Paraphrased, obviously, but okay. Here you go. Need more on the "themes from phrases" concept? Also, to answer a question from the next paragraph, I have a close friend who has a degree in English literature, has several of those books on his shelves, and has taken the classes to which I referred. He points out Shakespearean tropes, themes, and cliches to me constantly. I'm not making this stuff up! Consider the fact that your experience of reality may be limited, please!
I want you to consider one thing... You keep on saying that themes are cliche... that's literally IMPOSSIBLE. I mean, congratulations. You listed works that are based on Shakespeare. You listed educational books that showed how Shakespeare's work influenced generations of art. Does that make Shakespeare's themes cliche? No, because you time and time again think that Shakespeare's themes can get cliche. If they are so cliche, why are people still putting on productions of Shakespeare's plays? Or basing their works off of Shakespeare's themes? Hell, why are we even still caring about Shakespeare?
You made one fatal flaw in your argument. There is no "friend" with an degree in English, nor are there books upon books that proves Shakespeare is cliche. Wanna know why? I'm gonna go ahead and lay it on you (because clearly you don't get it).
A THEME is the over arching message of a piece of work. That means many works of art can have the same theme but got to that overarching idea in many different ways. If you think that themes can only be portrayed by using the same story and plot elements, you are wrong. If you think that just because the theme is the same, does not make it cliche. You cannot have a cliche theme. You can have a cliche story and plot elements, but you can never have a cliche theme.
A CLICHE is an overused expression or saying or element to the point where it's MEANINGLESS. Are Shakespeare's plays now meaningless? Is no one in school or college not teaching Shakespeare anymore because Shakespeare has become cliche and lost it's original meaning? Are you confusing Shakespeare and people who base their works on Shakespeare as
Truisms? Would you not agree that most if not all of Shakespeare's themes are truisms (which is commonly mistaken by "wiser" people like you for being cliche)? So let's take Hamlet's themes: Revenge, Mortality, Madness, Religion, Deceit, Sex, and Family. Each one of those themes is expressed in Hamlet, right? How can those be cliche? Those are all truisms because people know of all of those themes to be true and relevant to real life that it wouldn't even cross their minds that it was false. Yet, Shakespeare wrote his poetry in a way to maximize each of the themes effectiveness in his story.
Wrong again. I'm claiming (in response to your "homework question") that those are examples of dramatic necessity... a term you BOLDED in your post. I'm actually not even sure why I bothered to do it, since you seem to be arguing from a fixed position. As far as I can tell, nothing anyone says could possibly convince you that you're just missing the point. I am going to venture a guess that this is because you REALLY liked SotC, and you identify with it personally. As with religion, it's very difficult (read: nigh impossible) to productively argue with someone who internalizes and identifies very strongly with a particular belief. Shame how often this happens. =/
Omg, you cannot follow your own train of thought. You claim Shakespeare is cliche. I tell you to name a piece of entertainment that has dramatic necessity and that it will NOT be a cliche piece of work. You said Requiem for a Dream. How is Requiem for a Dream a cliche for having dramatic necessity? Just in case you forgot:
You may redeem yourself yet... so taking from what I said, comparing dramatic necessity from Hamlet to SoTC, name 5 other games/movies/TV shows that express those same themes that is comparable to theme I mentioned for Hamlet/SoTC (just in case your too stupid to remember, dramatic necessity is the theme you are looking for). I can gaurantee you that theme is not cliche, and once again... people are too stupid to understand the themes of Hamlet and hence... Shadows of The Colossus. (Yourself included)
Off the top of my head, Irreversible and Requiem for a Dream come to mind.
Does Requiem for a Dream have dramatic necessity or is it cliche?! Which one is it?! You seem to claim that Irreversible and Requiem for a Dream use dramatic necessity... but Shakespeare himself used dramatic necessity in his own works... that you claim as cliche! Unless you meant that Requiem for a Dream only used dramatic necessity to make the plot interesting. That would mean the movie used Mortality as a theme. But wait, Mortality is a theme in Hamlet's Shakespeare. That would mean that Requiem for a Dream's theme of Mortality is also cliche? So not only are you trying to claim themes as cliches... but you contradict yourself?
Actually, name a theme that would be "cliche" in any of Shakespeare's work... I bet you it's actually a Truism.
So no, back into the stupid hole.
