In focusing on vessels, the curators mean to highlight the new interpretations and energies brought by successive generations of potters to this age-old theme.

What is to keep art from becoming trivial if it refuses to grapple with age-old themes like morality and nature and death?

For proof that the vampire film is resoundingly undead, consider "Cronos," a very stylish and sophisticated Mexican variation on some age-old themes.

Catfish farmers like Jim Benfer of Indianola, Miss., grudgingly agree that there is some rough justice in this latest twist in the age-old theme of man versus nature.

There are those age-old themes that are so much fun to watch play out.

But Masini's critique of contemporary New York, where the lonely affluent spout New Age aphorisms and move from self-help groups to therapy in an unrewarding search for spiritual sustenance, provides a fresh take on an age-old theme.

Music, libretto and staging could have combined to suggest new angles of reflection on the novel's age-old themes, but in this case the combination falls short.

But Mr. Rhoden has created a fascinating variation on an age-old theme.

He sat staring at the focused image of a solidiograph, his eyes glazed as he studied the variations of an age-old theme, entranced by the depicted skill.

The Butterfly Garden speaks to age-old themes of tragedy and triumph.