Subtext in Art & Writing

If we consider text as "a message sent and received" then we can also consider subtext as "a subtle message sent and received." Subtext is the subtle message under or behind the message.

Text is received through our eyes and ears. We use our sensory organs to receive and understand text. Subtext is received and decoded through the filters of our experiences, beliefs, knowledge, values, intuitions, thoughts, and feelings.

Subtext in performance arts can be, and should be, visual as well auditory..

One example of auditory subtext is of one character saying to another "What did I tell you?". This example implies that a conversation between the two characters has happened some time prior to the comment. The implication that a conversation has happened previously is subtext. There are deeper layers of subtext that depend on the tone of voice of the speaker, social cues given in the visuals of the performance such as manner of dress and body language of the speaker and listener. Such cues are subtle and subject to many interpretations depending on the audience's own understandings and experience.

Particular theme music is another example of subtext. The music is chosen to help set the scene. It is a form of subtext that is accepted by our senses as being just something in the background and yet it too has layers of meaning that the audience will decode depending on their own life.

Visual subtext can be in the manner of actions of the characters; the way the characters are dressed, the arrangement of props; the presence or absence of items such as clocks, hats, televisions; the order that events occur.

When a female character steps up boldly to a male character and offers a firm handshake there is a sub text in that action. The subtext could be: Women are equal to men. It could also be said that there is a deeper level of subtext and that is the subtext of "the writer is a staunch feminist"

Subtext is the conclusions, presumptions, and assumptions that the receiver draws from beneath and behind the message. Subtext can be, and often is, and should be manipulated by the creator of the message.

The images of soldiers in the bunker scrawling letters home to loved ones or staring wistfully at photographs carries the subtext "soldiers have feelings too and are not all tough."

Have you ever noticed in war movies how the allies soldiers all write home, stare at pictures of loved ones, receive parcels of goodies from home? The enemy soldiers are only ever seen 'sneaking behind bushes', 'shooting', 'screaming' and other such negative images.

These two extreme views are loaded with subtext. "We" are the good guys. "We" are stong, and sensitive and loved. "They" are the bad guys. "They" are cruel and cold and sneaky.

Life itself is full of subtexts. In a boardroom there are sometimes arranged around the table one or two slightly shortened chairs. These chairs are often put to the side but brought around the table when a member of the board is to be sacked. It is a message. "You are too small for this boardroom."

Always at the boardroom table there is the 'head' of the table and the 'foot' of the table, there is a 'left of the chairman' and a 'right of the chairman'. Consider how your family is seated around the dining table each night! What is the subtext there?

Text in chat is filled with subtext. It is our experience or lack there of, in chatrooms that adds the meaning to the subtext. Also our own lives gives us meaning to chatroom conversations.

When someone sends the chat message "Hi." our true life experience may tell us this is a nice person because in our life nice people approach and say hi. Our life experience may on the other hand say this is a nasty person who wants something. If that is the case we will respond according not only to what that person actually says in chat but also to our own inward experiences.

The subtext of the message "Hi" may be "Hi do you want to talk to me?" You then choose to either talk, or not. Your choice is in itself a message. The subtext could also be "Hi I am a man you are a woman and that means you have to talk to me and amuse me." Not all subtext is immediately obvious.

It is true that wordsmiths must learn to manipulate subtext. They must learn to bend and twist the subtext and the text to create the images and responses they want. It is also true they have a responsibility to be aware of the subtext and its effects and to write responsibly, even in chat.

To me subtext is the true art of writing. Craftsmanship applies to the outward text, but art applies to the inward subtext.