Themes and frames

Major Themes and Frames in All The President's Men


1. Mystery Factor


"Withouth Deep Throat you don't get the 'Hollywood-ization' of the story." -John Stewart 

We feel that the film framed the story as more of a mystery to get the Hollywood dramatization. In the film Carl Bernstein is portrayed to always have a "gut feeling" about things. While they knew in their gut that something was suspicious, they also had a lot more sources than were mentioned in the movie. The editors at The Washington Post, Ben Bradlee and Harry Rosenfeld, always kept the two reporters in check. Bob Woodward stated "We appreciated the questioning of our editors". The film was true to the sources it did include, but since it is two and a half hours long all of the details aren't presented.You may be left to assume that Woodward and Bernstein are more of the "detectives" then they actually were because the film couldn't show all of their sources. It was their clues from their sources and what they published that lead to further investigation of the scandal.


It is interesting to us that the film ends without any scenes of Nixon and the tapes that were later found. The film is literally about "all of the president's men" and the re-election committee. They use that because it is information and people that nobody knew about. They don't show scenes of Nixon's tapes,empeachment, or his pardon because everyone already knew about that.


2. Portrayal of Women

The film frames women as more emotionally involved and easier to manipulate. This could be an issue of ethics that involves women being a minority and manipulative by men. There are several scenes where the women are hesitant and nervous when questioned by the reporters. You can assume that someone on the "cover up" committee had already gotten to them. We see this nervousness with the White House Library woman, Hugh Sloans wife, Betty Malan (re-election committee member), and Mrs. Hamblin (another committee member).

This next two clips show the faming of the nerves of the women, and how someone has gotten to them before Bernstein and Woodward.

White House Library woman

 Betty Malan a re-election committee member. This is from the second time the men went back to her house. 

There were also several scenes where Carl Bernstein flirts with assistants and committee members to loosen them up, and share information. Bernstein and Woodward also find ways to go back to the women and manipulate them into answering their questions. 

This clip shows Bernstein flirting with Karen Byatt,a White House assistant in the film.

This is a clip of the two reporters talking to a co-worker who dated a guy on the re-election committee. They are asking her to get a list of committee members. Woodward guilt trips her at the end, using that as a tool of manipulation. (Later in the film she retrieves the list for them).

This is an interview between Bernstein and a secretary on the committee. The clip shows how they get the women to relax and spill their secrets. 

The next three clips follow the one above. The reporters come up with a way to manipulate the woman into giving them more information on the lawyers who received the "slush fund". 

3. Distrust of Political Leaders

"I can't believe that that guy was president of the United States; Because he is just branded in our national memory as a crook." - Rachel Maddow, of The Rachel Maddow Show

 The Watergate scandal changed American politics forever. After the truth was revealed Americans tend to be more skeptical and not as trusting with political leaders. We came to a conclusion that the film frames political leaders negatively. When a new source or clue comes up in the movie, Bernstein and Woodward often jump to conclusions that they were involved in the scandal. Hugh Sloan, for example, was interrogated by the two reporters at first and then proven to be innocent and a helpful source to them. Hugh Sloan, in fact, quit the re-election committee because he suspected something suspicious was going on and gave Bernstein the information that Haldeman had a hold of the "hush" fund. While this information was included in the film, the initial reaction was that there might be dirt on him as well. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein had many sources and friends that were a help to them that are not included in the film. Deep throat was framed as a hero, but his identity wasn't known. This makes it seem that there aren't heroes in the public eye.
This frame ties in with the cultivation theory. The information that is displayed through the media is easily retained by our society.
   
4. "Good Guy/ Bad Guy" routine 

In the documentary "All The President's Men Revisited", The actors talk about their use of "good cop/bad cop". 
This theme is used in the film to help portray the relationship between the two reporters, and their method of getting information out of people. Often times, in the film, when they would talk to people Bernstein would be more direct and jump to conclusions, while Woodward was more about making sure people were comfortable while talking to them and the facts were straight. This theme helps promote the mystery framing used by the director by portraying the two reporters as detectives. They eventually use this method to get Hugh Sloan to confirm Haldeman had a hold of the "slush fund". The film stayed true to the reporters personalities. In the documentary, Hugh Sloan states that that was exactly how it was. 

This clip from the documentary interviewing Hugh Sloan tells how the two reporters were really like that.

These two clips are examples of the "good cop/ bad cop" method.