2 Chapter 2: Theme and Film
Defining Theme
A theme is the idea, premise, or purpose of a movie.[1] A film’s primary theme typically functions as the central idea and may directly or indirectly comment on individual or collective experience. Students of film may consider theme as the underlying message, subject, or main idea that a film explores. Unlike the plot, which consists of specific incidents leading (generally) from a conflict to a resolution, themes offer insights into the film’s emotional or philosophical landscape, and they tend to heighten the viewer’s emotional and intellectual response to cinema.
In other words, the theme is the conceptual heart of the movie. A film is usually regulated by one or more themes. Sometimes, viewers will reflect more on a film’s theme than on its characters, story, plot, cinematography, or genre. A strong film employs such elements, and others, to reinforce the theme. Many people, however, do not immediately understand what a film’s theme is. Through reflection and practice, however, spectators can learn how to identify and evaluate cinematic themes.[2]
We can usually express the main theme of a movie in one sentence. It may seem unusual that the purpose of a multi-million-dollar movie project begins with one sentence, and it may seem unusual that, at the end of the project with the completed movie, it all boils down to one sentence, but it typically does.[3]
Examples of themes can be analyzed by the period or decade in which a movie was made. Themes, and the resulting movies, are often a product and reflection of the social, economic or political climate of that time in history.
The importance of the theme cannot be overemphasized. The whole purpose and perspective of a movie is transformed when the theme changes.[4]
A clear narrative structure and compelling, round characters are crucial elements in our shared cinematic language.[5] Once we understand these principles of how a screenplay works, how it goes about telling a story, we can look more deeply into what, exactly, it is trying to say. We’ll spend more time on that towards the end of this book, but for now, it’s important to distinguish between a plot – what happens in a film – and a theme – what the film is really about.
Star Wars (1977) involves a farm boy saving a princess and defeating a planet-destroying weapon wielded by the evil Empire. That’s the plot. The movie really, however, concerns believing in oneself and the difference one brave person can make in the face of overwhelming evil. That is its theme, the underlying idea that activates the plot, defines the characters, and leads us to a satisfying resolution.
That does not mean every film or series has a “message” like a saccharine Hallmark movie. It does mean, though, that great cinema is organized around an idea, an arguable point, that can focus the action and clarify character. A clear and well-planned narrative theme can serve as a unifying principle, informing every other element of the cinematic experience. Themes impact not just plot and character but mise-en-scène, cinematography, sound design, and editing as well. In Star Wars, the climactic Death Star sequence is a spectacular action set piece, but it also serves the central narrative theme. Luke Skywalker becomes the last pilot, one tiny fighter against a planet-sized weapon. To defeat it, he must draw upon skills he learned back on the farm.
Compare that to the action set piece at the center of G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra (2009). A missile filled with nanomites strikes the Eiffel Tower and destroys it in a blaze of CGI glory. What’s a nanomite? Doesn’t matter. The sequence is not necessarily connected to a clear theme because the film mainly focuses on action, a sequence of events where things happen. One is left with the impression that the only reason the Eiffel Tower scene exists is because someone thought it would look cool on screen. It does. We guess. It doesn’t move us, though. It’s virtually meaningless, a mere plot point, and that’s often why cinematic spectacles can leave us flat. They look cool, but have no unifying theme, no narrative intent aside from the spectacle itself.
When spectacle is tied to a clear theme, one that we can identify with and even argue over, then cinema can become transformative.
Take Pixar’s Toy Story (1995), for example. The plot is fairly simple. A child’s favorite toy is threatened by the arrival of a shiny new toy. The toy’s jealousy leads to them both becoming lost and working together to return home: a simple sequence of events. With the innovation of 3D animation at the time, that might have been all it needed to hold our attention if not capture our imagination. The movie is much more than that, though. It’s really about friendship and the importance of self-sacrifice. Every scene serves that theme, serving either as counterpoint or confirmation. The plot, then, is not simply a random sequence of events; it is a carefully planned dramatization of the theme where every obstacle encountered reveals something important about the hero’s journey. That’s what makes Toy Story a classic, and not just another cartoon.[6]
View the following video to see Corey Tindall’s tips for locating a movie’s theme:
Here’s another clip that discusses David Bordwell and Kristen Thompson’s conception of how to locate thematic meaning in film:
Subplot versus Subtheme
Subplots are storylines that interweave with the protagonist’s storyline, which is also known as the A-story or through-line.[7] Subplots support the main plot, revolve around the supporting characters, and can add to the complications and rising conflict that our hero must overcome. They are often referred to as the B-story, C-story and so forth.[8]
Subplots often reinforce a film’s central theme, but they may also introduce subthemes. Subthemes are ideas that are secondary to a film’s central message and might not even have been recognized by the filmmakers or original audience. For example, the gender roles in Broken Blossoms (1919) or Metropolis (1927) may have conformed to normative standards of the day and thus have been “invisible” to filmgoers at the time. A 21st-century audience, however, might be struck by how limiting such roles are and pursue an analysis that explores the subtheme of gender. In other instances, original audiences may have recognized subthemes but viewed them as less important. In Barbie (2023), for instance, many viewers will easily recognize the (sub)theme of materialism, but most will consider that of secondary importance to the themes of identity and feminism that permeate the movie.
While a primary theme functions as a film’s core idea, secondary themes often operate in a less systematic way and serve to add more nuance and complexity to a movie. For example, it’s nearly impossible to miss that “the circle of life” and responsibility serve as key themes in The Lion King (1994). The film contains several other subthemes, however, including manipulation, social class, and avoidance. This last subtheme forms the basis of one of the film’s most famous sequences:
As viewers of the film will recognize, though, the “no worries” mentality underlying the hakuna matata ideology starkly contradicts the film’s main message, and Simba ultimately discovers that turning his back on his responsibilities and mistakes is a poor way to exist. The subtheme of carefree avoidance, then, serves to complement the primary theme of responsibility.
Thematic Emphasis
When exploring meaning in film, we may focus on a variety of concepts. Sometimes they are all present, but typically a film will have one overriding area of emphasis.
Emphasis on Action/Adventure
When communicating via adventure stories, filmmakers are really focused on what happens in the film. They are trying to take us away from our everyday lives and the monotony that might come with our daily tasks and allow us to escape, even if only for a couple hours, into a story filled with car chases, explosions, adventures, and excitement. The theme of these films is best articulated by summarizing the events that happened, in other words by focusing on the plot.
Emphasis on Feeling
Sometimes, the goal of the filmmaker might be to set a specific mood for the audience that triggers a type of feeling. Think about how horror movies tend to have an overall vibe from the very beginning where the viewer can sense that something is building: there is a tension/fear in the audience almost the entire film. In a similar way, romantic stories often create a connection between characters that viewers can identify with. We think about our own relationships, and we begin to root for love to conquer all in whatever story we’re watching. Another feeling that filmmakers often try to evoke is happiness/laughter. Comedies (that are done well) can pull audiences in and make us laugh until we cry, and that can be the main goal of a filmmaker when creating a story. So, though these are all different kinds of feelings that can be evoked, films that set out to create one or the other of these “vibes” would have a theme that’s best explained by identifying the predominant feeling that the filmmaker created during the film viewing experience.
Emphasis on Character Development
Wednesday Addams. Napoleon Dynamite. Groot. Donnie Darko. Neo. George Bailey. Juno. Chances are you recognize some of these character names. Sometimes filmmakers create stories based on the unique and wonderful qualities of a given character, and what happens to them is the main focus of the film–how they grow, overcome, change, succeed, fail, keep trying, etc. Whatever is going on in the film is happening so that we can get to know the character better. The theme of these films would be explained through a detailed description of who the character is and what they go through during the film.
Emphasis on Storytelling Style
When filmmakers decide to get really creative and try to do things that haven’t been done before, we often get an emphasis on style. With films in this category, the way the story is told is almost more important than what the story is. Viewers come away from films like these thinking about the inventive choices the filmmaker made. Sometimes those choices might even make viewers uncomfortable, but no matter what, they are left feeling blown away by the experience. To identify the theme of these films, the viewer would focus on a description of the storytelling style, with details about choices the filmmaker made in telling the story and how they were different from more mainstream films.
Emphasis on Concept
Often times, a filmmaker will want us to leave the film viewing experience with a better understanding of a concept. In films with this emphasis, an idea or theory is presented throughout the story, and the viewer interprets what the filmmaker could be trying to say. In general terms, one might try to identify the concept in a simple word or phrase, for example: greed, racism, or infidelity. But then, the viewer should challenge themselves to figure out what statement the film is trying to make about that concept. It’s not always stated explicitly, so there may be different interpretations, but digging into the details of the film and trying to defend how a certain statement is being made is the goal for viewers of these types of films, when acknowledging the theme.
To help identify the types of concepts that might be communicated through film, here is list of some categories: moral principles, truths of human nature, social problems, human dignity, complex relationships, coming of age, and philosophical riddles (Petrie and Boggs 23-27).
Overall the concepts are typically ideas that we can apply to the real world. Films with this focus are often trying to get us to understand human behavior more by making us think about what we saw in the film’s storyline long after the film ends. Maybe we view the world differently or search for meaning in our lives because of what we watched happen in these types of films.
MOTIFS
Motifs are any significant elements repeated in a film. Many students confuse a motif with a theme, but they are not the same thing. While a theme serves as a film’s central idea, a motif functions symbolically to augment such key messages. A motif might consist of repeated images, colors, actions, objects, or visual strategies (such as a canted angle or low angle.) In reinforcing the film’s theme, motifs can contribute to a film’s mood, characterization, cinematography, and other elements.
Motifs are narrower than themes, and a film can employ multiple motifs to emphasize different aspects of a single theme. For example, Moonlight (2016) uses identity and belonging as one of its key themes, but it employs a variety of motifs, such as moonlight, food, the color blue, and the ocean breeze to underscore that concept. Motifs will often visually serve to unify a theme, but their overuse can lead to a heavy handedness that distracts viewers. We will discuss special kind of audio motif, called a leitmotif, in a subsequent chapter on sound.
The sled “Rosebud” in Citizen Kane is another example of a motif.[9] It’s a sled, but it also represents the lost childhood of Charles Foster Kane. It is the word he mutters as he dies, is not understood by those around him, and thus forms a major plot device of the film as various people investigate what it means. When Kane was seven, gold was discovered on his Mother’s land in Colorado, and she used this new wealth to send the young boy to private schools back east, and even turned over guardianship of the boy to a trustee at a bank. The secret is revealed at the end of the film, as workers go through acres of Kane’s material possessions, and discard the ones that they think are worthless and ultimately–and ironically–burn Kane’s sled.
A more recent example of a motif is the “totem” in Inception. This short clip from the film even explains the meaning:
The totem scene from Inception
Some other great examples of motifs include the plane to Lisbon in Casablanca and the fields of lavender flowers in The Color Purple (1985). Casablanca is full of motifs, including the letters of transit, Rick’s Café, Sam’s piano, the search light, and even the choices of color for the clothing worn by the main characters. In The Color Purple, purple represents the freedom and joy Celie experiences at the end of that film, but it also had represented the color of the bruises she received from her brutal husband towards the beginning of the film. It thus represents both pain and joy, and that is the dual meaning of the title.[10]
A note about sources
This textbook reuses, revises, and remixes multiple OER texts according to their Creative Commons licensing. We indicate which text we are adapting with a footnote citation before and after each section of text. Additionally, we employ a number of non-OER sources. We indicate these using standard MLA citation. Full source information for both OER and non-OER sources appear in the works cited. Additionally, video clips link to their original source.
- https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/exploring-movie-construction-and-production/chapter/1-what-is-the-theme-why-do-we-need-it/ ↵
- https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/exploring-movie-construction-and-production/chapter/1-what-is-the-theme-why-do-we-need-it/ ↵
- https://alg.manifoldapp.org/read/film-appreciation/section/f978aba4-78fc-4e2f-a45f-bd2ae50833d4#storyplotandnarration ↵
- https://alg.manifoldapp.org/read/film-appreciation/section/f978aba4-78fc-4e2f-a45f-bd2ae50833d4#storyplotandnarration ↵
- https://uark.pressbooks.pub/movingpictures/chapter/narrative/#chapter-157-section-4 ↵
- https://uark.pressbooks.pub/movingpictures/chapter/narrative/#chapter-157-section-4 ↵
- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KGdC_Oj0QA4d2B_SGrbaXUXd1LEnf_lvunW1V_nbkmI/edit#heading=h.s9zzxapv80on ↵
- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KGdC_Oj0QA4d2B_SGrbaXUXd1LEnf_lvunW1V_nbkmI/edit#heading=h.s9zzxapv80on ↵
- https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/introfilm/chapter/narrative-2-structure-form/ ↵
- https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/introfilm/chapter/narrative-2-structure-form/ ↵