MOTIFS-SUBJECTS-THEMES

1. MOTIFS-SUBJECTS-THEMES A Closer Look

2. J.M Coetzee from Elizabeth Costello • Realism has never been comfortable with ideas. It could not be otherwise: realism is premised on the idea that ideas have no autonomous existence, can exist only in things. So when it needs to debate ideas, realism is driven to invent situations—walks in the countryside, conversations—in which characters give voice to contending ideas and thereby in a certain sense embody them. The notion of embodying turns out to be pivotal.

3. Love • Patience • Revenge • Justice

4. Civility = Savagery =

5. Civility vs. Savagery becomes: vs.

6. Purpose • To express a value • To express a theme • To express a moral • To question why things are the way they are

7. What Questions Lie Ahead? • What is a motif? • What is a theme? • Why are themes important?

8. MOTIF A real concrete element of the text that actually appears written down on the page. • repeated again and again throughout a text and through this repetition it begins to symbolisebigger ideas (see topic)

9. ‘The One’ • suggests Neos uniqueness and almost saviour-like or Christ-like nature

10. BulletTime re-emphasizes the fact that Neo is unique, capable of things that normal mortals are not.

11. THE EYE OF SAURON Implies pure evil and its ever-present, ever vigilant nature

12. The totem: Reality is questionable

13. SUBJECTS • ‘bigger ideas’ • can sum up in one or two words what a text is ‘about’ or what the main issues are. • dontgo into much detail.

14. EXAMPLE SUBJECTS • Role of women • Constructed nature of social roles • Appearance vs. reality • Freedom • Love • Social control

15. THEMES • much more detailed development of exactly what the text says about a topic. • contain a message or set of assumptions about the way the world is.

16. THEME • expresses the writers perspective on some aspect of human life • meant to be true of people outside the story in the real world. • expressed effectively in one or two sentences **tells us what the world is actually like, not what the world should be like.

17. EXAMPLES…OR NOT? • The story was pretty good. • It’s about how poor they are and the terrible things that happen to them. • Poverty • Poverty destroys the life of an individual • Moral: we should do something to help the needy

18. EXAMPLES…OR NOT? • ‘Female Clothing’ • ‘The Role of Women in Society’ • ‘Society constructs different roles for its members, both male and female. These roles are falsely created, but people who do not conform to them are treated as immoral, wrong, and are excluded in some way.’

19. Why are themes important? • Transmit values and ideas about life (sometimes without our being aware of it) • Clever authors can make us accept a set of values without our noticing or challenging it.

20. What is are values? • constitute what the society considers to be of worth • nearly always abstractions. • personal values may differ from the values held generally by the society.

21. VALUES Honesty Marriage Fidelity Ambition Inquiry Obedience Kindness Strength Conformity Aggression Truthfulness Love intelligence Maturity Individualism Chastity Freedom Compassion Frugality Courtesy Sex Security Power/authority Humility Courage/bravery Order Purity Sincerity Glory Popularity Reliability Persistence Wealth

22. COMMON THEMES? Some themes are so common and so strong that we often assume them to be true!

23. DO YOU KNOW THESE? • The pure and good of heart will eventually overcome those who are evil and selfish. • Appearances can be deceptive and the ‘true’ value of a thing is hidden from view (until you look hard enough). • Enduring hardships makes the individual who experiences them a stronger, better and wiser human being. Suffering is good for you! • Success for a woman involves finding someone to love, no matter how successful they may otherwise be (they are in incomplete until they have found that person).

24. DO YOU KNOW THESE? • Fate ensures that two people who were meant to be together do in fact end up together despite initial problems in the relationship. • Nature / natural life is more pure and ‘real’ than the cold, lifeless, artificial life that we have created for ourselves with technology. A ‘good’ person must struggle or fight to rediscover that purity.

25. The pure and good of heart will eventually overcome those who are evil and selfish. • Harry Potter • The Lord of the Rings • The Chronicles of Narnia • Star Wars • The Exorcist • Constantine

26. Appearances can be deceptive and the ‘true’ value of a thing is hidden from view (until you look hard enough). • Shrek • Beauty and the Beast • Cinderella Story • Forrest Gump

27. Fate ensures that two people who were meant to be together do in fact end up together despite initial problems in the relationship. • How to Lose a Guy in 10 days • 10 Things I Hate About You • She’s All That • Serendipity • Grease

28. Enduring hardships makes the individual who experiences them a stronger, better and wiser human being. Suffering is good for you! • The Pianist • A Beautiful Mind • A Love Song for Bobby Long • The 10 Commandments • The Passion of the Christ

29. Success for a woman involves finding someone to love, no matter how successful they may otherwise be (they are in incomplete until they have found that person). • Sleepless in Seattle • You’ve Got Mail • Something’s Gotta Give • Pretty Woman

30. Nature / natural life is more pure and ‘real’ than the cold, lifeless, artificial life that we have created for ourselves with technology. A ‘good’ person must struggle or fight to rediscover that purity. • King Kong • Wall-E • American Beauty • Fight Club • The Matrix • Garden State • Lost in Translation • Pleasantville • Bladerunner