and downplayed one is given to Ben by his wife. She points out that Kay is risking a lot more than he is (he already has a reputation as a talented maverick, so could get a job at another paper easily if the Post collapses, while Kay would lose everything,) and by mentioning how Kay has spent her entire life being taught to be a background figure to men, she also draws attention to how Ben casually turned their house into a headquarters for his colleagues without asking whether she minded the intrusion, or questioning the snacks and meals she provided for all of them. He doesn't apologize, but he accepts the rebuke and takes it to heart.
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The Post / int_8042e814	type	Actually Pretty Funny
The Post / int_8042e814	comment	Actually Pretty Funny: Kay's lawyer says that a "disaster" would constitute Ben getting hit by a bus, the world running out of newspaper ink, or the bus coming around the block and hitting Ben again. Kay lets off a hearty laugh at this.
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The Post / int_868409c	type	Broken Pedestal
The Post / int_868409c	comment	Broken Pedestal: The first half of the film deals with Kay and Ben having to come to terms with the fact that the politicians they socialized with were perpetrating horrible things in Southeast Asia and used their friendship to make sure the Washington Post wouldn't dig too deeply.
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The Post / int_94680696	type	Shaped Like Itself
The Post / int_94680696	comment	Shaped Like Itself: When the reporters are outside Bradlee's house, they see his daughter Marina selling lemonade, and one of them asks what kind of lemonade it is. She responds, "It's the one with the lemons in it."
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The Post / int_9cbf01d6	type	Stay in the Kitchen
The Post / int_9cbf01d6	comment	Stay in the Kitchen: Kay Graham finds herself running into this attitude, in spite of being the paper's owner. Kay explains to her daughter that her father (one of the original owners) ceded his leadership to his son-in-law (Kay's late husband) and that it was taken for granted (by Kay as well) that Kay would stay back and raise the kids while he ran the paper. At a dinner party, the genders separate into rooms where the men talk politics while the women talk over lighter subjects, no one finds it odd that Kay (with her connections and her occupation) wasn't able to join the men. Men subordinate to Kay even talk to her in the manner they would a secretary, not their boss.
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The Post / int_9dab0a6e	type	Continuity Nod
The Post / int_9dab0a6e	comment	Continuity Nod: With All the President's Men; see Sequel Hook, below.
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The Post / int_a036d3df	type	Sarcastic Confession
The Post / int_a036d3df	comment	Sarcastic Confession: As Bagdikian is bringing the papers on the flight back to D.C., the stewardess sees him trying to put a seat belt on one of the boxes he has, and notes it must be precious cargo. Bagdikian responds, "It's just government secrets," which she laughs at.
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The Post / int_a4d8473b	type	Stealth Sequel
The Post / int_a4d8473b	comment	Stealth Prequel: Of a sort, to All the President's Men. Aside from the obvious fact of being based on real-life events at the same newspaper during the Nixon administration and sharing several characters (most notably Ben Bradlee), the Sequel Hook at the end and the setting of all credits in Helveticanote technically Neue Helvetica — not released until 1983 — but close enough solidifies it as this.
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The Post / int_a5e0c01	type	As Himself
The Post / int_a5e0c01	comment	As Himself: President Nixon is seen through the window of the White House, disparaging The Washington Post and The New York Times on his secret Oval Office recordings (Word of God confirms they used the real deal.). He makes a remarkably effective villain, despite being only tangentially related to the Pentagon Papers themselves.
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The Post / int_ab5eea65	type	Dramatic Irony
The Post / int_ab5eea65	comment	Dramatic Irony: At several points during the film, characters opine about their chances of getting another story like this, and at the end, Kay Graham says she might not survive another ordeal of the same magnitude. But as the audience already knows (and is revealed at the very end), Watergate is just around the corner...
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The Post / int_acedb8f5	type	Oscar Bait
The Post / int_acedb8f5	comment	Oscar Bait: The film was hit with multiple accusations of this: Christmas Rushed for awards season consideration, a historical drama featuring some of the biggest names in film and TV in a dialogue-heavy plot with a timely message and fronted by a disadvantaged woman in a field dominated by men. (During the Golden Globes ceremony, one of host Seth Meyers' jokes involved the film being showered with awards, though it failed to earn any that night) While doing fairly well critically and commercial, it ultimately failed to make a splash in the awards circuit and was nominated for only two Oscars and lost both (though it nevertheless managed to snag a coveted Best Picture nomination).
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The Post / int_af696bef	type	Fish out of Water
The Post / int_af696bef	comment	Fish out of Water: At the beginning, Kay is totally out of her depth in the boardroom and stock exchange, and completely freezes up a couple of times. This is clearly due to a lack of experience rather than genuine weakness, however, as she is perfectly confident making speeches at high-society parties and confronting powerful people in their own homes, because she has done that before as wife of a newspaper owner. All this is before she shows what she's really made of when she makes the decision to publish the papers.
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The Post / int_affc0c98	type	Significant Wardrobe Shift
The Post / int_affc0c98	comment	Significant Wardrobe Shift: Kay Graham's wardrobe transforms throughout the film. She starts out wearing blues and grays that make her blend in with the scenery and other characters. But when she begins asserting herself in the dispute over the Pentagon Papers her wardrobe shifts to golds and yellows to make her stand out. By the end, she's wearing boldly patterned clothes to symbolize that she's gained confidence and has fully stepped into her role as publisher of the Washington Post.
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The Post / int_b2e10cc9	type	Growing the Beard
The Post / int_b2e10cc9	comment	Growing the Beard: In-universe and a Real Life example with the paper itself. At the time, The Washington Post was seen as a lesser player on the DC circuit and perhaps a bit too chummy with the government. It wasn't until they took a risk on the Pentagon Papers that they truly became a force for investigative journalism.
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The Post / int_b8960bcd	type	Local Angle
The Post / int_b8960bcd	comment	Local Angle: Running just under the surface is the tension of Bradlee wanting to raise The Washington Post beyond being just a "local paper" (albeit for Washington, D.C.) to the national profile of The New York Times, versus Graham’s desire to protect her company and its IPO. She eventually comes around.
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The Post / int_bbb3a5a0	type	Splash of Color
The Post / int_bbb3a5a0	comment	Splash of Color: In the final third of the film, Kay Graham dresses in golds and yellows to make her stand out from the rest of the cast dressed in grays, blues, and browns.
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The Post / int_bca381d8	type	Off the Record
The Post / int_bca381d8	comment	Off the Record: Brought up through numerous high-society gatherings and the personal connections of Bradlee and Graham (both members of East Coast establishment families) is that they are jeopardizing their relationships with government insiders and their ability to socialize with them as private individuals. They eventually decide that freedom of the press, and the public's right to know, are more important.
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The Post / int_c75df49a	type	Shout-Out
The Post / int_c75df49a	comment	Shout-Out: Two to All the President's Men When Ellsberg goes to copy the documents, the camera lingers on a poster for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid starring Robert Redford. At one point Tom Hanks's Ben Bradlee is seen with his feet placed on his desk in a manner nearly identical to Jason Robards portrayal of the character.
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The Post / int_d44ea142	type	You Are Not Alone
The Post / int_d44ea142	comment	You Are Not Alone: After The Washington Post publishes the Pentagon Papers in defiance of the judicial ban, Ben Bradlee brings a paper sack up to Kay Graham's office, laying out editions of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe, the Tallahassee Democrat, the Detroit Free Press, and The Philadelphia Inquirer, all of which followed her lead to publish the papers.
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The Post / int_e7e558	type	The Oner
The Post / int_e7e558	comment	The Oner: Spielberg utilizes his trademark "Spielberg Oner" at several points in this film, the most intricate being the evening argument at Ben Bradlee's house, following Bradlee through multiple rooms as two different arguments escalate into shouting matches.
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The Post / int_e83f211c	type	O.O.C. Is Serious Business
The Post / int_e83f211c	comment	O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Kay is shocked when Robert McNamara explodes at her that Nixon is a "son of a bitch" who is completely different from his predecessors in how he will react to journalists defying him. It's one of several things that really drive home to her what a huge risk she's taking.
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The Post / int_ee7a60e9	type	One-Steve Limit
The Post / int_ee7a60e9	comment	One-Steve Limit: If it wasn't a true story, there's no way two major characters who play similar roles would both be named Ben. The fact that Ben Bagdikian is mostly referred to by his surname helps avoid confusion.
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The Post / int_f1d6144a	type	War Is Hell
The Post / int_f1d6144a	comment	War Is Hell: It's safe to say that the film is heavily critical of the Vietnam War, noting how the U.S. Government knew it was unwinnable and that soldiers were dying as a result.
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The Post / int_f627b434	type	Platonic Life-Partners
The Post / int_f627b434	comment	Platonic Life-Partners: Ben and Kay.
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The Post / int_f641252f	type	Da Editor
The Post / int_f641252f	comment	Da Editor: Bradlee, particularly in his insistence on getting the story and then running it.
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The Post / int_fe0330fb	type	Brick Joke
The Post / int_fe0330fb	comment	Brick Joke: Ben Bradlee's daughter is selling lemonade at 25 cents a cup only for Ben to declare that the price has gone up to 50 cents. Later, we see the daughter march past with a sign where the original price is crossed out and the new price painted on. Still later, we see the huge stack of cash she made.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

The Post	hasFeature	California Doubling / int_baca53f7
The Post	hasFeature	Docudrama / int_baca53f7
The Post	hasFeature	Films of 2015â€“2019 / int_baca53f7
The Post	hasFeature	The '70s / int_baca53f7
The Post	hasFeature	The Foreign Subtitle / int_baca53f7

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