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  1. Dartmouth Libraries
  2. Research Guides
  3. Dartmouth Libraries Guides
  4. Film Studies
  5. Themes

Film Studies

This guide is an introduction to the resources for Film Studies at Dartmouth. If you are interested in Television, see the separate research guide for Television.
  • Introduction
  • Basic information on film
  • Finding a specific film title
  • Streaming film services
    • Readings on streaming video
  • National cinemas This link opens in a new window
  • Course guides for Film & Media Studies
  • Starting your research ...
  • Researching early films
  • Film history through the decades
    • 1960's film history
    • 1970's film history
  • Books about film
  • Film reviews
  • Journals & magazines about film
  • Film theory
    • Feminist film theory
    • Auteur theory
  • Film criticism
    • Feminist film criticism
  • Box office information
  • Film audiences
  • Mass media Industry
  • Primary sources for historical film research
    • Cinema Pressbooks from the Original Studio Collections
    • Congressional Hearings & Communism
    • Film Daily
    • Herrick Library Digital Collections
    • Hollywood and the Production Code
    • Media History Digital Library
    • Moving Picture World
  • Themes
  • Acting
  • Racial & ethnic representation on film
    • African American diaspora
    • Asian American diaspora
    • Hispanic American diaspora
    • Native American & Indigenous peoples diasporas
    • Examples on film
  • LGBTQIA+
    • Examples on film
  • Women on/in/creating Film
    • Examples on film
  • Film genres This link opens in a new window
  • Film & society
  • Screenwriting
  • Film adaptations
    • Shakespeare on film
    • Television to Film adaptations
  • Color in film
  • Film music
  • Film festivals
    • A short list of film festivals
  • Film awards
  • Disney
  • Hitchcock
  • Internet resources
  • Future of Media
  • Back to Film & Media
  • Scholarly communication This link opens in a new window
  • Video Help

Subject Librarian

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Lucinda M. Hall
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Contact:
Evans Map Room, Baker-Berry Library
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-0962
Website Skype Contact: d1128r8@kiewit.dartmouth.edu
Social: LinkedIn Page LibraryThing Page
Subjects: Film and Media Studies, Geography, Polar Studies

Introduction

This page looks at researching "themes" in film. For example, if you wanted to research how "minorities" are portrayed in movies or look at "death", this page will give you tips.

  • For genres, see the Film genres tab.

Definition for "theme"

In film studies, a theme is a central message within a narrative of a film or television show. In general, themes fit into two categories: a work's thematic concept is what the audience "think the work is about" and its thematic statement being "what the work says about the subject of the story." As you can imagine, these vary based on the film, characters, director, and writer. 

[Source: No Film School, 05/27/2022]

In the Library's collections

The online catalog is always a great place to start your research. Do the search for "motion pictures" as a subject in the online catalog. Another subject heading you can use in the catalog is "motion pictures plots, themes, etc." You also see "[topic] in motion pictures." These are your themes. Click on any one of those and you see what we have in our collection.

  • motion pictures plots, themes, etc
  • ... in motion pictures
    If you want to see how a theme is handle in movies, you put the word in front of "in motion pictures." An example is "sex in motion pictures."
  • motion pictures

A Selected list of themes in movies

This is a short, selected list of subject headings in the online catalog that are themes in films:

  • aliens in motion pictures
  • art in motion pictures
  • catholics in motion pictures
  • children in motion pictures
  • city and town life in motion pictures
    Call number range PN 1995.9 .C513 on Baker Level 4.
  • culture in motion pictures
  • death in motion pictures
  • eugenics in motion pictures
  • food in motion pictures
  • homosexuality in motion pictures
    Call number range is PN 1995.9 .H55 on Baker Level 4.
  • human body in motion pictures
  • imperialism in motion pictures
  • intercultural communication in motion pictures
  • lesbianism in motion pictures
    Call number range is PN 1995.9 .L48 on Baker Level 4.
  • love in motion pictures
  • maps in motion pictures
  • masculinity in motion pictures
  • middle ages in motion pictures
  • minorities in motion pictures
    Call number range is PN 1995.9 .M56 on Baker Level 4.
  • national characteristics ... motion pictures
    Insert a country's adjective to make the search more specific.
  • national socialism in motion pictures
  • politics in motion pictures
  • sex in motion pictures
  • surrealism in motion pictures
  • time in motion pictures
  • youth in motion pictures

Keeping up with Film Studies journal literature

Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.

You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.

  • << Previous: Moving Picture World
  • Next: Acting >>
  • Last Updated: May 19, 2025 4:07 PM
  • URL: https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/filmstudies
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Subjects: Film and Media Studies
Tags: Arts, box office, festivals, FILM, film aesthetics, film color, film criticism, film music, film reviews, film studies, future of media, genres, LGBTQIA+, media industry, primary resources, queer cinema, representation in film, screenwriting, streaming film services, themes, women in film

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