SYMBOLISM! in movies: a whine

I think it’s fun to look for and interpret symbolism in films. I only think it becomes a problem when you think less of other people for NOT seeing what you see.

Which is probably what the OP was getting at.

I think there is a sweet spot.

I love things like “look orange means evil in the godfather” or “the alien in Alien uses Oedipal theory in it’s design”. They add to the film, and I can usually get on board with the idea that the film makers did this stuff on purpose

I remember talking about the Alien / Freud stuff with my ex once though and it absolutely enraged her. So everyone’s tolerance for movie bullshit is different I guess

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Love this kind of stuff. Enjoy sifting through some thorough batshit theories digging into the lore of a story.

Always reminds me of a good friend who was doing a Foundation year-long Art course before a degree. He took about a month to produce this spectacular photo collage (of mayflower park in Southampton, through the ages kinda thing). Looked fantastic. Then spent the best part of three months writing utter drivel about what it all meant. His actual reason: “thought it would be cool”.

Worked on A MOVIE a few years ago (very very distantly), and was speaking to a few Visual Effects guys. General gist other than some real clunky obvious nods to this and that was “it just looks cool” and/or “it’s just what was to hand”.

I love Warcraft :sunglasses: and really enjoy people on forums going into characters’ psyches and the like, often overlooking that these are fictional beings who just do exactly what they’re written to do, no more and no less.

Haven’t read any replies.

It’s like in Cruise of the Gods, where they go to great lengths analysing the symbolism of every characters name, before the writer comes in and reveals that they’re all just anagrams of curries.

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well if something’s intended to be there it’s quite fun working out what the significance of x or y is. it’s when people really start reaching for shit that i zone out.

i mean there’s some great intentional symbolic stuff in the sopranos, then stuff david chase put in there to fuck with pothead uni students at 3 in the morning. david lynch is similar.

spielberg and scorcese have some great symbolic visual cues/shout-outs/references scattered through all their films.

remember pulp fiction is a treasure trove of this kind of stuff too.

oh and like the orange thing in the godfather is really interesting because of its significance. the sicilian mafia began by protecting the citrus fruit groves around palermo in the 19th century, and they also used the thorns to prick an initiate’s finger during their initiation ceremony. so it’s a really well chosen symbol for impending death.

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Chris Morris does it a lot too.

Like one of the background posters in Nathan Barley features a band called “Detail-obsessed DVD-watching twats” or something.

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if a[quote=“marckee, post:5, topic:13273”]
Things like symbolism often work sub-consciously, so while you might think that plot, characterisation etc are the most important things, these themselves will often be enhanced by other methods that you’re not immediately aware of.
[/quote]

this is kind of what i’m getting at - i see movies sometimes where the plot doesn’t make sense or is weak, because who cares it’s just a metaphor; or the character is just a cipher for the symbolism, if that makes sense. enhance is a good word though

Best kind of movies tbh. Who wants to watch a film about someone going to a place to do a thing? Borrrrringgggg.

yeah but the best movies do both, imo.

also i don’t really have a keen eye for symbolism so by the time it’s explained to me (ie, after the film) it’s too late because i’ve already seen the film and not enjoyed it.

like STarship Troopers is a good example of a film that just works, man. on multiple levels. or Robocop. i can enjoy it as a 14-year-old and i can enjoy it now as someone revolted by the rise of fascism. that’s how it’s done

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Reddit movies is an awful awful place

Fully with you on this.

Oh you’re one of those fans of the shithouse Matrix sequels on account of their clever symbolism are you? :wink:

Never seen em, never will. If ever a film didnt need sequels it was that.

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As an English literature teacher I always try to steer my students away from the “BUT DID THE WRITER INTEND THIS TO BE SYMBOLIC OR IS IT JUST RANDOM EH, AREN’T WE JUST READING TOO MUCH INTO IT” bullshit. Who cares what the author consciously or unconsciously intended? Meaning is in the eye of the reader or viewer

No he isnt.

yes but doesn’t that cut the other way too? as in, if a person wants to take a movie at face value and dispense with the needy metaphor-spotting, it’s nice to be reminded that, yes, a lot of it is pure interpretation and not something that you need to get or you haven’t watched it properly

Fucking films eh

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David lynch doesn’t use symbolism?

He’s not like David Chase (the dream sequences etc in the sopranos were always woefully executed) and he’s not catering to stoners at 3am, whatever that means.