M. Night Shyamalan's exploration of closure

Artists explore themes. Whether song writers, book writers, painters, sculptors, people dig down into the depths of their being to find whatever is inside, and they put it out into the open as it were to share the process of self-discovery with their audience.

Picasso had a "blue period", and a "black period." Pat Metheny Group did a lot of latin jazz while Pat Metheny Trio did bop...

Independence Day and the dark side

Independence Day was a 1996 summer blockbuster popcorn flick, to be sure. However, there is a very interesting thematic development that goes largely unnoticed with all the action and corny screenplay.

The essential theme is "overcoming the dark side", and explorations have resulted in some significant films including Apocalypse Now, the Star Wars story (they shout it in your face throughout the trilogy), and Falling Down. The protagonist sees in the antagonist his own dark side. The decision to overcome the dark side usually means some form of destruction of the antagonist by the protagonist, whether in symbol or literal death, to confirm the rejection of temptation to give in to the dark side.