Cinematic Metaphors

Metaphor and Film- Varieties of Cinematic Metaphor
*What is being investigated are specific occasions when figuartive meanings are deemed to be present in films and by what strategies those meanings are made manifest
*pointing = a line or phrase when it is neccessary to ensure that the  audience does not miss it
similarly - certain cinematic metaphors may be regarded as "pointed" these we designate as marked metaphors
*this chapter focuses om marked metaphors, considering not only how they function but also how the "pointing" is done

Explicit Comparison: A is like B
*Is it possible to have purely nonverbal tropes based in explicit comparison in cinema?
*Recognizing the role of like in a literary simile. Like instructs the reader to note the similarity between two ideas
*The three main strategies are ..
1. Two objects with some shared aspect, or some well-known affinity, maybe be placed markedly side by side
2. Some inherent common feature of each may be sttressedby the way the objects are presented cinematically
3. A similiarity not inherently present in the objects themselves may be constructd by the way the objects are presented cinematically


Identity asserted A is B:
*Asserted identity generally implies that the essence of something is not what we normally take it to be,but something different
*Asserted identity is a forceful figure, often accompanied by a strong emotional charge
*3 mian ways film can identify one thing with another
1. By context which forces the audience to see A as B
2. By distortion of A in process of filming so that it appears to be another object B
3. By presenting certain selected features of A that it holds in common with B but presenting them in such  a manner that there may be some genuine doubt as to whether  it is A or B we are looking at

Substituion A replaced by B:
*A new term based on substitution from an alien domain, replaces the customary term.
syntax has a set of rules for sustitution: A sentance remains grammatical so long as it as an adjective that qualifies the noun and governs the verb.
*Metaphorical substitution normally stretches semantic rules not syntatic
* An example is in The Best Years of Our Lives, the air-force vetreran recalls his memories of war by climbing into the cock pit of a plane, its presented through the use of score and means of moving the camera and changes the shooting angles

Juxtaposition A/B:
*Significant contiguity in time or space, one that establishes a special relatyionship between A and B
*Example: Enstein on montage, A close-up of a grave plus a close-up of a woman in mourning may lead us to assume she is a widow, but the deduction involves no intermingling of categories and juxtaposition does not result in a metaphor.
*Films rely on collocations and audiences have become adept at seeing implications aned making connections. There are more often literal than figuerative.

There are 4 strategies whereby the filmmaker can ensure that juxtaposition generates a metaphor
1. The audience is preconditioned to anticipate metaphors
2. Something in the manner of presentation itself serves to signlify that a particular juxtaposition is to be interpreted figuratively
3. No satisfactory literal explanation presents itself, so that the audience is fored to look for a figurative explanation. In practice this usually means that the continuity of this narrative has been markedly disrupted.
4. A literal explanation is acceptable, but there is something sufficiently resonant about the juxtasposition to invite further search for figurative implications

Metonymy (assosciate idea substituted) Ab so b
Metonymy and synecdoche are tropes that entail condensation through deletion: "A rehtorical figure, rathan than a precis results because the items delted are not those which seem logically the most dispensable
*this is  a subspecies of the substituion metaphor

Synecdoche (part replaces whole) : A stands for ABC
*It involved compression through deletion, the figurative meanings, generated by it derive from the illogicality of the deletion made, it is always recieved

Objective Correlative: O stands for ABC:
Example: In Kinfe in the Water there are scenes where the husband listens to sports on the radio by an ear plug. This is given literal motivation -he is a sports commentator, and his wife objected to the sound of the radio- in contect this correlates with and exemplifies his self-centeredness, which makes him oblivious to the feelings and needs of others.

Distortion:
Implifies a deviation from what is normal, if all the letters in this sentance are the font they are then A is a distortion. Wheres as is all the print were like A then it would not be a distortion.
*It can not be derived from ordinary life because most film images deviate from that, the lens of the camera does not capture what an eye alone would see.
*What is natural ana dhwta the mind accepts as natural, Conventions and cinematic devices can easily become so transparent we forget they are present. Distortion then must be understood as a deliberate deviation from what is expected in a specific context.

March, Movies, Metaphors cont.. 3/2

Cinema is an art medium that adapts freely and easily the coventions of other arts, turning them to its own purposes.The range of reference accessible to cinema is infinite
-Allusions are important in film for the comprehension of the audience, if they don't pick up on it they could be pulzzled by them
-Film has to capture audiences interest and sustain it
-One special property of film is its ability to present a variety of images concurrently

Metaphors We Live By
*Ontological Metaphors
-Spatial orientations orovide basis for understanding ub irientational concepts
-Understanding Our Experiemces in terms of objects and substances allow us to pick out parts of our experience
-Ontological Metaphors = ways of viewing events, activities, emotions and ideas,  reflect the kinds of purposes served
-Like orientational metaphors they serve a limitied range of purposes reffering, quantifying, etc
-Ex: The mind is a michine metaphor
He broke down (the mind is a machine)
He cracked up (the mind is a brittle object)

*Contaner Metaphors
-Physically a container is a room, house, physical objects bounded by surfaces
-Metaphorically a container has no natural physical boundary to define a container, we impose boundaries marking off territory so that it has an inside and a bounding surface doing thing is an act of quantification
-Ex: Tub of water .. physically the tub is the container object but water is the container subject

*Personification
Where the physical object is being specified as being a person. This allows us to comprehend a wide variety of experiences with non human, entities in terms of human motivations, characteristics and activities.
Ex: Life has cheated me..Inflation is eating up our profits

*Metonymy
-Using one entity to refer to another that is related to it
Ex: He's in dance...Acrylic has taken over the art world.
-Synecdoche = Where the part stands for the whole
Ex: The automobile is clogging our highways.
-Sometimes it allows us to focus more specifically on certain aspects of whar is being reffered too.


Rhetorics of Fantasy
*The Intrusion Fantasy
-One rhetorical function of the intruder in an otherworld fantasy is to render that other world more real by the virtue of juxtaposition
-intrustion fantasy can function as immersive fantasy in that it sometimes demands that the protaganist if not the other characters accept the fantastic as normal
-The trajectory of the intrusion fantasy = straight forward, the world is ruptured by the intrusion which disrupts normality and has to be negotiated with or defeated, sent back whence it came or controlled
-Sometimes the intrusion wins, but there is always a return of some kind
-Rhetorically, the  form appears to depend on both the naivete of the protaganist and his/her awareness of the permeability of the world- a distrust of what is known in favor of what is sensed
-Lack of trust sets up an interesting dynamic around the issue of what is known
-The trajectory of intrusion fantasy is from denial to acceptance
-Its usually a "this world" fantasy, the narrative leads toward the acceptance of the fantastic,by the reader if not the protagonist
-Rythm= suspension, release, latency, escalation, hesitation, and remorselessness
-It constructs its suspension through escalation
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March, Movies, Metaphors 3/2

Metaphor and Film - Planes of discourse in cinema

-All images are literal representations
-Metaphors involve shifts in levels of meaning and rely on defined linguistic rules for performing these shifts
-A fallacy at the root of objections to cinematic metaphors,. They ignore the logical distinctions between signifier and signified
-Ferdinand de Saussure posited thaat all signs consist of an object or event that bears the meaning (the signifier) and the meaninf itself (the signified) it 2 figures are copresent doest mean they're signified
-Two signifieeds may be on different planes of discourse i.e...literal or figurative
-The importance of film image is the product of many factors, juxtaposition with other images,its role in the thematic or narrative development of film, its place in social beliefs and customs,