by Ted Sherman

Created on: August 05, 2008

As I perceive it, title choices can be divided into two categories. The first involves those which give a clear, short description or broad hint of the writing to follow. In the current movie hit, "The Dark Knight", the title may refer to the familiar heroic figure of Batman. The masked crusader's costume is all black plastic leotard, complete with black hood-mask that hides his identity.

One could also interpret the title to mean Batman's battles with such villains as The Joker occur in the dark of night, when the adventures take on more mysterious and sinister aspects. Or, as in the current version, The Joker is portrayed to be more of a noble opponent than villain, a dark knight, and the two enemies actually share a kind of shared nobility and mutual admiration.

The other form of title for a book, film or other kind of creative writing, is to use words or phrases from other sources that give just a faint hint of what the content is all about. For instance, the title of Steinbeck book and movie, "The Grapes of Wrath" comes from a phrase in the popular 19th Century song, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". The lyrics are "He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored." Here it has a Biblical meaning of God's anger at the injustice in the world, particularly in the context of this story, where poor sharecroppers try to earn decent livings during the Great Depression.

Another book and movie, Stephen Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage" is a metaphor for the Civil War soldier's proof of valor by shedding blood on the battlefield. One of my favorite movies of all time, "Paths of Glory" is also about soldiers at war, in this story they are French infantrymen dying in hopeless trench warfare of World War I, and led by cynical generals who seek only their own military glory. The title reference is from Thomas Gray's "Elegy in a Country Churchyard", with the rest of the phrase, ''The paths of glory lead but to the grave.'' The theme is that war is a hopeless waste of lives, and even those politicians and generals who profit by it eventually must also follow the same path "but to the grave".

Sometimes the oblique references of the title come from a humorous cliche. The movie, "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner", implies the shock the daughter of a wealthy white family will cause when she brings a black fiance to meet them. Another similar twist was, "Rebel Without A Cause", labeling the anti-hero, as portrayed by James Dean, a disruptive, hostile teenager who's mad at the world with no idea why, or simply just for the hell of it.

When you're creating your book, screenplay, essay, poem or lyrics to a song, make your title work to give the reader a hint of what you intend your writing to convey. Or if you prefer, just come right out and identify your meaning in just a few words of the title.

For instance, an Academy Award-winning movie song that tells exactly the intent ... and lament ... in composer Kayne West's "It's Hard Out There For A Pimp". It may not have the literary refinement of "The Merry Wives of Windsor", but the title does get the idea across just as effectively.

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