@mytechtoday/augment-extensions 0.4.0 → 0.5.0

package/augment-extensions/writing-standards/screenplay/themes/examples/individual-theme-examples.md

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+# Individual Theme Examples
+
+**Purpose**: Specific examples demonstrating how to apply each theme from the rules directory.
+
+---
+
+## Ambition Theme Example
+
+### Logline
+A young chef sacrifices relationships and health to earn a Michelin star, only to discover the achievement feels hollow.
+
+### Thematic Application
+
+**Core Rules Applied**:
+- **Rule 1: Make the Goal Appealing** - Michelin star represents culinary excellence
+- **Rule 3: Force Choice Between Ambition and Values** - Chef chooses restaurant over dying father
+- **Rule 5: Question Whether Achievement Brings Fulfillment** - Star achieved but chef feels empty
+
+**Key Scene**: The Michelin Announcement
+
+```
+INT. RESTAURANT KITCHEN - NIGHT
+
+The Michelin inspector's letter sits on the counter. 
+One star. Everything Alex wanted.
+
+Alex picks up his phone. Seventeen missed calls from 
+his sister. His father's in the hospital.
+
+He looks at the letter. Then at the phone.
+
+Then at the empty kitchen. No one to celebrate with.
+
+He crumples the letter.
+```
+
+**Thematic Payoff**: Ambition achieved, but at the cost of everything that mattered.
+
+**Visual Motifs**:
+- Empty kitchen (isolation from success)
+- Crumpled letter (hollow victory)
+- Missed calls (sacrificed relationships)
+
+---
+
+## Betrayal Theme Example
+
+### Logline
+A soldier discovers his commanding officer sold intelligence to the enemy, forcing him to choose between loyalty and duty.
+
+### Thematic Application
+
+**Core Rules Applied**:
+- **Rule 1: Establish Trust Before Breaking It** - Opening shows deep bond between soldier and CO
+- **Rule 2: Make Betrayal Personal** - Betrayal gets soldier's squad killed
+- **Rule 4: Show the Betrayer's Justification** - CO explains his reasons
+
+**Key Scene**: The Confrontation
+
+```
+INT. COMMAND TENT - NIGHT
+
+Lieutenant Hayes holds the evidence. Colonel Morrison 
+sits calmly.
+
+HAYES
+You sold them our position.
+
+MORRISON
+I saved lives. The war is unwinnable. 
+Every day we fight, more boys die.
+
+HAYES
+You killed my squad!
+
+MORRISON
+I ended a battle that would have 
+killed hundreds. Sometimes betrayal 
+is the moral choice.
+
+Hayes's hand moves to his sidearm.
+
+MORRISON (CONT'D)
+You going to shoot me? Or are you 
+going to think about what I'm saying?
+```
+
+**Thematic Payoff**: Betrayal is never simple; even wrong actions can have understandable motivations.
+
+**Subtext**:
+- Morrison's calm = confidence in his justification
+- Hayes's gun = desire for simple justice
+- Moral complexity = no easy answer
+
+---
+
+## Environment Theme Example
+
+### Logline
+A corporate lawyer defending a polluting company has a change of heart when her daughter develops cancer from contaminated water.
+
+### Thematic Application
+
+**Core Rules Applied**:
+- **Rule 2: Make Environmental Damage Personal** - Daughter's illness directly caused by pollution
+- **Rule 4: Show Systemic Nature** - Not one villain, but entire system
+- **Rule 6: Demonstrate Interconnection** - Company's actions affect entire community
+
+**Key Scene**: The Hospital Room
+
+```
+INT. CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL - DAY
+
+Rachel sits beside her daughter Emma's bed. Emma sleeps, 
+bald from chemo.
+
+Rachel reviews case files. Maps showing contamination 
+zones. Her house is in the red zone.
+
+She pulls out her phone. Scrolls to her boss's number.
+
+Looks at Emma.
+
+Deletes the number.
+
+Opens her laptop. Begins typing her resignation.
+
+Then keeps typing. A new brief. For the plaintiffs.
+```
+
+**Thematic Payoff**: Environmental destruction isn't abstract—it's personal, immediate, and demands action.
+
+**Visual Elements**:
+- Contamination maps (systemic problem)
+- Sick child (personal cost)
+- Deleted number (severing complicity)
+- New brief (active choice to fight)
+
+---
+
+## Fate Theme Example
+
+### Logline
+A woman who believes in destiny discovers her "fated" relationship is actually the result of manipulation, forcing her to choose her own path.
+
+### Thematic Application
+
+**Core Rules Applied**:
+- **Rule 1: Establish Belief in Fate** - Protagonist believes in soulmates, destiny
+- **Rule 3: Create Tension Between Fate and Choice** - Discovers "destiny" was engineered
+- **Rule 5: Question Whether Fate Exists** - Must decide if anything is truly fated
+
+**Key Scene**: The Revelation
+
+```
+INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT
+
+Maya finds the journal. Her boyfriend's handwriting.
+
+"Phase 1: Engineer 'chance' meeting at coffee shop.
+Phase 2: Create shared interests (research her social media).
+Phase 3: Introduce 'fate' language..."
+
+Every "coincidence" was planned. Every "sign" was manufactured.
+
+She hears keys in the door. He's home.
+
+She has a choice. Confront him? Leave? Pretend she 
+doesn't know?
+
+For the first time in her life, she's not waiting for 
+a sign. She's choosing.
+```
+
+**Thematic Payoff**: Fate is what we make it; choice is the only real destiny.
+
+**Thematic Irony**: Believing in fate made her passive; discovering it was fake made her active.
+
+---
+
+## Friendship Theme Example
+
+### Logline
+Two childhood friends drift apart as one becomes successful and the other struggles, testing whether their bond can survive inequality.
+
+### Thematic Application
+
+**Core Rules Applied**:
+- **Rule 1: Establish Deep Bond** - Opening shows years of friendship
+- **Rule 3: Test Friendship Through Conflict** - Success creates resentment
+- **Rule 5: Show Friendship Requiring Effort** - Maintaining bond takes work
+
+**Key Scene**: The Argument
+
+```
+INT. DIVE BAR - NIGHT
+
+Jake (successful) and Chris (struggling) sit in silence.
+
+CHRIS
+You don't get it. You never have to 
+worry about rent. About food. About—
+
+JAKE
+So I'm supposed to apologize for 
+working hard?
+
+CHRIS
+You're supposed to remember where 
+you came from. Who helped you get there.
+
+JAKE
+I offered you a job.
+
+CHRIS
+I don't want your charity.
+
+Jake stands to leave.
+
+CHRIS (CONT'D)
+That's it? Fifteen years of friendship, 
+and you just walk away?
+
+Jake stops.
+
+JAKE
+I'm not walking away. I'm waiting for 
+you to stop pushing me away.
+
+Silence.
+
+CHRIS
+I don't know how to be your friend 
+when our lives are so different.
+
+JAKE
+(sitting back down)
+Then we figure it out. Together.
+```
+
+**Thematic Payoff**: True friendship survives inequality through honest communication and effort.
+
+**Character Dynamics**:
+- Chris's resentment (understandable but destructive)
+- Jake's frustration (wants to help but doesn't know how)
+- Both willing to work (friendship requires mutual effort)
+
+---
+
+## Growth Theme Example
+
+### Logline
+A perfectionist teacher learns to embrace failure after a student's suicide forces her to question her methods.
+
+### Thematic Application
+
+**Core Rules Applied**:
+- **Rule 1: Establish Need for Growth** - Perfectionism is harming students
+- **Rule 2: Make Growth Painful** - Student's death is traumatic catalyst
+- **Rule 4: Show Resistance to Change** - Teacher initially defends her methods
+- **Rule 6: Demonstrate Transformation Through Action** - Changes teaching approach
+
+**Key Scene**: The Memorial
+
+```
+INT. SCHOOL AUDITORIUM - DAY
+
+Ms. Peterson stands at the podium. Students and parents 
+fill the seats. A photo of David, the student who died, 
+on an easel.
+
+MS. PETERSON
+David was... brilliant. Talented. 
+And I failed him.
+
+Murmurs in the crowd.
+
+MS. PETERSON (CONT'D)
+I told him B's weren't good enough. 
+That he needed to be perfect. That 
+anything less was failure.
+
+She looks at David's photo.
+
+MS. PETERSON (CONT'D)
+I was wrong. And I'm sorry.
+
+She steps down from the podium. Walks to David's parents.
+
+MS. PETERSON (CONT'D)
+I'm so sorry.
+
+David's mother embraces her. Both crying.
+```
+
+**Thematic Payoff**: Growth requires acknowledging failure and changing behavior, not just feeling regret.
+
+**Transformation Arc**:
+- Before: Perfectionism is strength
+- Catalyst: Student's suicide
+- Resistance: Defends methods
+- Acceptance: Admits fault publicly
+- Change: New teaching approach (shown in later scenes)
+
+---
+
+## Identity Theme Example
+
+### Logline
+An adopted Korean woman raised by white parents travels to Korea to find her birth mother, discovering identity is more complex than blood.
+
+### Thematic Application
+
+**Core Rules Applied**:
+- **Rule 1: Establish Identity Conflict** - Feels neither Korean nor American
+- **Rule 3: Create External Pressure** - Both cultures have expectations
+- **Rule 5: Show Identity as Constructed** - Realizes she can define herself
+
+**Key Scene**: Meeting Birth Mother
+
+```
+INT. SEOUL APARTMENT - DAY
+
+Ji-Yeon sits across from her birth mother, Mrs. Kim. 
+A translator between them.
+
+MRS. KIM
+(in Korean, translated)
+You look like your father.
+
+JI-YEON
+I don't speak Korean. I don't... 
+I don't know anything about being Korean.
+
+MRS. KIM
+(in Korean, translated)
+You are Korean. It's in your blood.
+
+JI-YEON
+But I don't feel Korean. I grew up 
+in Iowa. I eat casseroles. I don't—
+
+She stops. Realizes.
+
+JI-YEON (CONT'D)
+I came here thinking you'd tell me 
+who I am. But you can't. Because 
+I'm the only one who can decide that.
+
+Mrs. Kim doesn't need translation to understand.
+
+MRS. KIM
+(in English, heavily accented)
+Yes. You decide.
+```
+
+**Thematic Payoff**: Identity isn't given by blood or culture—it's chosen and created.
+
+**Cultural Complexity**:
+- Not Korean enough for Korea
+- Not American enough for America
+- Resolution: Creating her own identity
+
+---
+
+## Isolation Theme Example
+
+### Logline
+A lighthouse keeper who chose solitude to escape trauma discovers a shipwreck survivor, forcing him to confront whether isolation is healing or hiding.
+
+### Thematic Application
+
+**Core Rules Applied**:
+- **Rule 1: Establish Isolation as Choice** - Protagonist chose lighthouse
+- **Rule 3: Show Psychological Effects** - Isolation has changed him
+- **Rule 5: Create Opportunity for Connection** - Survivor offers connection
+- **Rule 7: Make Connection Difficult** - Years of isolation make it hard
+
+**Key Scene**: The Conversation
+
+```
+INT. LIGHTHOUSE - NIGHT
+
+Thomas and the survivor, Anna, sit by the fire. First 
+real conversation in three years for Thomas.
+
+ANNA
+Why here? Why alone?
+
+Long silence. Thomas struggles to speak.
+
+THOMAS
+Out there... people expect things. 
+Want things. Here, it's just... quiet.
+
+ANNA
+Quiet or empty?
+
+Thomas doesn't answer.
+
+ANNA (CONT'D)
+I was alone in the water for two days. 
+Thought I wanted silence. But when it 
+came... it was terrifying.
+
+THOMAS
+You get used to it.
+
+ANNA
+Should you?
+
+Thomas looks at her. First real eye contact.
+
+THOMAS
+I don't know anymore.
+```
+
+**Thematic Payoff**: Isolation can be both refuge and prison; connection is frightening but necessary.
+
+**Behavioral Details**:
+- Thomas struggles to speak (isolation affecting communication)
+- Avoids eye contact (difficulty with connection)
+- Anna's questions (challenging his isolation)
+- Final eye contact (first step toward connection)
+
+---
+
+## Justice Theme Example
+
+### Logline
+A public defender discovers evidence proving her client's innocence but must break attorney-client privilege to use it, forcing her to choose between legal and moral justice.
+
+### Thematic Application
+
+**Core Rules Applied**:
+- **Rule 2: Create Conflict Between Legal and Moral Justice** - Law prevents using evidence
+- **Rule 4: Show Systemic Problems** - System protects procedure over truth
+- **Rule 6: Make Justice Require Sacrifice** - Using evidence ends her career
+
+**Key Scene**: The Decision
+
+```
+INT. COURTHOUSE BATHROOM - DAY
+
+Sarah stares at herself in the mirror. The evidence 
+folder in her hands.
+
+Her phone rings. Her boss.
+
+BOSS (V.O.)
+Use that evidence, you're disbarred. 
+You know that, right?
+
+SARAH
+I know.
+
+BOSS (V.O.)
+Your client will get a new trial 
+eventually. The system works.
+
+SARAH
+He's been in prison for eight years 
+for a crime he didn't commit. How 
+long should he wait for the system 
+to work?
+
+BOSS (V.O.)
+Sarah—
+
+She hangs up. Looks at the folder.
+
+Then at her reflection.
+
+SARAH
+(to herself)
+What's the point of being a lawyer 
+if I can't fight for justice?
+
+She walks out, folder in hand, toward the courtroom.
+```
+
+**Thematic Payoff**: True justice sometimes requires breaking unjust rules, even at personal cost.
+
+**Moral Complexity**:
+- Legal system has reasons for rules
+- But rules can prevent justice
+- No easy answer, only difficult choice
+
+---
+
+## Power Theme Example
+
+### Logline
+A newly elected mayor discovers the previous administration's corruption but must decide whether to expose it and lose political capital or use it for leverage.
+
+### Thematic Application
+
+**Core Rules Applied**:
+- **Rule 1: Show Power's Appeal** - Mayor can accomplish good with power
+- **Rule 3: Create Moral Costs** - Using corruption for leverage is itself corrupt
+- **Rule 4: Explore Power's Isolation** - Power separates from principles
+- **Rule 7: Show Effect on Others** - Decision affects entire city
+
+**Key Scene**: The Choice
+
+```
+INT. MAYOR'S OFFICE - NIGHT
+
+Mayor Chen reviews the files. Decades of corruption. 
+Her chief of staff, Rodriguez, waits.
+
+RODRIGUEZ
+You expose this, the city council 
+turns against you. Your agenda dies.
+
+CHEN
+And if I don't?
+
+RODRIGUEZ
+You use it. Leverage. Get your policies 
+passed. Actually help people.
+
+CHEN
+By becoming what I ran against?
+
+RODRIGUEZ
+By being pragmatic. You can't help 
+anyone without power.
+
+Chen looks at the files. Then at the campaign poster 
+on her wall. "Integrity First."
+
+CHEN
+I didn't run for power. I ran for change.
+
+RODRIGUEZ
+You can't have change without power.
+
+CHEN
+Then I'll find another way.
+
+She picks up the phone. Calls the press.
+
+RODRIGUEZ
+You're making a mistake.
+
+CHEN
+Maybe. But it's the right mistake.
+```
+
+**Thematic Payoff**: Power corrupts when we compromise principles to maintain it; integrity matters more than effectiveness.
+
+**Power Dynamics**:
+- Rodriguez represents pragmatic power
+- Chen represents principled power
+- Tension between effectiveness and integrity
+- Choice defines what kind of leader she'll be
+
+---
+
+**Next Steps**: See theme-integration-across-acts.md for how to develop these themes across full screenplay structure.
+