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?