The Postman story
The film is set in a post-apocalyptic and neo-Western version of the disestablished United States in the then near-future year of 2013, sixteen- plus years after unspecified apocalyptic events, starting with the breakdown of society through “hate crimes and racially motivated attacks (by) a militia- like group” the same as the Ku Klux Klan led by Nathan Holn, progressing to war, followed by plagues, that collectively left a huge impact on human civilization and erased most technology.
21 total · 9 major · 12 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| belonging | major | The members of the newly reconstituted postal service, especially Ford, served with pride and felt good about belonging to a worthwhile endeavor. The scrawny Holnist told the Postman that he "liked being a part of something" (in reference to why he joined the Holnists) before he died. |
| hope | major | Hope in a bright future is an overarching theme of the story. The reestablishment of the postal service gave the otherwise despairing people hope that thing were getting better. Indeed, according to the Postman, President Starkey's saying was "Things are getting better, getting better all the time". To top it all off the film concluded with the Postman and Abby named their newborn baby daughter Hope. |
| leadership | major | The Postman went from being a lowly drifter to being the leader of a movement to rebuild the United States. |
| loyalty to a group | major | The members of the newly reconstituted postal service delivered the mail with pride, even in the face of Holnist attacks, and they were all proud to part of something again. The Holnists were loyal to General Bethlehem to a fault. |
| noble lies in society | major | The Postman inadvertently bootstrapped a nation into being by lying to everyone that he was a representative of the Restored United States (a country that he made up on the spot) and that it was run by the noble President Starkey (a man who didn't exits), and so on. |
| post-apocalyptic dystopia | major | The film is set in a post-apocalyptic version of the disestablished United States in the then near-future year of 2013. |
| rebuilding society after war | major | The film is about a drifter who inadvertent starts a movement to rebuild the United States, which had collapsed into numerous independent and disconnected hamlets, that is centered around the refounding of a national postal service. |
| romantic love | major | The Postman and Abby fell in love and had a baby girl in the end. |
| the need to belong | major | The members of the newly reconstituted postal service, especially Ford, served with pride and felt good about belonging to a worthwhile endeavor. The scrawny Holnist told the Postman that he "liked being a part of something" (in reference to why he joined the Holnists) before he died. |
| blindness | minor | The old lady Irene had to have a letter to her as she was blind. |