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'''Subtext''' as defined by the Russian director Constantin Stanislavski is the underlying motivation, feelings and emotions behind a character's actions and speech. With a good actor, the audience can pick up on the subtext and interpret the character's thoughts and feelings. Stage "business" as well as speech contributes to the story behind the story. This is why people say of actors like Ethel Barrymore or Leonard Nimoy that a single gesture or word "spoke volumes".<ref>At least this is true of neurotypical audiences. This is an area where autistics can have difficulty eliciting meaning, and may need to have some things spelled out in more detail.</ref>

'''Subtext''' is the underlying motivation, feelings and emotions behind a character's actions and speech.  

 

With a good actor, the audience can pick up on the subtext and interpret the character's thoughts and feelings. Stage "business" as well as speech contributes to the story behind the story. This is why people say of actors like Ethel Barrymore or Leonard Nimoy that a single gesture or word "spoke volumes".<ref>At least this is true of neurotypical audiences. This is an area where autistics can have difficulty eliciting meaning, and may need to have some things spelled out in more detail.</ref>

Sociologists have observed that the inclusion and placement of women, seniors and minorities in advertising, news media and graphic arts creates subtextual messages about the role of such people in society. If they are shown in a subservient posture (seated while others are standing, for example) or in the background behind the "main" characters), it creates a negative subtext for the audience, both about how they should think of these people, and what the sponsor thinks of them.<ref>Laura R. Oswald in ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=NpH-_tnQN_8C&lpg=PA98&dq=Marketing%20Semiotics%20Pioneer%2010&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q=Marketing%20Semiotics%20%22visual%20codes%22&f=false Marketing Semiotics: Signs, Strategies, and Brand Value]'' (Oxford University Press, 2012) gives as examples the male and female images on the Pioneer 10 spacecraft and a McDonald's commercial showing two men standing and shaking hands while a woman sits behind them, looking up. She also analyzes the coding of insurance commercials aimed toward "baby boomers" for whom the 1950s-1960s youth culture is still a living, vibrant reality and who would not react well to images of nursing homes and rocking chairs.</ref> (See [[Misogyny in Fandom]] for more on the placement of female characters relative to their perceived value.)

Sociologists have observed that the inclusion and placement of women, seniors and minorities in advertising, news media and graphic arts creates subtextual messages about the role of such people in society. If they are shown in a subservient posture (seated while others are standing, for example) or in the background behind the "main" characters), it creates a negative subtext for the audience, both about how they should think of these people, and what the sponsor thinks of them.<ref>Laura R. Oswald in ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=NpH-_tnQN_8C&lpg=PA98&dq=Marketing%20Semiotics%20Pioneer%2010&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q=Marketing%20Semiotics%20%22visual%20codes%22&f=false Marketing Semiotics: Signs, Strategies, and Brand Value]'' (Oxford University Press, 2012) gives as examples the male and female images on the Pioneer 10 spacecraft and a McDonald's commercial showing two men standing and shaking hands while a woman sits behind them, looking up. She also analyzes the coding of insurance commercials aimed toward "baby boomers" for whom the 1950s-1960s youth culture is still a living, vibrant reality and who would not react well to images of nursing homes and rocking chairs.</ref> (See [[Misogyny in Fandom]] for more on the placement of female characters relative to their perceived value.)

   

   

A fan used examples from [[Quantum Leap]] and [[The Professionals]] in a 1995 comment:  {{Quotation|

A fan used examples from [[Quantum Leap]] and [[The Professionals]] in a 1995 comment:  {{Quotation|

"Subtext "  is what a work of art may imply or indicate without stating outright. It can be deliberate or inadvertent, and can be interpreted subjectively by the art's reader/viewer/listener. When [[Al]] screws up his face into an expression of misery at learning that [[Sam Beckett|Sam]] doesn't remember him, possible subtexts are: "Oh shit, the experiment's gone wrong!" "Does this mean he doesn't remember fucking me under the Accelerator night before last?" or "My hangover is even worse than I said." When [[Bodie]] and [[Ray Doyle|Doyle]] have a different set of rooms every time they are shown at home, the subtext can be, "CI5 agents have to move often for security reasons," or "These characters are so unstable that they can't keep the same apartment for long." <ref> from [[Strange Bedfellows (APA)]] #8 (February 1995) </ref>}}

"Subtext "  is what a work of art may imply or indicate without stating outright. It can be deliberate or inadvertent, and can be interpreted subjectively by the art's reader/viewer/listener. When [[Al Calavicci|Al]] screws up his face into an expression of misery at learning that [[Sam Beckett|Sam]] doesn't remember him, possible subtexts are: "Oh shit, the experiment's gone wrong!" "Does this mean he doesn't remember fucking me under the Accelerator night before last?" or "My hangover is even worse than I said." When [[Bodie]] and [[Ray Doyle|Doyle]] have a different set of rooms every time they are shown at home, the subtext can be, "CI5 agents have to move often for security reasons," or "These characters are so unstable that they can't keep the same apartment for long." <ref> from [[Strange Bedfellows (APA)]] #8 (February 1995) </ref>}}

In the  [[Star Trek: The Original Series]]  episode "Journey to Babel", Spock volunteers to donate blood for his father's heart operation. Christine Chapel says Spock's blood "isn't true Vulcan blood either, it, ah -- has human -- blood elements in it." Spock replies, "It should be possible to filter out the human factors." Whether or not a viewer has been following the show and knows the characters, the theatrical subtext is clear: Chapel loves Spock, because he's a Vulcan he can't respond, but he's also part human and she wishes she could connect with that aspect of his nature (but knows she cannot). Filtering out the human factors is exactly what he's been doing with his entire life. These lines are significant to their characters and to this episode in particular (as a subsequent scene with Spock and his mother demonstrates). It's all conveyed in her regretful expression and slight stammer, and his matter-of-fact response.

In the  [[Star Trek: The Original Series]]  episode "Journey to Babel", Spock volunteers to donate blood for his father's heart operation. Christine Chapel says Spock's blood "isn't true Vulcan blood either, it, ah -- has human -- blood elements in it." Spock replies, "It should be possible to filter out the human factors." Whether or not a viewer has been following the show and knows the characters, the theatrical subtext is clear: Chapel loves Spock, because he's a Vulcan he can't respond, but he's also part human and she wishes she could connect with that aspect of his nature (but knows she cannot). Filtering out the human factors is exactly what he's been doing with his entire life. These lines are significant to their characters and to this episode in particular (as a subsequent scene with Spock and his mother demonstrates). It's all conveyed in her regretful expression and slight stammer, and his matter-of-fact response.