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Movies as Metaphors, and what makes them weak
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<blockquote data-quote="Mallus" data-source="post: 2000066" data-attributes="member: 3887"><p>Sure it has merit. Metaphors should stand up to "careful examination". That was never in question.</p><p></p><p>Now we're talking about something different. How do we examine metaphors? </p><p></p><p>I don't see how you can employ 'premise-conclusion' analysis when dealing with metaphoric constructs. Not to harp on this, but there's no 'premise' in a metaphor. </p><p></p><p>With metaphor, something is used to carry another kind meaning that's external to it. So 'robots' (which have meaning in there own right) might be made to stand-in for 'the Victorian working-class poor'. How the robots got built in the first place has nothing to do with usefulness of the metaphor. What matters in terms of the metaphor is 'can you draw a reasonable parallel between the two items'. Robots traditionally have no rights and are used as cheap labor. Ditto with the Victorian poor. Parallel drawn. How plausible the robots are is a different issue.</p><p></p><p>Another example: the color red is being used in a film to signify a daughters fear of her mother. Now in this case, 'red' has no real meaning, but its being related to an emotional world of the daughter. This connection is just imposed by the filmmaker. There's no need to to show scenes of the daughter being beaten by the mother in red dress. There's no rationale involved at all, no need to explain the choice of a red motif in terms of the characters interior world or history. Its just a techique used to convey meaning to the audience in a non-literal way... </p><p></p><p></p><p>I'm not sure what you mean by flow, but I'll give you that its pretty silly.</p><p> </p><p>The metaphor is fine. The backstory isn't. There not the same thing.</p><p></p><p>Look at 1950's giant bug movies. The central metaphor 'giant bug' = 'nuclear holocust' works fine. Just about everything else is goofy mess. But that doesn't invalidate the aptness of the initial metaphoric conceit...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mallus, post: 2000066, member: 3887"] Sure it has merit. Metaphors should stand up to "careful examination". That was never in question. Now we're talking about something different. How do we examine metaphors? I don't see how you can employ 'premise-conclusion' analysis when dealing with metaphoric constructs. Not to harp on this, but there's no 'premise' in a metaphor. With metaphor, something is used to carry another kind meaning that's external to it. So 'robots' (which have meaning in there own right) might be made to stand-in for 'the Victorian working-class poor'. How the robots got built in the first place has nothing to do with usefulness of the metaphor. What matters in terms of the metaphor is 'can you draw a reasonable parallel between the two items'. Robots traditionally have no rights and are used as cheap labor. Ditto with the Victorian poor. Parallel drawn. How plausible the robots are is a different issue. Another example: the color red is being used in a film to signify a daughters fear of her mother. Now in this case, 'red' has no real meaning, but its being related to an emotional world of the daughter. This connection is just imposed by the filmmaker. There's no need to to show scenes of the daughter being beaten by the mother in red dress. There's no rationale involved at all, no need to explain the choice of a red motif in terms of the characters interior world or history. Its just a techique used to convey meaning to the audience in a non-literal way... I'm not sure what you mean by flow, but I'll give you that its pretty silly. The metaphor is fine. The backstory isn't. There not the same thing. Look at 1950's giant bug movies. The central metaphor 'giant bug' = 'nuclear holocust' works fine. Just about everything else is goofy mess. But that doesn't invalidate the aptness of the initial metaphoric conceit... [/QUOTE]
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