hey everybody today we're going to be talking about a word that means what this text is about no it's not plot plot is not what the story is about plus about what happens in the story and it's not character characters are the people in the story who affect and are affected by the plot i mean i know that we often use the protagonist as the title for the story but believe it or not superman and lois isn't about superman and lois and the mandalorian isn't about the mandalorian and no it's not about baby yoda either also yes i know his name is technically grogu but like come on he's baby yoda and this video isn't even about that particular tangent anyway so let's move on the thing is even after we take those particular terms off the table we still have a lot of words that kind of sort of mean what it's about and to complicate things further they mean that in different ways english is complicated i'm sorry but only a little because that's why i have a job so in a way i'm also kind of glad the overarching term for all of these is the main idea the main idea controls or guides a creative work and so all the other words listed in this video title topic thesis and claim all those sort of fit under that umbrella so the most basic of these terms is topic topic is where a creator starts with to build more complex elements like a thesis theme or claim we'll get to those in a little bit the topic is the base concept or idea a lengthy work like a novel movie or television series can have more than one topic however a well-crafted one will often have a single idea that underpins everything else to create cohesion and consistency not always but often the mandalorian is about duty everything else comes from that denjarin has a duty to care for baby yoda even though that wasn't really something that had been part of his life goals superman and lois is about conflicting responsibilities superman is superman so when somebody's trying to blow up nuclear plants well he's superman but he's not only superman he's also a husband and father and he has responsibilities to his wife and his family and sometimes he has to choose between them and that creates the conflict that drives most of the plot forward so those are the basic ideas for those shows those are the topics however what the show then goes on to say about those topics based on how they're illustrated by the story and the characters actions those are themes a theme of the mandalorian is that fulfilling your duty isn't always easy but it's worth it anyway if you follow the series far enough you also get the theme that fulfilling your duty or following your destiny you can also look at it from that perspective it can change you a theme of superman and lois is that the way we prioritize our responsibilities is what defines who we are as people the key here is that the theme is more than an idea or concept it's a message it's what the creator or creators are saying about that idea you can think of it this way theme is the message this applies to other types of literature too take a look at this poem i am part of a lost generation and i refuse to believe that i can change the world i realize this may be a shock but happiness comes from within is a lie and money will make me happy so in 30 years i will tell my children they are not the most important thing in my life my employer will know that i have my priorities straight because work is more important than family i tell you this once upon a time families stay together but this will not be true in my era this is a quick fix society experts tell me thirty years from now i will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of my divorce i do not concede that i will live in a country of my own making in the future environmental destruction will be the norm no longer can it be said that my peers and i care about this earth it will be evident that my generation is apathetic and lethargic it is foolish to presume that there is hope and all of this will come true unless we choose to reverse it now a poem often explores the topic through examples and imagery not all poems state their theme their message but typically though not always the poet gets to that message at the end so if we look at this poem we might guess that the topic is the lost generation or perhaps a lost generation and as we read through the poem it's got a very negative cynical tone with the examples and details and description and the use of first person makes it clear that the poet is talking about his own generation there's a sense of responsibility or of guilt for all the trauma he's talking about so then we get to the end and that last line is absolutely key particularly the very end unless we choose to reverse it and that's exactly what the poet wants the audience to do in a broader sense of course but also literally listen again there is hope it is foolish to presume that my generation is apathetic and lethargic it will be evident that my peers and i care about this earth no longer can it be said that environmental destruction will be the norm in the future i will live in a country of my own making i do not concede that 30 years from now i will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my divorce experts tell me this is a quick fix society but this will not be true in my era families stayed together once upon a time i tell you this family is more important than work i have pri my priorities straight because my employer will know that they are not the most important thing in my life so in 30 years i will tell my children money will make me happy is a lie and happiness comes from within i realize this may be a shock but i can change the world and i refuse to believe that i am part of a lost generation so read this way the poem becomes much more hopeful but at the same time it still carries that sense of responsibility it's only optimistic if we do something about the problems that we see when we first look around us therefore the topic may be a lost generation but the message about that topic might be phrased as even a lost generation can create positive change a thesis is very much like a theme that's what the author is saying about the topic in fact the terms are so similar that most of the difference is in the context we use theme to refer to the main idea of a literary work like a movie or a poem or a novel while we use thesis to refer to the main idea of a work of nonfiction like an essay or an article or a research study another difference is that it's much more common for a thesis to be made very clear by the creator usually right off in the introduction instead of just at the end many essay assignments require a direct thesis statement which is exactly what it sounds like a clear direct one sentence statement of the main idea the message about the topic it's not quite as prevalent in non-academic work like an article or a newspaper column or a blog post but it still happens a lot finally a claim is specifically the main idea for an argument it's a main idea that is controversial enough that the creator is framing the work a little defensively the creator anticipates the audience isn't just going to accept that message and knows that it needs to be proven not just explored the work doesn't begin from a neutral position the tone of the piece is likely to be forceful maybe even adversarial the creator is actively trying to change the perspective of the audience in the description to this video i've included a link to one of my favorite essays be cool to the pizza dude it's part of this i believe series from npr at the link you can read or listen to the essay and i'd encourage you to reflect on what you think the topic and the main idea are what's the subject of the piece what's the author's message about that subject can you phrase it as a single statement i'll give you a hint she's not just talking about the pizza dude as a writer it's important to consider your purpose why are you writing this what effect do you want it to have and who do you want to affect who is your intended audience the answer to these questions will or at least they should shape the way that you craft your main idea and by extension the way you explore and support that message if you have examples of works that you think do a really good job of supporting their thesis claim or theme i'd love to hear about them in the comments bye for now everybody you