If every major director has a singular story, theme, or message they tell and re-tell, what is the story your favorite director tells and re-tells?

After watching Nightmare Alley yesterday my husband and I got into an interesting discussion about the stories that directors tell and re-tell throughout their works. It's my theory that most artists have a single theme/story/message (which can be summarized in one sentence), and I summarized Del Toro's 'story' as "Monsters are human and humans are monsters"

We then got into a lively back and forth about other directors and what story they tell and retell:

James Cameron: "Be careful what machines you build and what you do with them"

Wachowskis: "A mask or illusion both harms and helps you"

Woody Allen: "Can you ever really be your true self around a lover?"

Quentin Tarantino: "Storytelling itself is an art worth preserving"

Spielberg: "The wonder and magic of childhood is the best part of humanity"

Darren Aronofsky: "True art, love, and genius is a kind of transcendent torture"

I would love to hear more ideas and suggestions on what message/theme/story your favorite director tells---especially ones with far-flung catalogs like Ridley Scott (my idea is "To find your inner hero, you must accept that you are truly alone in the world" but that's not quite perfect)

Submitted December 26, 2021 at 11:27PM by Chazzyphant https://ift.tt/3Hgfaue