You have time to talk to kids at a summer camp AND go to the gym. Bravo, Mr. Neustadter. Bravo.

(I know, I know. This forum is supposed to be about theme and all, but I got distracted. Frankly, it's surprising to see such a healthy looking writer. All that alcohol and coffee and bad eating and stress tends to take it's toll.)

Actually, I'm always surprised when people think they can ignore their health and be able to cope with the stress of a busy career. The recent burger discussion on Scriptshadow comes to mind. It amazed me that the topic was which fast food joint was the best. Oh, and love sucks. That's the theme.

Themes, let's see... Autumn is prettier than Summer - oh wait, that's a personal thing I suppose. There's the notion of self-deception, not being able to see an objective reality vs. an idealized romanticism. There's the notion of destiny in the sense of follow your inner desires to find true happiness rather than seek it from an external source - that, once you're following your true destiny, the rest will find you. There's more, but I suddenly feel inspired to go work out.

Touché, BBB.

;) I already work out, religiously... every morning. With Tony Horton screaming at me to press play. Do your best and forget the rest!

I was going to tweet this article, but figured I may as well post it here. Interesting read in light of the topic: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/valley-girl-brain/201205/the-truth-about-movie-love-and-why-i-dont-want-it

Theme. A tricky beast, and one of the areas of screenwriting I struggle to conceptualise and internalise. One of the more interesting ways I've heard the theme of any given screenplay described is that the theme is the opposite of the protagonist's flaw. Where I read that, I really don't know. Could have been on this site, even. So picking a movie at random, in Good Will Hunting, Will's biggest flaw is his inability to let people in and expose weakness. He's afraid of love because of his childhood, foster homes, abuse etc. Ergo, the movie's theme is that you have to let people in and trust them if you want to love and be loved. A little trite, sure, but I don't think that's too wide of the mark (never did participate in the GITS sessions on GWH, before my time). I don't know if it will hold true or not for (500) Days, but it's worth a shot. So what is Tom's flaw? Is it the significance he places on the minutiae of shared interests? His belief in fate and what's meant to be, in the existence of 'the one' (no, not Neo)? Shit, this isn't really working. The problem here is that in his final meeting with Summer, she basically says he was right all along, right to believe in fate and serendipity and all that guff. Is the theme something along the lines of 'there's no such thing as one special person for you, that it's a matter of the right person at the right time'? Damned if I know, but it's about as close I can get. So the system works. Or it doesn't. Clearly I have no fucking clue.

Deciding that someone is your true love doesn't work out that well when the other person doesn't reciprocate?

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