Screenwriting : How do you show theme? by Nikki April Lee

Nikki I agree with Bix, is the hidden voice that comes out of the script.

then again, sometimes you just need to keep with writing and see what theme emerges. They sometimes have lives of their own!

Well I figured that theme was something you pre plan just like figuring out who you characters are, location, mood, ect. But I read an blog by a screenwriter that talked about theme and he said that sometimes you won't realize what the theme of your story is until you get further in your story like Bix and Mary said. The point of this post was to find out if anyone else had some issues with theme and how they were able to learn theme.

I suggest you have a trusted--and kind--source or two read it and ask them what themes they see/ It is kind of like dream work...hard to see the meaning for ourselves but so much easier to see it on others sometimes.

Sounds potentially powerful and moving, Bix.

Theme works best when it comes through visual action, rather then dialogue. The character's actions should exemplify the theme that you want to convey.

Everyone is hitting the right notes, use them all if you can. "The best thing that can happen to a writer is for the theme to be nice and clear from the beginning" Paddy Chayefsky

I agree JD. Here's a question..... If you make the theme obvious? Do you think the audience will have a deeper connection and understanding about it? Or will it not matter either way?

That wasn't meant to be a question. Total typo lol

I think you might have asked the critical question that holds the key. I believe the general audience "feels" the theme more than know what it is, that makes them feel a certain way. Off the top of my head,a couple of movies that I feel the theme is fairly invisible are: Titanic, Ground Hog Day, and I Am Legend. two of these actually state the theme in a line of dialog. So it could really be what it's hiding in. the context or situation. Fun, Epic, Horror. Think that might be the trick. Hide the magician, make it a great trick. JD

I saw Lilo and Stitch today. The theme was so obvious. I realized that a lot of Disney's movies have very obvious theme. It's strange to feel what the theme is when we're watching a film or tv show but we can't exactly pin point what it is. How weird. Lol

LOL.....cute

tell an good story and leave theme for the English majors to fight over.

Their is only seven themes that can be used in any story!.. C'mon folks!. We all know that.. We all write.. Think Greek Tragedies.. Think Shakespeare... It's how you use any particular one or two, maybe all seven, in your story... You may not see them as "themes" as you write, but that's what they are.. Seven topics for your characters to feel, experience, to use!.. Anyone of these "themes" can be spun in any direction you choose, into any other.. THERE IS ALWAYS A THEME!...

Hi Bix.. I've always thought.. (This is me, my opinion) If you listen to English majors, or read their work.. Then nothing of any note would ever get written. Their convoluted nonsense on how to dissect a screenplay concerning the topics, the direction of the characters, and how they get there.. Absolute WINDBLOWN semantics!.. Most of them couldn't write a plot line to save themselves.. I repeat myself here Bix.. My opinion.. The seven topics, "themes" are in every story.. Every story ever written has elements of them.. As I stated in my previous post, you can bend and manipulate them to any story.. Here's the list- - - - - Tell me, if any story you can think of, doesn't have one, two, if not all of them woven into the fabric.. LOVE- - HATE- - WAR- - PEACE- - TRUTH- - DECEIT- - But's that's only six!.. Number seven! HUMAN NATURE!... The most plagiarized writer in history, Wm Shakespeare... Used these very seven.. With all their sub-elements included..

Ladies and Gentlemen!.. If I may make an addendum to my previous posts! Now there may be many other writers out there, reading what I just wrote, thinking to themselves.. But those seven themes, don't equal - - - A PLOT!...A STORY.. Well I can only say!.. What hell are your writing then?.. Because every story must have one of them!

Just read your post Bix... Sound like a good story.. You can't really go wrong with a base line on a Phillip K Dick story.. Great imagination, the man had... "Harrison Ford" was a REPLICANT!.. And to add, just as a wee tease, pull your leg a bit.. "Warring States-- (WAR).. "Ancient Hatred"-- (HATE) The OLDE Bard knew what he was about..

I just write, I just start hitting the keyboard and the words just flow, the ideas come to me as if they were already in a movie. I just mentally move into my scenes and as I write I believe that my characters are real, what I mean to say, is that my characters are real to me as I start creating them. The plot is my story what my heart feels and what my imagination sees, as I type I want to believe that I am sitting at the theater so I demand to get my money's worth. I don't want to get up to go to the bathroom or get popcorn. Every script or story is different, my first script didn't have a theme and it still doesn't. My second script the theme was there when I finished it. I am writing two scripts now and I already have the themes clear and down packed, LOL, and I have a script that I am going to write for T.V. that has focused on different themes. I am not an intellectual scholar, I am just a writer, a creator, I am in charge of my imagination. Themes are important so organized as I am, I let the Muse that works for me in charge of that one.

Tom the theme will come out of developing a good story.

Hi Tabitha.. The theme doesn't come when you've finished the story.. The story and the events in it, all push towards the climax.. Good or bad.. That's what pushes it forward.. The theme.. All stories, whether short or massive, ever written have it..That's what drives them forward.. What does your characters want?.. How do they achieve their goals, or failures?.. How does the story an characters get to their conculsion.. Theme..

I realised what she may have been saying as I hit the submit button Jaq.. I was waiting for her to answer, so I could correct myself, and explain what I meant.. Like I said in my first post, everyone writes their characters with certain topics and situations in mind... Is it a love story?.. Crime? Action,? Drama? Comedy?.. All different genres- - - With their own themes, the story doesn't find one.. You have to give it one...

Nikki, Themes are not to be layered on top of your story, but rather should emerge from the fulfillment of your story's Premise. You can begin by asking yourself, "What is my story about?" Can you sum it up in a sentence or two? Can you refine it even further to a Single Word? Yes, your story most likely has several elements to it, BUT what is the single element from which most of the dramatic action derives? Most stories are ultimately about how they end. So, what is the ultimate meaning of your story and what drove that story to its inevitable conclusion? Hope this will provide you some direction. Best, JB

You can show theme with simple images. It really depends on what you mean by show theme, can you explain a little more of what you are trying to convey?

There are just a few themes in storytelling, man vs nature, love conquers all, etc. Lawrence of Arabia established it's theme by showing Lawrence already not fitting into his military role, a precursor to him inventing new ways to battle the enemy. "Sideways" used wine thematically to demonstrate people developing toward maturity. Something as simple as showing the sculpture of "the wrestlers" can establish a man vs man theme.

Theme is the overall lesson you demonstrate and the most straight forward way to incorporate theme into a script is to have someone say the theme to the protagonist at the very beginning of the story. For example; a movie is about fighting a villain who eventually destroys himself chasing after other people's gold so at the beginning, someone mentions to the hero; "What good is it to possess the entire world if you lose your soul?" Then the protagonist goes forward in honor, contrasted by the villain's destructive acts which eventually destroy him and the audience recognizes and absorbs the theme along the way.

What Mark said. think of Spock's now-famous line from Star Trek: Wrath of Khan: "The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, or the one" that line has been used over and over again to demonstrate both nobility and sacrifice on the one hand and prejudice and greed on the other.

You can't show a theme in itself. A theme is perceived, felt, not literal. The themes of any script come from the dialogue (what's being said and what's not being said) and most importantly the action.

In a recent release - MUD (with Matthew McConaughey) - Two teenage boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the bounty hunters on his trail and to reunite him with his true love. - REGARDING the boss of the bounty hunters (Joe Don Baker), his first son was murdered by the fugitive, The boss overreacts and creates a personal vendetta by sending his 2nd son and a vicious gang to murder the fugitive in cold blood. HERE, I'll state this sub-theme as , HE WHO SEEKS REVENGE ON OTHERS SHOULD DIG TWO GRAVES. His 2nd son is killed because he takes the law into his own hands. The boss gets the phone call about his son's death and is crushed by news. This is a complex story that uses multiple themes to move the story arc. This story builds on sub themes to create a main theme of: A BOY MUST BECOME AN HONEST MAN TO ENTER AND BECOME ACCEPTED IN A JUST SOCIETY... that he (MUD) escaped into exile again at the end reinforces this main theme.

Hate to say it, but most of you here have no idea what thematic premise actually is and the fact that you are attempting to explain it is clouding the subject further. Here is a test question: What is the thematic premise of the Matrix? And here we go...

the Matrix theme - The most carefully prepared plans may go wrong. Hey Marv... thematic premise... IMHO, I don't think these attributes can be coupled, but can be considered separately. RUNAWAY TRAIN - THEME -The most carefully prepared plans may go wrong. However, various aspects of the theme can be divide into different premises which support the main theme. Just jabbering... and yes, this does contradict my first statement... now back to work!!!

Hi Nikki, you have to identify your theme from the beginning. Theme is the spine that holds your screenplay together - a blueprint if you like and it's what you keep referring to when you write - ensure all your scenes encapsulate the theme. For example: one of my scripts is about temptation and how that would affect the main and secondary characters. How does temptation impact them and what do they do to overcome it. Is one character's temptation the same as the others or do they get seduced by different things? It's real life but the setting can be anywhere because it's universal and transcends time and place. The central question for the hero is - will he triumph over his enemy (temptation) or will it end in his demise? Whatever your theme is - make it the foundation of your story. Hope this helps.

Nikki, Another two cents. Bruce Joel Rubin never discovered the theme of Ghost until after it was in pre-production. And until the movie came out, for the most part, thought of it as simply a ghost story. He later learned the story had much more inside of it for the audience. So, sometimes even the writer herself may not discover the story's theme or themes until it's been written and walked away from. And sometimes, the unplanned story turns out to be the strongest. JB

The 3rd item here might be of help: http://tinyurl.com/atssg79 There's a cool free video. We have some other info from Seymour, LA Writers Lab, etc. at http://www.PerformerPages.com