!!Both works
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Brin [[http://www.davidbrin.com/nonfiction/postmanmovie.html reported]] that activists for democracy in UsefulNotes/{{Kazakhstan}} and UsefulNotes/{{Uzbekistan}} enthusiastically welcomed both his original story and Costner's retelling as democratic symbols.

!![[Literature/ThePostman Book]]
* ItWasHisSled: The presence of Holnists and their entire army roaming Oregon is something that doesn't show up until two thirds of the book. But thanks to people being far more familiar with the film adaptation, they expect said EvilArmy to show up from page one. What thankfully still remains outside common knowledge is [[spoiler:the augment deal, George Powhatan and everything related with Cyclops and its Servants]], as they weren't present in the film adaptation.
* MisaimedFandom: There are people who genuinely buy into the Holnist’s ideals, along with their MightMakesRight, LuddWasRight and SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids - or at the very least their CrazySurvivalist RightWingMilitiaFanatic approach, missing entirely the "crazy" and "fanatic" part of it. Despite the book presenting them in the worst possible light, with ''zero'' redeeming qualities and punching holes in their ideology, presenting it as nothing short from insane.

!![[Film/ThePostman Film]]
* AudienceAlienatingPremise: It's hard to explain the movie's premise in a way that makes sense within a standard 30-second television ad; it's somewhat unintuitive to think of postmen as charismatic action heroes, as opposed to being [[{{SnailMail}} the butts of jokes]].
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** When the Holnists throw stones at a man for switching out ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic'' (bizarrely, this is meant to have a point--the Holnists are almost all conscripts and thus are not the psychopaths that you might initially think).
** It also can be viewed as a MythologyGag (the Augments in the novel) or a TakeThat. The film shown: ''Film/UniversalSoldier''.
* CriticalBacklash: Upon release, it was shot dead in the water. Nowadays, it's felt that despite the nearly-three-hour length and slow pacing, it's not as bad as the initial reaction made it out to be. The writer of the original novel liked it a lot, in contrast to most audiences.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Sheriff Briscoe only has about fifteen or twenty minutes of screen time in a three-hour movie. However, he's pretty well-liked for his CharacterDevelopment, bravery, and how he's the first person to see through the Postman's disguise but can't bring himself to discredit a HopeBringer.
* FridgeBrilliance:
** Holnist uniforms. Modern military uniforms are designed to allow better camouflage. Holnists use bright and defined colors, so they are visible from far away and can scare people with their presence and numbers.
** A movie based on mail carriers AfterTheEnd? You mean it's a [[StealthPun Post Apocalyptic]] movie?
* HarsherInHindsight: In-universe, the fact that Utah's Great Salt Lake dried out and became a salt flat is used for dramatic effect to show just how bad the situation has gotten. In RealLife, by the 2020s, without even needing a global nuclear war to cause it, the lake's water level had dropped dramatically due to drought and too many diversions of the streams that feed the lake, and some estimates made in 2023 have it drying up in 4-7 years if no steps are taken to preserve it, and if rainfall and melting snowpack in the nearby mountains are still below normal levels (heavy mountain snowfall in the winters of 2022-23 and 2023-24 helped water levels inch back up a bit).
* HilariousInHindsight:
** The whole movie nowadays plays like something of a mix between ''Film/DancesWithWolves'' and ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''.
*** A courier gets caught up in a conflict between a bandit army and a [[DividedStatesOfAmerica new government rising up from the remains of post-apocalyptic California after World War III.]] ''The Postman'', or ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''? Or, for a new government rising up from the remains of post-apocalyptic America, ''VideoGame/DeathStranding''?
** The film is also basically ''Film/{{Waterworld}}'', except the situation regarding water is the polar opposite between the two. In ''Waterworld'', the world got flooded, while in ''The Postman'', it's stated that all bodies of water dried up, up to Utah's Great Salt Lake becoming the "Great Salt Flats."
* MemeticMutation: "William Shakespeare, the famous American nationalist"[[labelnote:Explanation]]The final RousingSpeech, which is implied to be an open letter the protagonist send to the communities of Oregon, is taken directly from ''Theatre/HenryV'' and besides that, there is a great deal of Shakespeare reused for in-universe political context. The original line comes from an Usenet group calling the movie out for obnoxious, heavy-handed and in the same time sappy PatrioticFervor, managing to misuse even something as classic as [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare's]] plays[[/labelnote]]
* MisBlamed: For all its faults and clearly being Costner's VanityProject (including the oft-ridiculed final scene with the statue), it wasn't his fault the script itself was such a mess and a BroadStrokes adaptation. The original script for the film was written in 1986, a year after the book was published. And it was an InNameOnly adaptation. ''Then'' the script went through so many rewrites, writers and script doctors trying to fix it, it gained notoriety in Hollywood as "unfilmable". So, when Kevin Costner and Brian Helgeland (an esteemed scriptwriter, with films such as ''Film/LAConfidential'', ''Film/ConspiracyTheory'', and ''Film/{{Payback}}'' already behind his belt and many more made after ''The Postman'') decided to make it work, they ''salvaged a far worse script'' and brought it ''closer'' to the book, rather than further away. And myriad legal issues kept them from adapting the novel from scratch.
* {{Narm}}: Along with {{Glurge}}, in quite a few places throughout the movie, but particularly:
** [[spoiler:The statue]] at the end.
** When Ford Lincoln Mercury meets [[spoiler:the soldier from the Republic of California]].
** The Shakespeare contest with General Bethlehem, which ... honestly, is so Narmalicious that even Creator/KevinCostner seems weirded out he's doing it.
** Creator/RogerEbert said the crowning moment of sap was when the Postman rides out to pick a letter from a boy's hands, in choppy slow-motion. Creator/GeneSiskel also referred to the statue at the end as "Dances with Myself". That letter-snapping scene is somewhat a MemeticMutation for fans of anything that is [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]].
*** To make that scene somehow even worse (and more self-indulgent), the little kid is being played by no-one else, but Joe Costner, son of Kevin Costner, as his entire contribution to the film.
** The overemphasized closeup reveal of Tom Petty complete with dramatic music. Especially when your teenage daughter says "Who's that guy supposed to be?"
** During the finale, if you listen to the background sounds in the scene where the Postman parleys with general Bethlehem, you can not only hear a gaggle of geese making a lot of noise, but also ''nearby highway traffic''. Once you notice it, it breaks one of the better scenes in the whole movie into unintentional comedy.
** Kevin Costner ripping the sleeve of his uniform in the climax, while dramatic, upbeat music starts to play. What was intended as a dramatic reveal turns into pure comedy gold, because the costume he's wearing (a heavy-duty jacket ''and'' a turtleneck, woolen sweater) was blatantly unstitched and then put back together to look whole, making it all like something straight from [[ChippendalesDancers Chippendales]], preparing to strip bare.
** The film uses slow-motion in a very liberal way, often just for a second or two. This bears usually counter-productive results and ''deflates'' any sort of drama or tension in given scene, instead leaving everyone with exaggerated face expressions and gestures, then awkwardly returning to normal frame-rate.
** Some narmy elements are lampshaded in-story. The bad acting scene is meant to be humorous and after riding back to snatch the letter from the boy the Postman mutters "What the hell am I doing...?"
* NarmCharm:
** During his first visit to Pine View, Postman is trying to discourage Ford from the whole postal thing (since it's a lie he made up just to get food and shelter here and now), but ultimately swears him in as a new postal carrier. It's the sincerity of the performances that makes the otherwise saccharine scene work.
-->'''Postman:''' The organization's kind of shaky right now, you know. It might not last.
-->'''Ford:''' What does?
** The "I invoke Law Seven! Of the Laws of Eight!" bit. The whole parley sequence is an over-dramatic mess and the resulting duel is just incredibly corny and simply poorly performed... but for all the pathos, Postman finally stands up to something, facing Bethlehem and turning his own rules against him, while parading [[spoiler: his branded arm]] in front of his own troops, all to the swelling military orchestra piece by Music/JamesNewtonHoward? Hell yeah!
* OneSceneWonder:
** The Mayor of Benning makes his one scene an interesting one. Partly because of his idealistic excitement about the Postman's return, partly because of his pragmatic and well-reasoned concerns about picking a fight with the Holnists (given the town's limited arsenal), and partly because he's played by Creator/GeorgeWyner (who is better known for his comedic roles).
** The Holnist projectionist who gets yelled at by a bunch of {{Mook}}s for not letting them watch ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic'' earns a lot of recognition for his one, short scene.
* RomanticPlotTumor: Cutting out the relationship between the Postman and Abby could save about an hour from the whole film, changing almost ''nothing'' for the plot and eliminating lots of weird dialogue. Not to mention it was one of the main targets for complaints, both from critics and viewers.
* SpecialEffectFailure: Some of the green screen effects are surprisingly poor.
* ValuesDissonance: David Brin [[http://www.davidbrin.com/nonfiction/postmanmovie.html thinks]] the movie's failure and subsequent toxic reputation owed much to this, with loud supporters of the militia movement, opponents of the American government, and base cynics being ready to kick it with abandon in 1997.
* ValuesResonance: In 2020, amidst the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, economic downturn, and [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump a right-wing government accused of active racism]] in UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC, ''Series/TheLateShowWithStephenColbert'' recut [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsZs5u0u--w a trailer]] for it, arguing that people could stand to learn from it. (Narration includes "Looks like ''somebody'' owes Kevin Costner an ''apology''.")
* VanityProject: For Creator/KevinCostner.
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