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The Big Idea: theme & heartbeat

Where? Star Trek, Crash, The Dark Knight, Interstellar

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storycentral MMXV 52 i 6th Jan 2015

Introduction 14 minutes into MadMen

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Theme in dialogue House of Cards

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Theme sits at the centre of story, from a conceptual, development and experiential perspective. It’s the DNA of the core idea, an active exploration of that idea, a premise to be explored, a question to be raised.

Where plot outlines the events within a story; theme is the meaning behind or revealed by the story.

Theme is stronger when framed as a question or a conflict - as anyone who’s observed the judicial system will tell you, the stronger both sides argue, the more riveting the trial. So to include a simple ‘.vs.’ within your theme instigates opinion and point of view. It’s no secret that Star Wars deals with Light vs. Dark but other conflicts that inform theme have explored love vs. indifference, temptation vs. conscience; playing moral elements against psychological desires.

One reason writers struggle with theme is a confusion of how theme works in story. Some consider theme as ‘preaching a message,’ but this is a clumsy way to approach the subject. Homelessness, teenage pregnancies or desperate housewives are subjects, not themes. Themes dig deeper and posit an argument of action and behavior – not words.

Robert McKee uses the term, ‘controlling Idea’ to describe theme, and suggests that theme is used to tell the emotional lesson of a story. John Truby, one of the premier story consultants in Hollywood, defines theme as, “the writer’s view of the proper way to act in the world.”

Another way to look at it, John says, is to define theme as the story’s Moral Argument.

Introduction

Mad Men

14 minutes into the first episode of Mad Men, the show discreetly announces what it’s about.

Responding to psychiatric theory, secretly gay Sal says incredulously, while flicking through Playboy,

“So we’re supposed to believe that people are living one way while secretly thinking the exact opposite? That’s ridiculous.”

A similar technique was used in Breaking Bad when Walter White announced in Episode 01 that chemistry was ‘the study of change’ – exactly what the entire BB series studied!

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With theme serving as the beating heart of the story it also informs the inspiration for experiential design around it. Nailing theme unlocks a toolbox for experience design amplifying thematic premise on a sensory level. Your story is about the ability to see/vision vs. blindness? How can you create experiences around that which will make your audience feel, adding subliminal and sensory dimensions to their experience of your story which is enhanced dependent on platform?

Average writers lead with plot. More advanced writers lead with the theme. It’s been suggested that the second pilot episode of Star Trek (The Original Series), Where No Man Has Gone Before’ asked the question, “What would happen if a man gained the power of a god?” and that the writer of this story knew where he was going from the moment he sat down to tell the story. There’s no doubt that great stories are told when the writer has a central question for their characters to explore.

Why theme?

Where theme? Take as example, the subject matter of Die Hard. On it’s most basic level it’s about terrorists taking over a skyscraper, but with both John McClane and Al the cop only finding peace by admitting their deepest flaws the theme emerges as ‘can we only become stronger by facing our weakness?’ In ‘The Art of Dramatic Writing’ Lajos Egri postulates the need for every drama to have a ‘well-formulated premise’. He was right but perhaps ignored something more important – themes often emerge. Many writers sit down with a conscious theme in mind but many more don’t. Sometimes theme arises organically for they are the product of the writer’s argument with reality…

In Crash, Detective Graham Waters’ opening lines posit a direct theme – the idea that ‘we crash into each other just to feel something’ which then resonates with all central characters in that fabulous movie.

Check out @BilgeEbiri’s write up on Interstel lar, his thoughts on Christopher Nolan structuring his films around a core theme and then working that idea from all possible angles and that on a basic level Interstellar is about survival. http://ebiri.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/interstellar-loneliest-journey-in-human.html

Ebiri recognizes Nolan’s love for theme, “In The Dark Knight Rises, that idea was hope; in Inception, regret; in The Dark Knight, guilt; in Batman Begins , fear. In some senses, this is just storytelling 101 – find a theme and stick to it. But Nolan’s works are distinguished by the single-mindedness with which he pursues these concepts; the films become cinematic fugues built around a single motif.”

Someone we like…

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In House of Cards Francis Underwood’s opening line hits you straight between the eyes with his philosophy on life, and in so doing reveals the thematic premise of the show - the explosive battle between morality .vs. ambition - as he speaks directly to camera,

“There are two kinds of pain.

The sort of pain that makes you strong.

Or useless pain.

The sort of pain that's only suffering.

I have no patience for useless things.

Moments like this require someone who will act.

To do the unpleasant thing.

The necessary thing... [puts the dog out of its misery]

There, no more pain.”

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House of Cards

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