How NOT to Write Themes | EFAP Highlight 

Saying Hi to Wolf is the only thing that brings me joy in life.

How not to write Themes: Thames Thymes Thems

A question needs an answer. In _Chernobyl,_ "What is the cost of lies?" isn't just some pretentious flourish. The story is there to show that lies incur a debt to the truth.

The Last Jedi is kind of a love-hate thing for me. I explain: ruined everything established about star wars by wanting to be "subversive" and "intelligent" and revealed the true mask of the "critics" but thanks for this movie now we have the satisfactory destruction that the efap does, the memes, and most importantly SPECIAL ALIEN COW MILK

"Themes" in the TLJ discourse really showed the side of the RU-vid community that didn't really have the capabilities to mechanically dissect stories and elements of writing. Many people, not just youtubers but audiences as well, just cling to whatever makes them FEEL a certain something and just run with it, ignoring flaws in the writing. Back in the day, people thought that these people knew what they were talking about, but they really don't and I am glad that EFAP did their part to expose this shit.

30:13 "Frienship is magic" is the child version of "You should work together with others and form alliances if you want to achieve great things". This is not a concept that ceases to be relevant when you grow up. It just becomes more complex. "mature topics" is not the same as "murder and corruption". That's the viewpoint of a 12 year old.

So, to be fair, saying “I want to make a movie with this theme” is like saying “I want a house with this shape.” The house will inevitably have a shape, and I guess it’s a good enough reason to build a house, but that idea alone won’t build a sturdy house. Similarly, themes can’t bring the whole movie home. You have to put actual effort into crafting a quality script. What horror, I know.

I was reliably informed by Dan and Dave that themes were for 8th grade book reports

OH LMAO Wolf, this might be a big ask. But can you make a highlight of the Massive amount of time the boys waste when covering a HelloGreedo/Grace Randolph video? Asking coz on that one anniversary, 150 I believe, they just COULD NOT bring themselves to watch that suicide squad Grace Randolph video.

I’ve always followed the “write first, ask questions later” approach Don’t go into a story thinking “ok, I’m going to make the themes this, this, and this.” Rather you should look at what you’ve already written and think “ok, this theme could work well with what I’ve got. I’m going to make some revisions to explore it a bit more”

Start with a blank canvas, then ask yourself "is this the canvas I want?", then ask yourself "what medium should I paint with?", then ask "what colour palette should I stick to?", then ask "what shapes do I want to take up the canvas?", then ask "how do I fill this space as best as I can with what I already have?", then ask "how should I render the rest of the canvas now that I am finished colouring in the main space?", then ask "how should I frame this canvas?", then ask "where is the best place in my house to hang this painting?" This comment is not about painting.

This is the same guy who did the "celestial" and "epic" thing. That could be a good highlight to have

I wonder what Closer Look said about Puss In Boots: The Last Wish if this was his perspective on Aesop’s fables.

There's an interview out there with GRRM in which he said something to the point that he has characters he "likes" and he gives them particular traits and characteristics, and as his story evolves he finds those characters inevitably find themselves in situations where they should absolutely die, and as much as he may not like killing that character, the story to maintain believability requires that they now die because of a situation that occurred naturally through writing that story. I find that perspective interesting in that he may have a "theme" for that character or plotline and even if he wants it to continue he accepts that continuity in the plot takes priority.

I just found out Wolf is back and doing these highlights AND streamed the other day. I just want to say how awesome it is to have you back! I hope life is going well and you're here to stay.

The whole video felt so snake-oil-salesman-y. Instant publishing deal = just add X. Shoehorning beloved films into his model. Overly simplifying the versatility of themes while overstating how they drive the story. There's a story I heard from a speaker in college, a screenwriter who had visited the set for "The Passion of the Christ." When the movie came out, tons of people tried to cram tons of meaning into the moment where Satan appears carrying a deformed baby across the road from Mary. The speaker told us that when she asked Mel Gibson about it, he said, "Because I thought it'd look creepy."

I would love a MauLer review of Law Abiding Citizen.

A respected Japanese director named Masaki Kobayashi had this to say, “If you are clouding your mind by thinking about the film’s theme or its message, the film would be awfully dull. The audience would see nothing but the director’s intention, not his execution of the theme.”

A statement can prompt more responses then a question, there's quite a lot to that but GOD that is brilliant.

I'm reminded of Dr Bashir telling Garak the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf and how it was about not lying only for Garak to counter with "Don't tell the same lie twice."

The Closer Look: Is kicking puppies wrong? Well, of cource it is. If you believe that kicking puppies can be justified than you're a horrible person. Also TCL: Can murder be justified?

I will say, this is one of the most confused videos I've seen on EFAP lately. Even the ones where the creator is spinning bullshit they at least manage to keep their basic ideas straight, but this one cant help but contradict itself nonstop

Remember when Rose uttered that infamous line about saving what we love in TLJ. That's an instance of telling not showing. I'm an author and when I think back on the fact that I used to want to write for Hollywood I laugh. I might not be successful but I can certainly write a helluva lot better then the majority of screenwriters working in the industry today.

Thank you for this channel and your work, Mr Wolf. It's much more digestible. I wanted to check out EFAP but the length was too much for me...and since I am a bundle of sticks that is really saying something.

What I like about TCL: He usually has a rough intuition about what's good and bad. He didn't fail the TLJ, Tlou2, MoM, and GoT tests. But yea, very prideful video. He went so damn abstract on it! Even if you think you're that good at writing, wouldn't you try to be very specific to avoid falling into traps like "Shit, LOTR/Any good movie disproves this point, better change it to something more concrete"

"Themes" are weird for me, cause there are few stories that don't necessarily have them, but still manage to be good/entertaining. Honestly, I like going the route of exploring the story and then figure out the theme I'm going with. Hell, I don't need to make a gigantic theme, maybe just a small advice to the audience, even. PS, sorry for anyone who liked the message. I felt like giving a more reflective of the video message

Sorry, but 'themes' are old hat. All we talk about now is 'media literacy.' These nonsense thought killing terms just boil down to 'shut up, my opinion is right. End of discussion.'

I love the closer look he’s super nice and he’s actually helped me a decent bit with writing in my free time lol

15:36 I'm glad they ruled that out because the lactose-intolerants would have been very upset otherwise

C E L E S T I A L

that last lesson was definitely on theme. don't take a nap if you're in a race.

0:27 what film is mauler talking about here?

Gents, have you ever been corrupted by the taste of cheese?

M U H T H E M E S

Themes! Oops, I mean, THEMES???

Was MauLer talking about Collateral in the beginning?

Muh Themez!

My most hated question on dating apps - "So tell me about yourself." Keep in mind I already did that in my bio. The ones with any amount of originality or critical thinking skills will take one of those dozen or so talking points I've already provided and ask something specific that can actually generate an interesting conversation. I'll often reply with "Well what do you want to know?" 90% of the time they respond with "Whatever you want to tell me." at which point I'll most likely stop replying and probably immediately delete them.

I would love to see a "biden" moment supercut.

Is cheese inherently corrupting?

19:05 good question. That could be another thing to explore. Maybe power doesn't corrupt quickly but in fact does it in steps. That's closer to the idea of corruption. You slowly become twisted and lose sight of your original goal. A responsible person might find it easier to handle quick power where they are given control of an army to win a war, rather than being given increasing amounts of power over decades to lead a country where small mistakes pile up over time.

My 2 cents: Themes arise naturally from coherent story telling... but I am a discovery writer so I imagine it works a little different for people who use more notes.

I will have you know Mr. Platoon that the power of cheese is corruptible as shown in Boxtrolls.

This turns a theme into a message. If you try to write something true, where events follow from causes and character dynamics are believable, themes will naturally emerge.

I prefer my Wolff to be marinated in Mt Dew.

More streams with big doggy

Couldn't make it halfway, I got reminded of Destiny waffling

Hello, my fellow celestial epic massives.

Wolf, can you do a highlight of the rhino milk meme?

34:03 - surely Mauler just referenced My Little Pony and didn't come up with that theme on the spot, right?

31:50 Actually yes, but we should tell that to the writers who are supposedly writing for adults. You should not be screaming moral lessons at a 40 year old audience. It comes accross as obnoxious and condecending, because it is. It shows the writer doesn't see their audience as anything except children. Children's stories will have more overt and simple themes, since they are meant to be understood by 5 year olds. "Does power corrupt" becomes "You should share your things with your friends, because they might not have access to as many things." or "You should not bully."

Request how can she sleep Efap reaction

Damned rodent ran outta gas! Simple as.

Themes, fleems. What’s the difference?

Isn't it easier to start top down for the world and bottom up for the characters? Outline the world, what is it? Is is our world or fantastical? Past, present or future? What is the societal structure? Basic things to create a world that feels real. Enrich this world over time but never cross the outlines or contradict yourself. Then place characters in this world. Write their life. Not with something grand in mind. Write their lifes. If your character meets another one, write theit story to match this meeting and some time beyond that if the character is not just chaff. From their on you build your narrative, try to push your characters into the direction you want them in, through natural progression. Let them live, not just act out a fancy story. Write their lives, not their adventures. Then pick one adventure they went one and flesh it out. Or flesh out everything and write your magnum opus.

EFAP'n on a Friday! Got two b*itches in my MPV. Half a gallon of Georgy Peorgy. I can't help that it's my POV.

The Closer Look became pretty cringe pretty quick.

The most effective way to write a theme is to take a simple idea and approach it from as many angles as possible. Say your theme is bad communication, you could have one character be bad at speaking while another is so great speaking they come across manipulative and untrustworthy. Different approaches, same result, you're reinforcing the theme like the trusses of a bridge.

Sorry Mauler, but having watched more review type channels, jve come to find the accent of people from britain/wales to be quite irritating, irish and scotts are good though

Man, literally no one understands the point of themes, huh. Mauler is just whataboutism-ing Closer Look with hyperspecific examples specifically designed to deconstruct his vague, general advice video. I guarantee you if Closer Look made his video more specific Mauler wouldn't have understood his point either way. Because EFAP is biased against themes. Granted there is so much misinformation and pretentiousness out there when it comes to themes I can't blame Mauler exactly either. But it's not like Mauler understands themes either. Closer Look is giving advice on how to use structural themes to create a basic outline for your story. And Mauler counters with "but what if there was more to your structure??" or "what if it was more complicated?". These are not counterarguments. You're just saying things.

That whole idea of "starting a story with a question"... Every time I see, what I like to call, streamlined advice, I loathe it. It's like I have an alergic reaction to blanket platitudes and new age self-help hippie life hack bullshit like that. "get rich fast, advice for entrepreneurs, the quickest way to do x". Bend over until you go inside your own ass. That's my advice. I feel like a lot of writing and filming advice boils down more so to the process of it's analysis when its completed rather than the nuances, complexities and processess that actually take place in the artistic craft. When creating logical connections between the elements of a finished craft, it is more useful to simplify it in commonalities, rules and digestible simplicity, I've noticed. Not all journalists and not all critics are artists. Any good artist should be a good critic, but not all critics need to be artists. It is possible for these to be isolated skillsets, and writing advice usually consists of the elements born from critique and analysis rather than the more personal process an artist undertakes in their work. That's why it might be harder for an artist to provide easily understood blanket advice, your brain just gets melted by the deliberate acknowledgment of the variables; no matter how systematic your craft might be, enough of it is intuitive enough that it would be difficult to relate into practical advice beyond "something that moves you" or some shit like that. It seems to be easier to see a lot of this elements from a viewer's perspective, since the way an author might engage with their work can be very different. It is really a more of a case-by-case thing, I think. The best piece of advice that I, *personally* , can see being a good standard is: know your style. Get familar with it, develop it, and blend it enough with basic classical rules, like act structures and character archetypes, to make it more operatic and capable of building structure with ease. That is the template that, when faced with (almost) any concept, you can make it work, you can navigate it with ease and you can make it yours,. You apply your template, and then you can start polishing, looking where your style clashes with the concept so you can temper the two; you can start putting limits, like asking yourself "Have I done this before in my portfolio, in my career?", so you can circumvent it and try something new for yourself and the audience (if you want to. If you wanna stick with what you know, like James Gunn always making movies about misfits or Wes Anderson always making movies about pastel dollhouses, or Tetsuya Nomura making games about edgy belts, for example, that's also an option); it can inform a tone, common design choices, obviate structure... And a good concept can sometimes come before the theme. Sometimes the world and the setting appear first, sometimes its a character or a name, like a random string of words (like Eastman and Lard with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), a song, a real life event, a personal bias, and, in my experience, if you let a themeless concept take you for a spin, if you meditate in it's logical unravelling long enough, the concept itself can provide you with a fitting theme. You make sure that you can see yourself easily flowing through the story, you can come up with some good set pieces (that could work as keyframing, like in animation), you make sure it stays cohesive, and that's half the battle done. *Then* you can start thinking about the specifics. 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘯......