Tools of Characterization
Characterization in All the President's Men
Actions
Reporters report. Editors edit. Sneaky informants sneak and inform. It's all pretty straightforward.
Okay, it's a little bit more nuanced than this. We know that Bernstein is a slick operator because he tricks a secretary in one scene and flirts with an assistant to get information in another. We see Woodward's determination through all the time he spends on the phone. And we know Bradlee is a tough operator because he's always yelling. We wonder what the Post's budget for earplugs is.
Location
The major location in the film is the office of the Washington Post. Because our reporters are our good guys, the newspaper offices are white and brightly lit. When Woodward and Bernstein interview people, who rarely want to talk to them, they're usually in apartments or houses, which are a bit darker.
And when Woodward chats with his smoky informant, Deep Throat, he's always in a nearly pitch black parking garage. Why, Deep Throat, what poor lighting you have…all the better to not see you with.
Speech and Dialogue
A reporter must get used to hearing two words, and it isn't "totes amazeballs." No, it's "no comment." As far as speech and dialogue in this movie goes, it's more like what people don't say than what they do. No one wants to talk to Woodward and Bernstein, so they either say nothing, or say the dreaded "no comment." Bernstein makes a deduction from all the lack of comments.
BERNSTEIN: By their very silence, there was a cover-up.
When they do talk, some of the president's men get flustered and frustrated, another sure sign of guilt. Former Attorney General John Mitchell threatens Bernstein.
MITCHELL: You tell your publisher, tell Katie Graham, she's going to get her tit caught in a big wringer if that's published.
Um, not nice. And, ouch.
The most humorous line, though, comes from Ken Clawson, Nixon's director of communication.
CLAWSON: I have a wife and a family and a dog and a cat.
He says that at least four times. And his cat is going to be really mad when it finds out about his part in a national scandal.