What's a theme? You You don't know what a theme is? Your fifth grade teacher ain't taught you nothing. Uh-uh. We going to talk about what a theme is. Yo, Darius Spit here, and today is all about themes. So, if you're a little hazy on the whole what is a theme thing, stay tuned cuz I'm going to confuse the hell out of you. Totally kidding. I wouldn't I wouldn't do that to you guys. I love you guys. So, I guess we should probably start with what is a theme. Maybe definition. Theme: A central idea in a piece of writing or other work of art. You can think of it as the meaning, the life lesson, or the moral of the story. Themes don't have character names and plot details in them. When we're talking about themes, we're talking about a universal concept that is much bigger than the characters or the story that you create. These abstract ideas or observations can be applied to well, everybody. Me, you, this guy. Well, maybe not that guy, but theme is more or less the writer or filmmaker's message to the audience. Any good film or screenplay can have many themes. Some themes are insanely obvious and others are more subtle. For example, you could say that a theme for Finding Nemo is through friendship you can overcome your fears and insecurities. Doesn't have a character, doesn't mention any plot points, and it's a universal concept. Can be applied to me, you or this guy. What theme isn't? Well, a theme is not communicated in one word. It's a it's about love, friendship, friendship, family. These aren't really themes. They're just subjects or topics. However, you can use the subject to help you find a theme. Themes are observations, opinions, or ideas about the subject of a movie. For example, the subject of a movie could be revenge, but the theme could be revenge destroys everything and everyone, including the person seeking it. How do you find a theme? Well, there are a few different ways. Let's talk about that. One, look at your protagonist's journey. How does your main character change throughout the course of the story? What do they learn? If you substitute your main character for say all of mankind, then your protagonist's journey and how they change can be a theme. Poor devil. In Iron Man, Tony Stark begins the film as a naive war propheteer. But over the course of the film, he realizes the destructive impact of his actions and takes full responsibility for them. So based on his character arc, you could say that a theme is we must all take responsibility for our own actions because at the end of the day, nobody else will. And another theme could be no matter how many mistakes you've made, it's never too late to set things right. Two, look at the central conflict of the story. What are the opposing forces? Which one wins? And if so, why? And by forces, I mean the more abstract, generalized definition. Bor devil. In the Terminator, the two opposing forces are man and machine. You could say that the theme is no matter how advanced our creations become, they can never replace the human spirit. You know, Arnold Schwarzenegger was all swoll up with his, you know, metal skeleton and everything, but I mean, we still won. I mean you Arnold Switz I mean I love you bro but you lost machines took an L three. Sometimes a character can just flat out stay the theme of the movie. Doesn't always happen but sometimes it does. Poor devil. In the Incredibles just before Bob tries to fight the Omniot alone at the climax. His wife Helen says this. I'm asking you to wait with the kids. And I'm telling you not a chance. You're my husband. I'm with you. For better or worse. If we work together, you won't have to be. So, if you've seen the movie, you understand that Bob has had trouble embracing this whole marriage/family thing. And his wife Helen is pretty much outright flat saying, "If we work together, we can conquer anything." Thing with family and marital unity, anything is possible. Boom. That was actually kind of good. I I like the way I worded that. I'm going to write that one down. Note, you want to avoid being too vague or obvious with your themes. For example, family is awesome. Love is blind. Love conquers all. Friendship is important. Yeah, I'm just I'm just not digging those. There's more. It's worth mentioning that themes can be horribly subjective. Two different people can read the same script or watch the same movie and walk away with two completely different themes. Sometimes a film can have conflicting themes or sometimes people can see themes in a piece of work or film that the filmmaker outright rejects or didn't intend to be there. Somebody could easily think that the theme for Man of Steel is never trust freaking aliens. Hey, it's subjective. He wouldn't be wrong. The general rule of thumb is if you see it, you own it. We bring our own life experiences into the scripts that we read in the films that we watch. The way that we interpret the meaning of what we see is also informed by our own life experiences. As a result, people will inherently see different messages and meanings. So, whatever themes you see, they're absolutely true for you. Now, of course, all the examples that I used earlier are all based on my own subjective experience. So, which means you got to come up with your own theme, fool. So, how does this affect my writing? You'll find that when you're writing your own work, the same themes keep popping up whether you intend for it or not. You'll naturally sort of gravitate to certain topics or subject matters. It could possibly maybe more than likely probably leaning more towards sure, almost 100% sure. Definitely probably mean that these things are important to you on a subconscious level. I noticed in my own work I always tend towards the exploration of pain. My characters are always dealing with a lot of I don't know what it is about it. I just you know when I start writing I always end up writing about that in some form or another. As a writer try not to force a theme. Often times when you're working on a project and you get but so far into the writing process a theme just sort of rises to the surface that had probably been laying dormant in the back of your mind somewhere. It seems to work best that way. Anyway, some people like to start writing with a a loose theme in mind. Some people don't think about theme at all and as they write, if a theme pops up, great. If not, great. Do you think about theme before you go into the project or do you just kind of let it surface as you're working? Are you are you a big or are you not a big that's not even a word? So, get in the comment box and you know, let me let me know what you think. Well, that's all I got for you. If you enjoyed what you saw, please like, oh, subscribe. You can find me on the social medias, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or the Twitter. Baby, you can also check out my second YouTube channel, Darius Sprit, where I vlog about my adventures on the film festival circuit, my first featuring film, Unsound, Life Casting, vlogs, etc., etc. I do believe that's all I got for you suckers deeper now.