| Creator | Title | Emotional Sum (Sense of Life or emotional World View) | Theme |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architect: Guarini, Guarino | Real Chiesa di San Lorenzo (Royal Church of St. Lawrence) | The world is perfected. The joy of seeing complexity that is simplicity, i.e., that the rich complex vision arises from simple elements which because of their arrangement provide layers of visual thrills. | Complex, soaring geometric order. |
| Screenwriter: Chopra Vidhu Vinod | 3 Idiots | Life can be fun and productive and exciting. As is true in some other Bollywood features, this story and the ideas behind it about pursuing the good life, has an honesty and clarity and benevolence that is not part of the U.S. movie scene. | Be what you want to be; follow your passion in life |
| Architect: Unknown | Burgos Cathedral Crossing | God is order and reason and light. | The spirit of god is rational, uplifting and rich in detail |
| Architect: Wright, Frank Lloyd | Johnson Wax Building | Day to day life can be exalted and pleasurable. |
To Work should be a condition of grandeur and joy.<br> |
| Playwright: Rostand, Edmond | Cyrano de Bergerac | Life can be exciting. Life can be grand, literally. There is also some great sadness about consummated love, since it is portrayed as unreachable. |
The importance of independence and independent thought. Compromise is deadly to one's soul. |
| Sculptor: Tuby, Jean Baptiste (1630-1700) | Chariot of Apollo | The world has thrilling powerful men of action. There are no limits to what can be achieved. |
Elegant, physical power. The fantasy ability to fly through water and air with grace and ease.<br> |
| Shute, Nevil | Landfall | Heroes and Heroines are self-made, by anyone at any level of intelligence who seriously pursues what is important in their lives. |
Truth will triumph -- with perseverance. |
| Landscape Designer: Steele, Fletcher | Blue Steps of Naumkeag | elegance and grace | The man-made enhances nature -- it is what makes nature beautiful |
| Director: Hallstrom, Lasse | Chocolat | Pleasure is good; religion and conventional thinking is bad. | Follow your dream and disregard convention. |
| Henrik Ibsen | The Lady from the Sea | the glow of happiness that follows from realizing that your life is your own to create, and that only you can do that; and the realization of how much you have to gain or lose from taking that self-responsibility. |
Theme: all of life’s values come from – and can only come from – one’s free choice. Free – of any outside coercion, or any outside attempt to make the choices for you, and free of any self-imposed motives not grounded in your own complete freedom to choose. Without that total freedom to choose, life is empty. |
| Sculptor: Canova, Antonio | Three Graces | The female human form is beautiful, graceful, ideal. | Quiet repose and sisterly love. The piece exudes a quiet elegance and peacefulness amidst the complex three-dimensional composition. The inclusion of "sisterly love" is less certain, except that taking into account the mythological background of the piece. It can be argued that one should not take that into account, so perhaps that should not formally be included in the theme. |
| Blum, Robert Frederick | Moods to Music | Life is colorful and glorious. |
Pure joy of movement and femininity. |
| Draftsman: Boscoli, Andrea | Horse Seen from Behind | Not much except perhaps stylistic -- confident, strong drafting style, and a vibrant, alive, horse. | |
| Director: Ardolino, Emile | Dirty Dancing | Life is passionate and meaningful. | The joy and passion of love and life and dancing, while learning integrity and independence. |
| Designer: Anonymous | Confectionary Basket from Japan, Fukui region | Life can be dynamic and purposeful and intriguing -- because of the dynamic form and economy of materials and diagonal symmetry of the composition. | |
| Director and Screenwriter: Curtis, Richard | Love Actually | Romantic love, family love, filial love, and the love of friendship are of central importance to human existence, and are possible to achieve. | Wonderful experiences of love are found in many forms and places. |
| White, James Terry | Hyacinths to feed thy soul | Hopeful. Even in poverty one can have beauty. | Beauty is a form of sustenance |
| Director: De Felitta, Raymond | Two Family House | Feelings of benevolence and optimism about life. Happiness comes from making choices for your own good. | Going after what you want in life; Don't be stopped by conventional standards of the people around you. It takes courage to be selfish. |
| Dancers: Torvill and Dean | Bolero | Harmony, grace exist. | Two people as one. |
| Painter: Dewing, Thomas Wilmer | Comedia | Life is sumptuous and beautiful and alive. | Feminine vivacity and gaiety |
| Designer: Rouff, Maggy | Helene Arpels Dress | Elegance and richness of detail | |
| Creator: Weiner, Matthew | Mad Men | Men must sell their souls in order to live, and they are chauvinist pigs to boot. And women are sluts. Dark. | |
| Director: Coppola Francis Ford | Godfather | Life demands death; life is a horror of killing and retribution. Life is tragedy and malevolence | Behind beauty and success lies corruption and death. |
| Composer: Verdi, Giuseppe | Attila (live performance) | Life is a mix of strength, heroism, romantic passion. The work is a long complex opera, so it has many other lyrical emotions as part of it, but this covers the basic sense of life. |
Loving a heroic woman leads to death |
| Director: Canet, Guillaume | Tell No One (aka Ne le dis à personne) | Life is sad, and controlled by mysterious corruption. |