Exploring the theme

- One of the things that movies do to touch us…on a deeper level is to have a theme,…some underlying concept…that it wrestles with in order…to give the film more meaning.…Themes are great, but honestly,…they kind of drive me crazy a little bit.…No one, no writer, no writing teacher,…no author, no one really agrees on a standard…definition of a theme or what that truly means,…but everyone acts like…their definition is the definition.…Some treat theme like the moral of the story…a lesson that needs to be taught to the audience,…like in Aesop's Fables or something.…

Like, don't put work before your family…might be a theme in The Shining.…Others see theme like it's an issue…to be wrestled with,…like a political or moral issue of the day.…For example, the Godfather movies dealt…with the idea of loyalty to family…above all else.…Citizen Kane wrestled with the idea…of obtaining power and what that does…to our innocence.…Some writers feel that the theme…should be out in the open and obvious,…but some feel like that gets too blatant or preachy.…