By JAMES SAM

Creativity is undeniably fundamental to the human experience. Finding form in paintings, music, theater, film—these outlets are the expressions of our thoughts, emotions, troubles, triumphs.

Social media has given individuals the platform to share every aspect of their lives to anyone willing to listen. Experiences are captured pixel by pixel, word for word, and frame by frame and then fall into the appropriate categories where millions of others find common ground.

ONLINE SHARING The categorization of experiences within social media allows people to easily find common ground

But human history dates far beyond the introduction of social media. Tokens of the human experience used to primarily be found within the arts. “Moreton Bay,” an Australian folk ballad from the 1830s depicts a convict’s hardship at a penal colony in Queensland. The ballad talks about the experience of flogging causing lacerations and deaths from starvation—pain and suffering. The Somonyng of Everyman, a 15th-century play from Ireland, embodies mankind’s inquiry into religious faith. An exploration of morality that many undergo, the play depicts a widely shared human experience. These instances of an individual’s experience find themselves repeated in works that also aim to express an aspect of the human experience.

A PENAL COLONY This watercolor painting of the Moreton Bay Settlement by Henry Boucher is the earliest known signed and dated painting of the future township of Brisbane

Contemporary films, the kind you see at the cinema with your family and friends, more than being an explosion of flashiness and exciting entertainment, are stories that typically contain characters going through that which we all experience. Attempts at representing the human experience entail that these stories must shed light on a universal human truth. It is in recognition of this that contemporary creatives pay homage to past works that have already famously detailed an aspect of the human experience.

Greed, pride, and selfishness

George Lucas’ Star Wars movies are widely recognized for their world-building and character development. Anakin Skywalker, a young prodigy notorious for his betrayal of the light side in the acclaimed Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, engages in numerous battles filled with rage, frustration, and agony.

Amid the struggle between good and evil, between the Republic and Galactic Empire, Anakin Skywalker was initially touted to be the Republic’s greatest hope. The young man was prophesied to bring balance to the galaxy but a selfish desire for strength corrupted his soul. Out of pride and greed, Skywalker throws away his morals inciting violence against his former allies and severing his relationships within the Republic.

This betrayal culminates in a battle against his former mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi. A battle stemming from his newfound allegiance to the dark side in pursuit of power, Skywalker is eventually defeated. But this desire for strength remains true as he eventually returns as Darth Vader, a leading figure of evil in the films. Succumbing to his pride and greed, Skywalker pledged himself to the dark side and, in so doing, reenacted what is arguably the most legendary fall from rectitude.

A fallen angel, the first to fall from God’s grace, the story of the war in heaven depicts Lucifer’s rebellion against God and his angels. Despite being the strongest and most beautiful of God’s angels, his unbridled lust for power and agency begets him to attempt the overtaking of God’s throne. What ensues afterward is his banishment from heaven—the fall from grace and beauty that turns Lucifer into the Devil, from righteous to evil.

PRIDE AND GREED Anakin Skywalker engaged in a battle after abandoning the light side in favor of the dark side

This alienation from heaven and forceful grounding on our impermanent Earth is what French artist Alexandre Cabanel depicts in L’Ange déchu, oil on canvas, created in 1847. Translated as The Fallen Angel, Cabanel’s artwork showcases Lucifer’s muscular figure laying on the ground beneath heaven’s angels. His pose, despite being resigned to the floor, is purposeful as he spitefully clasps his hands together with his head held high. The tear in his right eye does not represent remorse or regret. With his eyebrows furrowed, eyes fierce, and feathered wings engaged, the seed of rebellion that caused his downfall has not withered. Found within Lucifer and Anakin Skywalker is the essence of human greed and pride that inevitably call forth the consequences of selfish acts.

FALLEN ANGEL Alexandre Cabanel’s painting depicting a spiteful Lucifer after his banishment from heaven

Delicate love and passion

Set at an insane asylum located on a remote, windswept island, Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island explores the mind of a mentally-distraught man initially introduced as US Marshal Teddy Daniels, later revealed to be asylum patient Andrew Laeddis. Believing his business at the island to be an investigation into strange circumstances where multiple patients have gone missing, Laeddis undergoes a journey of self-discovery and revelation.

The protagonist of Scorsese’s psychological thriller gradually discovers his true identity as his dark past reveals itself throughout his inquiries as a supposed US marshal. Turned alcoholic due to his time as a soldier during the Second World War, home burned to ashes, three children lost by drowning, and the killer of his own wife, Laeddis was laden with mental issues. Viewers of the film—Laeddis’ past and identity unbeknownst to them—are forced to constantly question his sanity and in one of the most powerful scenes of the film, amid the turbulence of insanity, an essence of humanity is pictured.

DREAMY LOVE Andrew Laeddis and his wife in a passionate embrace during one of Laeddis’ dreams

Within a dream-sequence of Laeddis’, he is depicted embracing his wife from behind in a shower of golden light. Both characters maintain expressions of melancholy and sadness with Laeddis’ wife eventually turning to ashes, an emphasis on this scenes’s dreamlike state. This scene highlights the power of love, passion, and their accompanying emotions.

The abovementioned scene from Shutter Island is directly based on Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss. An Austrian painter known for his expressions of love and passion, The Kiss is an oil-on-canvas painting depicting a man and a woman in a similar, but more intimate embrace than the couple in Scorsese’s film. Both couples, in Scorsese’s film and Klimt’s painting, bask in a golden light and the only obstacle to their golden backgrounds are the irregular patterns on their outfits. Klimt’s painting features the couple sharing a kiss with both of their hands wrapped around each other. The Kiss depicts a more surreal scene, with a stronger sense of being dreamlike as the patterns vary from geometric shapes on the man to floral patterns on the woman, to the couple’s enveloping golden aura littered with spheres, to their background’s mixture of geometric shapes and noise. It is in this shared sense of ethereality that love and passion are placed upon a pedestal  and cherished in both Shutter Island and The Kiss.

SURREAL ART Gustav Klimt’s painting depicting a dreamlike experience of love and passion

Contemporary films, whether on purpose or not, must always share aspects of its storytelling and imagery with works of the past. To detail the life of a human being in our fatal flaws, beautiful imperfections, and experiences that span across generations is to speak beyond a work of fiction. And to do so requires something powerful. Something that not only entertains, but reaches out to viewers and forces them to understand not only through thought, but emotion and experience. The power found within paintings, in their stillness and vibrancy, are what the aforementioned films have tapped into so masterfully, ending up with a tribute to both past artworks and to humanity.