Themes and Frames

The major theme of Fair Game is to use one's freedom of speech to act as a "watchdog" of the government or, in other words, keep the government in check. This is also an obligation of journalists and is stated in the SPJ Code of Ethics.

In the movie, Fair Game, the directors and screenwriters used a great deal of creative license to portray the story based on the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's name. 

  

Director Doug Liman and screenwriters Jez and John-Henry Butterworth "cherry-picked" information from the Wilson's lives to create a motion picture that would entertain viewers and still portray some of the real story.

They framed the story in a way that leads viewers to believe that it was the Wilson's up against the entire United States government. 

They also framed Valerie Plame Wilson as the hero of the story which falls under the cultivation theory. The screenwriters and director "cultivated" their audience to believe that Valerie Plame Wilson did nothing wrong during the ordeal.

During the time of the Plame leak, news sources such as The New York Times and The Washington Post framed the story in different ways. The New York Times framed the story in a way that made Valerie Plame Wilson the hero and the government look untrustworthy. Whereas, The Washington Post framed the story in a way that made the government look like the hero and the Wilson's as citizens who were defying the government. For example, The Washington Post wrote that Valerie was just a "glorified secretary", when in reality she was Chief of Operations for a very important team in the CIA.