Writers use many creative devices to bring their stories to life.
And one of the most common devices is the metaphor.
"- That's me taking the bull by the horns.
That's how I handle my business.
It's a metaphor."
- Metaphors can clarify big ideas
or evoke profound emotions with just a few words.
"- I'm Vengeance."
In this video, we'll look at how this powerful literary tool can be used in cinema.
This is 'What is a Metaphor'?
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"- That's like a metaphor for a whole relationship."
- A metaphor is a figure of speech
that describes an object by comparing it to
another object with similar characteristics.
This word is derived from the Greek 'metaphora'
which means to carry over or to transfer.
We can think of it as transferring the qualities of one object to another.
"-You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars.
I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it."
- Examples include 'Love is a Battlefield',
'You Are My Sunshine'
and 'Time is a Thief'.
Metaphors are a type of figurative language
which goes beyond literal meaning into something more abstract.
"- It was Beauty killed the Beast."
- These comparisons are not meant to be taken literally.
"- Keep the change you filthy animal."
- Time isn't actually a thief.
And the comparison can't be reversed.
Thieves are time doesn't make much sense.
That's because a metaphor is made up of two parts.
A tenor and a vehicle.
The tenor is the subject.
And the vehicle is the object which lends its qualities to the tenor.
What the two parts have in common is called the ground.
For example, love and battlefields can be treacherous endeavors.
And what makes them different is called the tension.
In this case, love is an emotional state
while battlefields are sites of physical conflict.
A metaphor can give the audience a greater
understanding of complex ideas in a digestible manner.
"- I am a golden God!"
- And they can make effectively convey an idea than a literal description.
"- Come on. Let's go. Time is money!"
- In film, metaphors can be delivered through dialogue.
"- It is the East And Juliet is the Sun."
- Visuals.
And even titles.
"- Brave Clarisse, will let me know when those lambs stop screaming, won't you?"
- And these metaphors can be categorized into a few different subtypes.
The purest form of metaphor is a direct or standard metaphor
which uses verbs like 'am' 'is' or 'are' to make a comparison.
"- I'm the king of the world!"
- Jack is implying that he feels like a king
because of the power and possibility he feels at this moment.
The metaphor informs his character.
His spirit trumps the reality of his low-class status.
Similes are metaphors which make a comparison using 'like' or 'as'.
"- You slithered like a serpent into the school kitchen and ate my personal snack!
Do you deny it?"
- Contrary to the common misconception that they are separate from metaphors.
"- All those moments will be lost in time...
...like tears in rain."
- Similes and metaphors differ in strength.
"- Your shell is strong like a turtle's."
- A metaphor is a bold statement.
"- I'm a God. - You're God?
- I'm a God. I'm not the God."
- While a simile qualifiers make it more of a suggestion.
"- I'll go fast as a dog."
- When a metaphor or simile is followed by an explanation it becomes an analogy.
"- You want an apple or do you want an orange?
That's democracy."
- Forrest Gump" uses an analogy to frame the entire structure of the film.
Forrest starts with a simile.
"- My mom always said
life was like a box of chocolates."
- But his explanation makes it an analogy.
"- You never know what you're going to get."
- The plot then follows a box of chocolates approach.
Jumping from event to event in Forrest's life, some good, some bad.
"- That's all I have to say about that."
Implied metaphors are less obvious.
They imply a comparison without explicitly naming one of the elements being compared.
Like comparing a character to a dog without exactly saying it.
"- Don't worry about Fletcher.
He's more bark than bite."
- Implied metaphors are often found in non-literal verbs
like the pilot crumbled under the pressure.
The pilot did not literally crumble
but we are comparing the pilot to something brittle like a cookie.
In "The Princess Bride", Buttercup compares a relief that Westley is alive to flying.
"- You're alive.
If you want I could fly."
"- It's not a direct comparison
but we associate flying with being light and free
which helps explain how she's feeling."
- Extended metaphors are metaphors which stretch over multiple lines.
"- All the world's a stage.
And all the men and women, merely players.
They have their exits, and their entrances.
And one man, in his time, plays many parts."
- They allow for multiple comparisons to be made between two subjects
allowing a writer to vividly describe an idea without simply listing its traits.
"- I took all my feelings, my wants, needs, dreams.
And I buried them inside you.
I planted a seed and watch and prayed over.
I planted myself inside you and waited to bloom."
- In "Knives Out", Benoit Blanc uses an extended metaphor
comparing the mystery to a donut.
"- A case with a hole in the middle.
A doughnut."
- Which he returns to again and again
helping visualize the who done it.
"- I spoke in the car about the hole at the center of this doughnut.
And what you and Holland did that
fateful night seems at first glance to
fill that hole perfectly.
A doughnut hole in a doughnut's hole.
But we must look a little closer."
- Controlling metaphors are extended over the course of a story
encapsulating the arc or themes of an entire work.
"Turning Red" for example is a metaphor for the pains of puberty.
"- You are a woman now and your body is starting to change.
It's nothing to be embarrassed about.
- Mom!"
- In "The Matrix", the Wachowskis use a controlling metaphor of humanity
being presided over by robots.
Which represents the need to challenge the power
structures and rules that keep us complacent.
"- I'm going to show them a world without you."
- The controlling metaphor helps make the Matrix
as a whole an allegory which is an entire story that has a larger meaning.
"- A world without rules and controls without borders or boundaries.
A world where anything is possible."
- For more on allegories, watch our video linked below.
A mixed metaphor refers to a comparison of two or more elements
that doesn't logically make sense.
"- That train has sailed."
- In this example, Austin mixes 'that train has left the station'
and 'that ship has sailed'.
This happens when a character confuses or combines figurative language devices
like metaphors, malaphors, or idioms.
"- A rolling stone is worth two in the bush.
- Go f*ck a refrigerator, pecker neck!"
- But when used intentionally a mixed metaphor can have a comedic effect.
"- Let's go now.
I'm ready to go now. Why wait?
Early bird gathers no moss.
Rolling stone catches the worm, right?"
- Dead metaphors are well-worn comparisons we've all heard before.
"- You're breaking my heart."
- Instead of enhancing the evocative power of the metaphor,
these cliche ideas and expressions can diminish the desired effect.
"- Like a broken record."
- But when used purposefully they can still inform a character's personality.
"- When mom was alive she was always our rock."
- Visual metaphors use images rather than words to evoke a comparison.
Like a character with an unknown future standing at a crossroads.
Or using prison imagery for a man who feels trapped.
Visual metaphors can be created in a couple of different ways.
For example, it can be contained within a single shot.
"- Think."
In "Aladdin", fireworks represent the passionate
love the two characters feel for each other.
Or they can be constructed with multiple images as with an editing technique
called intellectual montage.
Sergey Eisenstein the father of this technique
would use visual metaphors throughout his work.
In "Strike" workers getting killed are intercut with animals in the slaughterhouse.
A similar technique can be found in "Snatch".
The intellectual montage and its use of visual metaphors
creates meaning through implied comparisons without
having to explicitly spell it out for the audience.
Instead of cutting between shots
a cross dissolve or superimposition
can blend two images into one visual metaphor.
Hitchcock does this in "Psycho"
as the life is draining out of Marion.
Kubrick dissolves from Wendy and Danny walking through the maze
to a similar tracking shot of Jack wandering through The Overlook.
A subtle hint that the hotel is also a labyrinth that he must navigate.
A visual metaphor can add depth to a scene
heightening emotions and playing on larger themes.
"- You're free."
- Visual metaphors are often confused with symbols
which represent something figurative but are
never being directly compared to something else.
While a metaphor borrows partial meaning from another source
a symbol replaces its entire meaning with something else.
Being able to use and understand metaphors is vital to creative writing.
"- You sit on a throne of lies."
- Aristotle advised, 'The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor...
since a good metaphor implies an intuitive
perception of the similarity in the dissimilar'.
A good metaphor can add layers of meaning to a work
by evoking powerful emotions and images
that reinforce a story's message or theme, character, and world.
"- Say hello to my little friend!"
- And to learn more about how writers use metaphor,
head over to our script library where you can read hundreds of screenplays.
In the description, you'll find links to articles on more literary devices.
Until next time remember...