Script Analysis: ‘Sound of Metal’ — Part 4: Themes

Read the script for this award-winning drama set in the world heavy metal music.

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this bi-weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule:

Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Dialogue
Saturday: Takeaways

Today: Themes.

I have this theory about theme. In two parts. First, a principle: Theme = Meaning. What does the story mean? Second, while there is almost always a Central Theme, there are multiple other Sub-Themes at play in a story. Therefore the question: What does a story mean takes on several layers of meaning?

Time to ponder themes in Sound of Metal. You may download the script here.

Screenplay by Darius Marder & Abraham Marder, story by Darius Marder & Derek Cianfrance.

Plot Summary: A heavy-metal drummer’s life is thrown into freefall when he begins to lose his hearing.

Writing Exercise: Explore the themes in the movie. What is its Central Theme? What are some of the related Sub-Themes?

Major kudos to Laura Bolton for doing this week’s scene-by-scene breakdown.

To download a PDF of the breakdown for Sound of Metal, go here.

Here is a conversation with the movie’s star Riz Ahmed.

For Part 1, to read the Scene-By-Scene Breakdown discussion, go here.

For Part 2, to read the Plot discussion, go here.

For Part 3, to read the Character discussion, go here.

To access over 90 analyses of previous movie scripts we have read and discussed at Go Into The Story, go here.

I hope to see you in the RESPONSE section about this week’s script: Sound of Metal.