Title Creator Date Era City Country Emotional Sum (Sense of Life or emotional World View) Theme
Owl and the Sparrow Director: Gauger, Stephane 2007 1991-2010 A child shows sweetness and strength and determination.

Searching for family, for soulmates.
Hyacinths to feed thy soul White, James Terry 1911c 1900s United States Hopeful. Even in poverty one can have beauty.

Beauty is a form of sustenance
Much Ado About Nothing Playwright: Shakespeare, William 1993 1991-2010 United States Sweetness and light and beauty are what the world is made of.
High Noon Director: Zinnemann, Fred 1952 1951-1970 There is palpable evil in the world. There is heroism in the face of evil in the world. The movie is full of fear and foreboding and betrayal.

Civil Society is the ideal, and worth fighting for. Doing what is right is the right way to live. Don't let the evil bastards win. The theme is expressed repeatedly in the movie via the contrast of the Marshall who grimly faces the need to do what he lives for, despite the death facing him, vs. the mealy mouthed town folk, many of which who won't fight for their civil society, and vs. the deputy marshall who portrays the sellout who will give into evil force in order to "get along".
Godfather Director: Coppola Francis Ford 1972 1971-1990 United States Life demands death; life is a horror of killing and retribution. Life is tragedy and malevolence

Behind beauty and success lies corruption and death.
3 Idiots Screenwriter: Chopra Vidhu Vinod 2009 1991-2010 United States 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
A Few Good Men Director: Reiner, Rob 1992 1991-2010 United States Justice should be fought for, needs to be fought for and can be fragile.

Commitment to a moral code is central to a good man's life.
Two Family House Director: De Felitta, Raymond 2000 1991-2010 United States 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.
City Island De Felitta, Raymond 2009 1991-2010 United States Anxiety and pain from all the lies and mistaken motives. Catharsis from the climax, leading to feelings of wanting to be truthful in life!

Lying is not the way to live.
Trees Alexander, John 1899 1900s United States A sense of the world as dynamic and strong.

Nature is wild and dynamic.
Repose Painter: Alexander, John White 1895 1900s New York United States Life is extravagant and lush and sensual.

Feminine Sensuality is a main theme, though one can argue that a related (equal theme or sub-theme) is: The Lushness of the Material World. The dramatic draped womanly figure pressing against a divan, whose figure is clearly oulined, shares the visual dominance of the painting along with the magnificent sweeps of her dress and the giant pillows, the massive backrest, and even the strong elements of the floor material and the golden back wall. All together a remarkable composition.
Her Face to the Wind Painter: Hosner, William 2006 2000s United States One gets the feeling that the young woman is able to stand strong in the world, with panache and beauty all at once.

Facing life in a fresh, strong, vivacious way.
Greystoke Director: Hudson, Hugh 1984 1971-1990 United States Life is Loss -- life is grim and culture is grim and the jungle is grim. All is grim.

The other important feature of the film emotionally is that Tarzan has been crippled by his circumstances of being brought up in the jungle -- he cannot live as a man, so the great tragedy of the story is that he has to return to the jungle, which is below primitive -- it is an isolated hell in which death is at every corner, and at best the companionship of apes. Given that the story partly portrays civilized men as brutes who relish killing animals, perhaps the emotional intent is to make the choice to return to the jungle as positive, but for this reviewer it is unutterably tragic and ugly.

Loss, Loss, Loss. Man as metaphysically alien from human culture.
Laocoon (Laocoön and His Sons) Sculptor: Agesander 1st century BCE to 1st century CE 500 BCE - 1 CE United States Life is a desperate, agonizing struggle.

The heroic but agonizing defeat of Men. This sculpture certainly represents at the same time the heroic nature of men but cast into an impossible situation that can only be tragic.
Cyrano de Bergerac Playwright: Rostand, Edmond 1897 1900s United States 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.
Sub-themes: a) Doubt of one's goodness because of an incidental fact (physical feature) is terribly damaging and tragic. b) Helping someone by faking reality is damaging and can come to no good.
La Gomena (Towing a Boat) Painter: Tito, Ettore 1909 1900s Roma Italy There is great effort in life, and a woman can be the master of it.
This painting is a curious combination of romantic heroism and 19th century genre naturalism. It has a visual dynamism and dramatic content that is strongly romantic, yet the subject is the prosaic task of pulling a boat out of the water.

The will and the power of a woman. Implacable determination.
Real Chiesa di San Lorenzo (Royal Church of St. Lawrence) Architect: Guarini, Guarino 1680 1600s United States 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.
Robie House Architect: Wright, Frank Lloyd 1910 1900 - 1950 United States The world is open and has sweeping, unending possibilities.

The essence of a house as shelter, and providing a sense of strength and privacy. That is, a structure that exudes strength through its massive cantilever and massive brick and stone forms, along with its big overhangs sheltering the windows to create a sense of privacy and enclosure, in its urban situation.
La Grande Nevrose Loysel, Jacques c.1896 1800s The dynamic female body is beautiful and exciting. Although it may not explicitly suggest it, the nude and its tense position could be felt as erotic.

An animated female body is a vessel of perfection.
Riace Bronze A Myron? c.460 BCE 500 BCE - 1 CE Reggio Calabria Italy Man is strong and indomitable

Intelligence, Pride, Strength = Man
Landfall Shute, Nevil 1940 1900 - 1950 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.
Shade, The Rodin, Auguste 1880-1904 1900s Paris France Life is a gruesome trial. There is no hope.

The world destroys man. (Some unknown evil force is destroying this young strong man.) Given that the sculpture is titled as a "Shade" and is related to the Group sculpture "Gates of Hell", one can presume the evil is some unnamed condition that can overpower life and cause destruction of the good.
Anthem Rand, Ayn 1938, revised 1946 1900 - 1950 United States

The book starts out psychologically dark and disorienting because of the protagonist struggling with the radically collectivist world he was born into.  But what shows even in the early pages, and grows to the climax is the triumphant struggle of a rare few who break free of the yoke of total mind control and become free to live a life as a conceptual human and rediscover what it means to be an individual.  Thrilling and emotionally satisfying (unless the reader is a committed determinist.)

Ego and using one's individual mind is the core of being human.
Ebben? Ne andrò lontana (aria from La Wally) Composer: Catalani, Alfredo 1892 1851-1900 United States

Longing is the overall emotional tone of the music. The lyric gives reason to this overall tone.

Sadness at having to leave forever the place where you were happy once.
Wall Street Director: Stone, Oliver 1987 1971-1990 United States

There are bad people in power who use ordinary people as pawns in their endless pursuit of money.  Those who are not ruthless are sheep to be slaughtered by the rich and powerful.  Greed is bad.