what is the process to finding the theme of a story or a movie?

Question

i really dont know how to find the theme of something
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Answer 1

A theme is usually how you can describe an important aspect of a story... a given story or movie usually has many themes. They could be as basic as Man vs. Machine, Good vs. Evil... or complicated like "The value of respecting elders"

The hardest part of a theme is naming it, which usually just takes practice, and seeing examples.

So I'll show you some examples! :)

The themes of The Lion King are:
Balance - Mufasa taught the concept of the "circle of life" while Scar took only for himself and his followers, giving nothing back.
The value of learning how to face your past instead of running from it - Timon and Pumbaa live a life of not worrying about or considering the past, but Simba learns that he must face his past in order to set things right.

Both those themes are named in the movie... "Circle of Life" and "Hakunna Matata" Themes aren't usually hidden away too deeply in stories. The only way to get to them is being observant, and practicing.

For many examples, check out
http://pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmTheGiver06.asp
http://barronsbooknotes.com/booknotes/MonkeyNotes/pmHamlet06.asp
http://pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmToKill07.asp

Answer 2

There is definitely a theme of an "us" vs. "them" which can be interpreted as racism because racism occurs when people see a group as inferior because of their differences. Some of the people in the movie saw the inhabitants of Pandora as inferior, because they were not human. I do not think that the movie supports racism in any way, because those racist people end up having a grim fate... Think of it in terms of Pocahontas, the Disney movie. When the English settlers meet the natives, some English men are racist and see the natives to be inferior, but then again, others like John Smith see the natives as more than "the others." He sees their intelligence and their humanity. So yeah, I don't think Avatar is racist, but I think it definitely touches on racist themes and one of its goals is to show viewers that groups should not be targeted just because they are different. Good moral! Well, hope this helps!

Answer 3

An outline.