Last week, I went to see Oscar nominated film: The Post. The movie stars Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks and it was directed by Steven Spielberg. The friendship between Streep and Hank’s characters is shown strongly on the screen. In real life, both Kay Graham and Ben Bradlee were a dynamic duo in the newspaper industry.
This film brings up the question of free speech and how far our government can go in order to control American news outlets. In The Post, we see a true depiction of what happened in the history of American journalism in the early 1970s. The Washington Post published classified documents involving secrets, which the government had kept from the public eye. These documents held vital information about the government’s 30-year involvement in the Vietnam War. Kay Graham, who took over the position of CEO of her late husband, stuck her neck out when she decided to go ahead and publish the top-secret files. By standing up to government, this led to a breakthrough in American journalism. The Washington Post started a wildfire, which led to every major news platform to go ahead and publish the documents. Imagine if the Washington Post kept the documents hidden. Then the American people would not be as informed as they are now.
It has been said that the way Richard Nixon is portrayed in the film relates to how our current President treats the press. In this age of fake news, why is it valuable to have news sources that we can rely upon? This issue that occurred in the 1970s, would not be an issue today. With social media and the “instant” generation, we can find ourselves receiving information faster than ever before. However, with this influx of coming and going news, fake news starts to become a reality.
Tensions were high within the film when it was time for the Supreme Court to make a decision on whether or not the Washington Post (Kay Graham and Ben Bradlee included) would be held accountable for leaking government secrets. Thankfully, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Post. This was surprising because just a little earlier, the same court ruled with the President and against the New York times for the same reason. The film ends with the start of Watergate scandal and foreshadowing Nixon’s presidential end.
A fellow citizen said, “I felt glad some press stood up to the President’s bullying. It made me consider a paid subscription to The Post.”
Critics say: “The Post seems like it was grown in a lab designed to win awards.”
“She overcomes sexism and self-doubt to make these historic decisions.” – Andy Wilson
https://graphicpolicy.com/2018/01/11/post-movie-review/
The film opens the door to how we now have freedom and protection from the government as well as their support. The Post influences the viewers with a sense of patriotism and gratefulness. For me personally, it invoked a sense of representation as a writer and fellow journalist in training. The Post gives the viewer hope for the future of politics, journalism and the country in a stressful time such as this.
Images:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IYt1NsM6Nys/maxresdefault.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/44/0e/25/440e257089165b302765dc555889fbd2…
http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5a4fa503c32ae689118b4921-2000/m…
https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/landscape_928x523/20…