I don’t agree that literary analysis is spinning cotton candy, though. (Though, it’s always possible I’m just trying to justify my college education!) I think analysis is of great value. Not just to pick apart what makes a story great, but to see how one’s own work can be made better — or worse — by invoking elements. Do I think that analysis is necessary to enjoy a story? Not at all. Do I think it can enhance one’s enjoyment? Absoflogginlutely.

Example:

Grosse Pointe Blank.

I love this movie.

I watched it the first two times, and I just loved it. No harm there. I opened myself to it, I let it into my chest cavity, and I cradled it next to my heart. I didn’t really know why it had connected, but it did.

On subsequent viewings, though, I started to poke around in there. And I found a surprisingly layered film, one that has a number of larger and smaller themes at play — Death of the American Dream, You Can’t Go Home Again, the Loss of Innocence. These elements are hit on enough that it becomes clear that they’re not accidental. The creators may have stumbled upon them in early drafts, but then clearly (in my mind) went back and ensured that they were not only a greater part of the script, but also an element of set design and art direction.

I guess my point is, just because you’re writing candy doesn’t mean you can’t reach for Greater Things with your work. That reaching (be it overt or only semi-consciously) remains something that ideally does still elevate a piece. Sure, you can scare up a theme in Michael Bay’s work, but to me that feels more “square peg – circle hole.” I don’t know that I see much evidence of him actively thinking about the layers or subtext. Maybe it’s in there. While I might be dismissing Michael Bay, I am not dismissing “candy” or “genre” fiction in terms of those larger, more meaningful elements. James Cameron has a number of themes at play, and they feel intentional, to boot (though I might be imagining intentionality).

– c.

I’ve seen too much of the process of literary analysis over the years to regard it as anything other than spinning cotton candy theories out of thin air, and identifying theme is one of the subcategories at work there. That’s not to say that theme can’t be used as a deliberate tool for designing a fiction, but overall I see it more as a byproduct both of writing and of analysis.

Above, Filamena talks about justifying her existence because she does “candy writing”. I guarantee you there are themes in that candy, just as there are themes in anything. Show me a Michael Bay film, I’ll identify 6 themes in the first 20 minutes. My English degree has trained me thus. Themes are a perspective on the work, at the end of the day. They might have been intrinsic and intentional, but not always, and regardless, they are not the work itself.

I really don’t think writing needs theme to connect — but I think those works that are more transcendent and do linger in the mind are ones with present, even pervasive themes.

See, I don’t know that “theme” needs to be as haughty or as heavy as people think it to be. It’s simply the sign of another layer, a deeper thing. Candy writing can have themes. McCammon’s newest is very much a rollicking adventure that meets a pre-Revolutionary War serial killer hunt. And yet, the themes throughout are plainly seen, though not so it gets int he way of the text. (Subtext should always remain sub, sub, sub, three themes in a tub.)

But I think you’re right that it’s something that comes out of it after, not before. As noted, I’m finding a persistent theme in my latest outline, though. I didn’t mean for it to be there. It’s just… there. And now that it is, I’m happy I found it.

– c.

First, I’m saying this for the sake of the internet, not you personally Chuck.. I do believe that sometimes you can just tell a story and theme and depth doesn’t mean shit. Sometimes you can write just to excite, or titillate, or make laugh. Theme isn’t the end all be all of good writing. (I may say that because I write what has been called ‘candy writing’ and I’m trying to justify my own existence.)

So theme? If you’re writing your first draft, maybe even your second draft, I tend to think fuck theme in the ear. Theme is a thing that comes out of that second or third read through when you look and say ‘this means something’ like that dude in Close Encounters. That’s where I tend to go back and massage a few things to make sure the theme is a little bit like God is supposed to be. (Present in all things, obvious in nothing.)

But then again, I write candy, so what the fuck do I know? *Grin*

http://www.ditchwalk.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/streamline_30/docs/Theme_and_Its_Dire_Effects.pdf

Though, I don’t know if it’s quite as dramatic as you lay it out, Jeff. I could say, “Right now, I’m interested in this notion that Actions Have Consequences, or this other notion that Technology Is About To Outpace Man.” As such, I figure I could come up with fiction surrounding those themes and notions without it being heavy-handed or speechifying.

Will said something interesting, though, about going back through the work as a reader. In a totally perfect and precious world, we’d have about 6 months to a year between finishing a product and actually editing it. When I’ve had that degree of room, I feel much more confident in my edits, and further feel less attached to the work and can approach it as if someone else wrote it. Of course, it’s hard to guarantee that level of time.

Guy: thanks for the link! Checking it in t-minutes, 3, 2, 1, now.

– c.

The themes that find their way into the work without the writer’s explicit toil to put them there can end up being vital parts of what makes the story work. Where they come from is anyone’s guess — conjured up as if by magic. Magic, I say.

So, yeah, this topic is where Egri and I part ways, since he wants the central thing about a story (or, a play in his case, I guess) to be its premise.

There’s a Gameplaywright post coming on this someday.

Mark Barret also has some great posts on Theme at his blog, Ditchwalk: http://www.ditchwalk.com/tag/theme/