Film Courage: I think you've said that the word theme has been misused extensively when
it comes to film and television but I believe you've also said that beware of the simple
one-liner?
Jeff Kitchen, Dramatist / Author / Founder / Consultant: Yeah it's a theme is something
that is misunderstood by a percentage of people.
One of the things that my playwriting teacher pointed out to me back when I was learning
this stuff and he explained it and then he said this is really important make sure you
absorb this and he said the way in which the protagonist resolves the dilemma expresses
the theme of the story and it's very clear because the resolution is where the whole
story comes together and the completion of the story completes the magic spell on the
audience which crystallizes the mood that they go home in like in a romantic comedy
it's been fun and fresh but also the romance falling apart and things getting troubled
and then finally coming together in the end and usually you feel happy and in love at
the end if it's done right and all of that was skillfully orchestrated by the writer
and the filmmakers and the theme also comes through that that which is being said organically
by the story comes together in the ending and so if you look at the protagonist's act
of resolution of the dilemma and look at the way in which the protagonist resolves the
dilemma that enables you to put your finger on the theme so for instance if you uh let's
say you know you know what if with our story about Derek that say that he finds he creates
a third way out of the dilemma in which he's neither trapped by the demands of his company
nor by the demands of the blackmailer or whatever it ends up being and neither one is a good
way out and by thinking on his feet and maybe working with Skylar he comes up with a creative
way to skate through this horrible trap that he was in and so if you look at not you look
at what he does but you look at the way in which he does it it's about like thinking
creatively and realizing what he really needs in life where he was always denying his own
needs and lying to himself and like that he's finally brutally honest with himself and is
genuinely in love with her even though she has betrayed him but she's also been a victim
and she's changed and he's grown and he's able to synthesize a new life for himself
in the process of figuring out how to get out of the trap that all of that is what the
story is about thematically it's about creating a new life for yourself and finding a way
out of hell and powering out of a skid and you can see that that creative type of resolution
of taking command of his life and powering out of a bad situation is what the story is
about thematically and what's interesting about being able to articulate the theme that's
emerging organically from a story is that you often only start with a sense of it like
in looking at that type of possible resolution for derrick I can see it and sort of talk
around it and describe it in a bunch of different ways like I just did like I just said it about
10 different ways but my my ability to articulate it crisply and cleanly is not there yet because
it you have to live with it for a while and
look at what the audience leaves with they leave with a sense of that theme in their
gut in their soul and if you stop them on the way out and ask them to articulate the
theme they probably couldn't they just have it at a gut level it's in them so it has a
lot to do you want to be able to dwell with a partially formed understanding of something
as a crucial step in synthesizing your understanding people are very uncomfortable with partial
solutions they always want to go no I need to have the whole thing in my in a nutshell
so they don't like partial understanding it kind of freaks people out but as a creative
writer you need to get comfortable with that because so often you're feeling your way through
things where you're beginning to understand it at a gut level but you have no capacity
whatsoever at first for articulating it and maybe you finally just got a handle on your
theme and your writing partner comes in the room and you go like I got it I got it your
writing partner was like so what is it what is it spit it out and you're like I can't
yet I got it leave me alone get out of my face let me just sit here with it because
I got it and people are feeling creatures that long before speech people just felt animals
do that were feeling creatures and so the ability to
look at the res look at the the protagonist's resolution and look at the way in which he
or she resolves the dilemma will put you right on the theme that's actively emerging from
organically in your story and it may be diametrically opposed to what you thought the theme of your
story was going to be starting with a sense of theme can often be troublesome because
you can end up being preachy and trying to dictate that to the viewers or the readers
as opposed to that which organically emerges as the story takes on a life of its own the
characters take on a life of their own and you have to be able to if you're still stuck
saying that the theme is what you set out to have it be you may be the one that's missing
the boat the view if the viewers see that movie they'll get it organically and carried
away in their gut and think about it for a while if it's deep and compelling and it may
affect how they interact with people for the rest of their lives like they never yell at
their kids again for the rest of their life or something like that because something was
awakened in them even if they can't explain it maybe maybe later they'll be able to but
the important thing is that you changed them through a complete the complete action of
a compelling story so being able to have a good strong sense of theme that's really emerging
from your story is critical because you as the writer need to be able to be in touch
with the theme that is coming through the story if you're still stuck on what you thought
it was going to be then you're missing the boat you're missing the chance to work with
the real theme reinforce it utilize it and so your story will tend to be weaker or you're
out of touch with what your story is actually doing you know it's like you raise your kid
and my kid's going to be a doctor my kid's going to be a doctor and you still see that
because you're intent on seeing that but if you look at the reality of what your kid is
doing you'd be like he's a jazz musician holy crap I thought he was a medical school but
no he is genuinely a jazz musician so it's about what you want to see versus what's really
there and theme is huge because you want to be able to connect to the theme that's emerging
from your story reasonably early in the process you could see that with the derrick story
I went right to dilemma and I was all and once I'm working with dilemma a bit I'm looking
ahead to crisis because that gives shape and and focus to the theme the theme is going
to converge at the point of crisis and force it is decision in action when there's like
maybe 10 or 15 minutes left in the movie and then the protagonist actively resolves the
dilemma once and for all that's the ending of the story and then the way in which the
protagonist resolves the dilemma enables you to put your finger on the theme that's actively
emerging through that story and you'll start early in the development process of your story
but you've already got a tentative statement or a tentative handle on your theme you want
to that's why I said beware of the clever one-liner because if experts in creativity
say there's often ten right answers to a question and if you seize on one of those and say that's
the answer then you miss out on all the other layers of complexity so again it comes back
to people's discomfort with a partially formed understanding they it freaks them out to dwell
in that area where they sort of understand it but not really but that's the bread and
butter of a writer where you're gradually morphing through evolving ideas and once you
can feel the theme and live with it and look at all the aspects of your thought story through
the lens of your gradually evolving understanding of the theme it will inform the whole story
because the theme really is what the story is about it's that they call the governing
or a governing idea or the underlying philosophy of the story or that which is being said by
the story and it may be again it may be the opposite of what you set out to say or what
you even want it to say but that's what's really coming across to the audience and that's
price said that the theme well let me read you this quote from him yeah so this is price
writing in 1908 about playwriting so I was talking about plays but it's it's exactly
the same stuff the highest form of play involves the philosophy of life so that if the theme
is not worth considering there is usually little substance in a play with a theme your
play will be about something theme does not stand alone no principle does mere theme will
never make a play but it is a definite something it furnishes a spiritual atmosphere and the
philosophy of the play it gives the clue to the actual shaping of the play the tone depends
upon it it is the largest unit of the play that's a very interesting statement that the
theme is the largest unit of the play that's really interesting for instance the biggest
organ in your body is your skin so it's that kind of thing the theme is not infects the
whole story that's not the right word but it's it's spread throughout the whole story
it determines the shape and the tone of the story and all that stuff so it's the ability
to come to grips with it is important and gradually as you spend time living with it
your ability to articulate it will be enhanced until it kind of crystallizes and then you're
like oh yeah now I can explain it quite clearly like Sydney Pollock could say the way that
becoming a woman made a man out of Michael Dorsey [TOOTSIE Movie] like there's a really
crisp clear statement of what that story is about thematically and it and it helped him
so much and it gave a shape and a tone and helped him communicate with the actors and
all that stuff so it's a very powerful aspect of the story and the basics of it is you don't
want to rush it let yourself dwell with a partially formed understanding of it and it
will gradually gel and then crystallize but not if you rush it.
Question For The Viewers:
How does this video impact the way you look at theme?