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Applied Humanities

Themes in Visual Art Subject vs. Theme 2 Module Two: Introduction to the Humanities, continued / Page 2.1.1 Subject vs. Theme On this page: 0 of 5 attempted (0%) | 0 of 2 correct (0%) Objective: Learn what themes are and how to identify them.

What is this thing called “theme”? Funny you should ask! At its most basic, a theme is an idea or message that is presented by a work. The theme is often a concept that is complex and therefore difficult to understand. Artistic works explore such themes, sometimes offering a perspective, sometimes just raising questions. In literature, themes are found by examining and analyzing elements of a work, such as plot, action, setting, characters, and dialogue. In music, the theme is found in the emotional content that is produced by factors such as key, instrumentation, tempo, timbre, and repetition. In visual art, themes are found in what is presented and how it is presented, the relationship of elements within the work, the relationship of the work to others, and so on.

Theme is usually less obvious than simple subject matter. The famous poem “The Giving Tree,” for example, has more important concerns than arboreal fascination. The theme of the poem could be longstanding friendship, the difficulties of aging, frustration with relationships, or nearly anything else. (Note that a theme is usually a short phrase that encompasses a large idea.) Importantly, a theme is universal because it addresses some aspect of humanity and is therefore relevant to all humans.

Works set during different time periods, or within vastly different cultural circumstances, may actually have extremely similar themes. Many works include more than one theme, and many can be interpreted as having different themes. But to claim that a theme is “in” a work, you’ll want to support your argument with evidence from the work.

Theme is everywhere, not just in fine art. Popular music, magazine stories, theme parks, political campaigns, satirical T-shirts—all use theme to convey a message to their audiences. It can sometimes be difficult to find the root theme in a work, so let’s first explore the theme of a TV commercial. Commercials tend to make their themes apparent clearly and quickly.

Watch the video below and answer the following question, then continue reading.

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YouTube video. https://youtu.be/owGykVbfgUE. Uploaded February 4, 2010, by Old Spice. To activate captions, first click the play button and then click the CC button in the

embedded player. For a text transcript, follow the link below.

Read Text Transcript

Response Board What do you think is the underlying theme of this commercial? Take a moment to think about it, and then post your thoughts in the space below.

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Most viewers would probably conclude that the theme of this ad is masculinity. The spokesman clearly has something to say about manhood: what it takes to be a man and what a man should wear, look like, or even smell like. The commercial implies that if you’re a real man, you will be irresistible to women, be able to produce wondrous things effortlessly, and smell fantastic.

To dig a little deeper, let’s examine a couple of themes in literature. These tend to be less explicit than the theme in a deodorant commercial, however, so you have to use careful analysis to pick up on them. To help you with this, and to demonstrate what we’re talking about, we’ve provided two excerpts below and identified their common

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theme. Later in the course, when you have to make thematic comparisons on your own, you can look back at this example.

The theme that we’ve tried to draw out here is tradition. As you read these two passages, pay special attention to the dialogue, setting, characters, and plot to determine how we’ve selected this theme.

The first excerpt we’ll look at comes from “The Thirteenth Night” by Ichiyo Higuchi. This short story was published in Japan in 1895. The main character, Oseki, is married to an abusive man, Isamu Harada, and they have a son, Taro. She is seeking permission from her parents to divorce her husband, but her family will all suffer disgrace and hardship should she go through with it. Consider how this excerpt confronts the tradition in Japan of putting family ahead of the individual.

“Well, no one can say you’re being unreasonable,” her father sighed. “I’m sure it’s been hard on you. It sounds like a dreadful marriage.” For a long time he studied Oseki’s appearance. Almost without a father’s recognizing it, his daughter had become the perfect matron: the proper hairdo fastened with a gold circlet, the black crepe jacket, it was all very tasteful. How could he watch her throw these things away? How could he let her change into a work coat, with her sleeves tied up and her hair pulled back, the better to take in washing or to tackle the scrubbing? And there was Taro to think of. A moment’s anger could dismantle a hundred years of good fortune, and she would then be the butt of ridicule. Once she went back to being the daughter of Saito Kazue, all the laughter and tears in the world could never reinstate her as the mother of Harada Taro. She might well have no fondness for her husband, but forgetting her child would not be so easy. After they were separated, she would find herself yearning for him more and more. She would come to long for those days when she endured the ordeal for the sake of being with Taro. It was Oseki’s misfortune to have been born so beautiful, and to have married above herself.

The next excerpt we’ll look at comes from Beowulf, a famous epic poem from the Middle Ages about a monster-fighting warrior who becomes a beloved king. After ruling his kingdom in peace for 50 years, the elderly Beowulf is suddenly confronted with a new fire-breathing threat. He recruits a band of warriors to help him take on the dragon, but he is abandoned by all but one of them after the dragon deals him a fatal blow. The remaining warrior, Wiglaf, recoils in shock from this desertion.

Filled with anger toward his false comrades,

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Wiglaf shouted words of reproach: “I remember once at the mead-drinking, while we swilled his beer, how we solemnly vowed to the great chieftain who gave us rings that we would pay him back for these precious gifts, this dazzling war-gear, if danger should ever approach him. Today he picked us out from among his troops, imagining we were loyal friends, and loaded us with gifts because he thought us all thanes he could trust, honor-bound men, though it was always his hope, as king of the country, to accomplish this feat all alone, for all our sakes, since he was aware of the wonderful deeds he had done in the past. Now the day has come when our noble lord needs the support of good companions. We must go forward to help our leader while this heat torments him, this grim firestorm. God knows it would be far better that flames should devour me

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than that I should outlive my lord and master.”

Are you able to see why we chose tradition as the theme underlying these two works, even though they were composed at different times and places, and by different authors?

As you try to uncover a work’s theme, it may be helpful to think about the following questions:

What ideas, symbols, allusions, or concepts are prominent or repeated (even if they are repeated in different ways)? Does the title have any special relationship to the plot or characters? What greater meaning can be found in the details, descriptions, and dialogue? Is the cigar really a cigar?

It’s important to note that themes are not always constructed with intention. The author of the medieval epic Beowulf, for example, probably did not think about how he would create a long poem that reveals the theme of tradition. In all likelihood, he simply had a story in mind and then wrote it down. Themes (like tradition) are often revealed only after the artifact has been created and can be evaluated.

Remember, we the readers are interacting with the text, and our analysis helps us derive value from the experience. Seeking to understand the theme helps us come to grips with what a story is “about” and inevitably invites connection to other works. That connection between two different works along a common theme is at the heart of your project and should suggest to you that the creators of this course at SNHU want, more than anything else, for you to be able to see themes in works of art, connect them, and discuss them well.

Multiple-Choice Question

Which of the following is the BEST definition of theme?

a succinct judgment that determines a work’s value a symbol contained in a work a plot summary of a work a recurring idea that conveys a work’s message

Multiple-Choice Question

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Which of the following questions can be helpful to ask when attempting to identify the theme of a work?

What was the creator’s childhood like? How well does this work accord with the latest scientific findings? How much did it cost to create this work? What symbols and ideas are most prominent in the work?

Response Board Choose a book, short story, television episode, or movie that you recently read or watched, and pick out a theme (or multiple themes) from it.

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Response Board Compare any two works included in the previous module or in the gallery in section 2.4 of this chapter. Answer the following question: What is a common theme of the two works? Provide evidence for your answer with at least one citation from each work.

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