| Title | Creator |
Date |
Era | City | Country | Emotional Sum (Sense of Life or emotional World View) | Theme | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laocoon (Laocoön and His Sons) | Sculptor: Agesander | 1st century BCE to 1st century CE | 500 BCE - 1 CE | Rome | Italy |
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. |
|
| Dangerous Beauty | Director: Marshall Herskovitz | 1998 | United States |
The world is a horrible split of conventional marital morality vs. honest but promiscuous morality. The way to live requires one sacrifice one's body for one's soul. |
|
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| Romeo + Juliet | Director: Baz Luhrmann | 1996 | 1991-2010 | United States |
Tragedy is central to life. |
Romantic Love is doomed and we don't control our own lives. |
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| American President | Director: Rob Reiner | 1995 | 1991-2010 | Washington, D.C. | United States |
Romance is fun, funny and important. |
||
| Rob Roy | Director: Michael Caton-Jones | 1995 | 1991-2010 | United Kingdom |
Life is a struggle. The life you make for yourself can be difficult, but living it with strength and morality is the way to live. Happiness is possible in romance. |
Heroism in everyday life leads to heroism writ large. A man works hard to lead his life and those of his extended clan in an honorable, productive, honest way. This is the everyday heroism. But dishonorable, evil men seek to steal from him and ruin him. This leads to a life of larger-than-life heroism to vanquish his mortal, and stronger enemies. |
||
| Bolero | Dancers: Torvill and Dean | 1994 | 1990-2009 | United States |
Harmony, grace exist. |
Two people as one. |
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| Monster, The | Director: Roberto Benigni | 1994 | 1991-2010 | Italy |
Just laughter and more of the same. |
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| Much Ado About Nothing | Playwright: William Shakespeare | 1993 | 1991-2010 |
Sweetness and light and beauty are what the world is made of. |
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| A Few Good Men | Director: Rob Reiner | 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. |
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| Die Hard | Director: John McTiernan | 1988 July 15 | United States |
The way to beat evil is to give no quarter, no compromise. Life is hard, but fighting for the right is rewarded. |
Giving up in life is not an option. |
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| Dirty Dancing | Director: Emile Ardolino | 1987 |
Life is passionate and meaningful. |
The joy and passion of love and life and dancing, while learning integrity and independence. |
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| Wall Street | Director: Oliver Stone | 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. |
Financiers are amoral money-grubbing backstabbers, i.e., desire for money corrupts |
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| Pirelli Calendar Diver | Photographer: Uwe Ommer | 1984 | Italy |
Women can be strong, dynamic and unconsciously beautiful. |
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| Greystoke | Director: Hugh Hudson | 1984 | 1971-1990 | United Kingdom |
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. |
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| Chariots of Fire | Director: Hugh Hudson | 1981 | 1971-1990 | United Kingdom |
A complete feeling of openness of the world to greatness of your own choosing. |
Life is achievement. |
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| Fame | Director: Alan Parker | 1980 | 1971-1990 | New York | United States |
Life is hard, but you can succeed, and it is worth it and exhilarating. |
Go after your heart's desire. |
|
| Black Stallion | Director: Carroll Ballard | 1979 | Sardinia | Italy |
Everything is possible between boy and beast, between an innocent human and mother nature. |
Man and nature in harmony. At least this is the theme of the first half of the movie. See "Description" and "Context" info below for more on this comment. |
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| 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. |
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| Ferrari Dino 246 GT | Designer: Enzo Ferrari | 1969 | Italy |
The world is a place of speed and elegance. |
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| Trustee from the Toolroom | Author: Nevil Shute | 1960 | United Kingdom |
A feeling of gentleness, kindness and generosity towards good people in the world. |
The importance of pursuing one's personal values. |
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| Camelot | Composer: Lerner and Loewe | 1960 | 1951-2000 | New York | United States |
One must attempt to live by values, even though virtue is powerless and hopeless. |
Camelot: a medieval place of goodness and justice, and its inevitable failure. |
|
| Psyche | Author: Phyllis Brett Young | 1959 | Canada |
Optimistic, Hopeful, even under terrible circumstances. |
We are beings of self-made soul |
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| Atlas Shrugged | Author: Ayn Rand | 1957 | 1951 - 2000 | New York | United States |
Life can be good; Men are competent to live happily; The world can be a shining, happy place to exist, if one is free. But novel also presents a dark, dystopian world to help make real that positive view. |
The crucial value of the human mind. |
|
| Enemy Below, The | Director: Dick Powell | 1957 | 1951-1970 | United States |
War is deadly and destructive for all parties. |
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| East of Eden | Author: John Steinbeck | 1952 | 1951 - 2000 | United States |
Life is filled with great and important choices. |
The battle between good and evil, guilt and innocence. Takes the position that we are influenced by many things, but ultimately we have free will. |
