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We’ve all seen lists of great screen kisses, great car chases, great fight scenes. They’re easy to appreciate, and perhaps that’s why they get all the attention. Now maybe it’s because I’m a film geek (or because I was an English major), but for me there’s nothing like a really well-done film metaphor. (Really!) It goes back to rule numero uno of good cinema — show, don’t tell — and there’s nothing like a tasteful, well-executed visual symbol to do just that (and really get those geek-juices flowing too). If movies were books, it’s during those big metaphor moments when I would begin underlining and circling passages feverishly, certain I would return later to study and decode every juicy hidden meaning (yeah, right).
Now, this is by no means a conclusive list (it’s somewhat limited by what I could find on DVD and what was already on YouTube), but these eight clips represent some of the finest (or at least most interesting) symbolic/metaphoric moments in cinema in the last 20-30 years. What do they all mean? I’ll take a stab at parsing them, but I’d love to hear what you all think, too.
These are, for the most part, safe for work — but I’ll boldly indicate the few that are not. And watch the videos, people! It took forever to cut these together. (Yes, I did a little editing — but just to maximize the metaphors in the shortest amount of time. Sorry, Stanley!)
The Shining: Hedge Maze
At this early stage in the film, nothing seems too out of whack at the Overlook. But Danny and Wendy are entering a terrifying labyrinth from which there is no easy exit. Jack, looming over the maze like a giant or a puppeteer, almost tips his hand; “you’ve always been the caretaker here,” Grady will tell him later, and indeed, this scene makes him out to be the master of whatever bizarre ceremony we are about to witness. Of course, it also foreshadows the film’s famous climactic scene, in which a nearly unrecognizable Jack chases Danny through the maze with an axe.
Barton Fink: the Woman and the Wallpaper
One of my top five favorite films — and so weird. Barton’s horror-movie hotel room is practically brimming with symbols: the picture of the woman on the beach represents, perhaps, hope and the possibility of escape, while the peeling wallpaper seems to suggest that he’s currently stuck in Hell. What do you think?
Badlands: the Fish and the Cow
As pointless as it seems to make top-whatever lists of my favorite films (there are so many), Badlands is what I call my #1 favorite whenever I’m put on the spot. It’s hard to explain why in a short space, but part of the reason is the deep meaning that director Terrence Malick invests in his images: in this scene — just three simple shots — the protagonists reveal their complex (and vastly different) attitudes toward death, which will soon be played out larger than life when Kit embarks on a murderous rampage, with Holly as his co-pilot.
Stroszek: the Dancing Chicken
No one makes movies quite like that famously odd duck Werner Herzog, and Stroszek is one of his strangest, and best. But I’ll let Roger Ebert do the explaining (and the guessing) here:
Many movies end with hopeless characters turning to crime. No movie ends like “Stroszek.” Bruno and Mr. Scheitz take a rifle and go to rob the bank, which is closed, so they rob the barber shop next door of $32 and, leaving their car running, walk directly across the street to a supermarket, where Bruno has time to pick up a frozen turkey before the cops arrest Mr. Scheitz. Bruno then drives to a nearby amusement arcade, where he feeds in quarters to make chickens dance and play the piano. Then he boards a ski lift to go around and around and around. This last sequence is just about the best he has ever filmed, Herzog says on the commentary track of the DVD. His crew members hated the dancing chicken so much they refused to participate, and he shot the footage himself. The chicken is a “great metaphor,” he says–for what, he’s not sure. My theory: A force we cannot comprehend puts some money in the slot, and we dance until the money runs out.
(By the way, does anyone else experience a slight sine wave of funny while watching this?):
Punch-Drunk Love: the Pudding
True, P.T. Anderson’s There Will Be Blood is the best film he (or a lot of people) have ever made. But that doesn’t make his previous film, the decidedly lower-budget, naturalistic and at times seemingly improvised Punch-Drunk Love any less of a treat. Adam Sandler plays basket-case Barry Egan, who thinks he’s finally duped the system when he stumbles across Healthy Choice pudding frequent-flyer miles promotion seems too good to be true. The guy seems like a big unhappy ball of anxiety about to explode, and this manic, pudding-buying episode is his peak of manic happiness, soon to be followed by some very deep valleys of despair. But the pudding … what does it all mean?? You tell me! (By the way, there’s one naughty word at the end.)
The Last Picture Show: Sweeping
This is one of the great films of the 70s, and Peter Bogdonavich’s masterpiece. For this clip, I took bits from the very beginning and the very end of the film — the sweeping bookends the film nicely — and if there’s a better cinematic metaphor for the futility and fragility of existence, I haven’t seen it. (One swear word near the end.)
Affliction: the Toothache
Okay, this one is kind of graphic and has a lot of swearing, so be forewarned. It’s also the climax of a really brilliant cinematic device from an overlooked gem of a movie, released in 1997, called Affliction. It stars Nick Nolte as a well-meaning small-town cop who begins to unravel as he puts together the pieces of what he suspects is a murder passed off as a hunting accident in his town. His mother dies, forcing Nolte to spend a lot more time with his abusive, alcoholic father (played by a totally off-the-hook James Coburn), and the more time he spends with his horrible father (and the more events spiral out of control in the town), the more Nolte comes to resemble the old man, whose temper, propensity to violence and love of drink Nolte has inherited — nay, is afflicted with (hence the title).
This subtle-at-first then explosive upwelling of violence in Nolte is represented brilliantly, I think, by a nasty toothache he can’t seem to shake. It gets worse and worse throughout the film, until this climactic scene when he (and this is where it gets graphic) removes it himself with a pair of pliers and a bottle of scotch to swish with. With the tooth finally pulled, the curse that’s been bottled up inside him for years is finally loosed — and he and his father are painted as birds of a feather in the final brilliant shot (watching boxing on TV, wordlessly sharing a drink, mirror images of one another).
2001: the Monkey Invents Space Travel
I saved the best for last: the bone that turns into a spaceship at the end of 2001’s “Dawn of Man” sequence. (Possibly the greatest cut in film history, if you ask me.) What about the monolith, you ask, isn’t that a symbol? I’m not so sure: it serves a pretty narrative purpose, being the alien instrument of the apes’ advancement as a species. The bone/spaceship, on the other hand, implies a meaning outside of the this-happens that-happens flow of the plot. What do you think?
And while we’re on the subject, what are your favorite movie metaphors?
Bonus challenge (and shameless plug)! The house in the short Portable Living Room is most definitely a metaphor (though it’s meaning isn’t a huge mystery — just listen to the song):
Comments (65)
Comment
The forgotten potato in the kitchen, in Polanski’s Repulsion. It symbolizes the growing madness of the main character. The further the story progresses, the more sprouts grows from the potato.
Fun fact: The potato makes its comeback in The Pianist, in the scene where the main character is hiding in an apartment.
Repulsion has these cracks too that the main character starts seeing everywhere. But the cracks – just like the monolith in 2001 – aren’t metaphors, I think, since people suffering from paranoid schizophrenia actually see these kind of halluzinations.
The potato, on the other hand, is something happening outside the head of the main character.
posted by Jab on 2-11-2008 at 7:33 pm
We’re sorry, this video is no longer available.
posted by Moon on 2-11-2008 at 8:29 pm
And now, they’re back again! Yay!
posted by Moon on 2-11-2008 at 8:31 pm
The pudding in Punch Drunk Love is actually based on a true story.
Dave Phillips of California won a lifetime of free air travel by taking advantage of a Healthy Choice promotion.
You can find the full story @ snopes.com
posted by Michael on 2-11-2008 at 8:36 pm
Ransom! My Man! I love this topic like the rain loves a funeral. Okay I know that was a simile, and perhaps a mixed metaphor, but anyway…
Stroszek–Thanks for hipping me to that, dude. That was awesome. And reminded me of one of my favorite metaphors in a metaphor-laden film, Amelie. Those videos she would make for her artiste neighbor. The one-legged man dancing to some similar song, to be precise.
The Last Picture Show holds special real estate in my heart, along with The Seventh Seal, and I must kneel and bless the cinematic trinity at their mere presence.
posted by Johnny Cat on 2-11-2008 at 9:28 pm
I somehow forgot to mention a great film that is one big metaphor for rejecting the premise of “growing up” and becoming an adult. The Tin Drum is a must see, controversial masterpiece.
I also always thought Kubrick designed the spacesuit helmets in 2K1 to look like tadpoles, with the backdrop of space to foreshadow the infinite to come later. I mean, come on…it looks like a lizard or something, right?
posted by Johnny Cat on 2-11-2008 at 9:47 pm
Man, this post came at the most oddly convenient time, I’m in a film and lit. class and I just finished reading a section in the textbook about metaphors and symbolism in movies.
One great symbol that’s mentioned is during Citizen Kane. After Kane’s wife Susan attempts suicide after failing miserably in her opera career, the same aria she’d been struggling with is played in the background on a calliope. It’s played almost too softly for some people to notice, so it’s often lost. It shows that Susan is as ill-suited for opera singing as the calliope is for playing the aria. Really subtle, but a great metaphor.
posted by heather on 2-11-2008 at 10:38 pm
Heather, that’s a great detail that I never knew about. I’m a big fan of that movie, even though many say it’s overrated. It has so much going on in every scene. In fact, the trinity I spoke of would include Welles.
posted by Johnny Cat on 2-11-2008 at 10:50 pm
My favorite has always been Peter O’Toole gliding along Godlike in his director’s crane in The Stuntman.
And in that movie he declares his own favorite visual metaphor as King Kong, who was, after all, really “just three foot six inches tall” (”If God could do the tricks that we can do he’d be a happy man!”).
youtube.com/watch?v=BesLJgU0ZBs
posted by Doug Nelson on 2-12-2008 at 12:47 am
Has anyone been able to figure out the meaning behind the blue cube in Mulholland Drive? – which by the way is such a good movie but very confusing
posted by Vexra on 2-12-2008 at 5:58 am
Has anyone been able to figure out the symbolism behind the cube in Mulholland Drive – now that was a confusingly good movie!
posted by Vexra on 2-12-2008 at 6:01 am
Some of my favorites are roses in American Beauty (a pretty hamfisted one really), and Christmas lights in Eyes Wide Shut.
posted by Ira on 2-12-2008 at 7:27 am
According to IMDB, The Last Picture Show was shot entirely in Archer City, Texas, Larry McMurtry’s hometown, and not Marfa.
posted by Jeff Wilson on 2-12-2008 at 7:47 am
At the time, the mime tennis game at the end of “Blow Up” was a hot topic among metaphor buffs. And don’t forget the air fresheners in “Repo Man.”
posted by zootster on 2-12-2008 at 8:00 am
@Vexra: The box is literally, the truth, as is the face of the monster. Throughout the movie, blue is the color of truth (think of the three keys). The keys open the box, they are literally the keys to truth. Rita disappears when the box is opened because she is an untruth, Betty disappears before it is opened (she cannot face the truth) and Diane’s key is the truth of what she has become…
…I watch too many Lynch movies…
posted by Jon on 2-12-2008 at 8:23 am
The last picture show was not filmed in Marfa. It was filmed in Archer City, Texas which just happens to be the home town of the books author Larry McMurtry. Larry still lives there, by the way. He bought an old country club and converted it into his home.
posted by HIROHITO99 on 2-12-2008 at 8:44 am
One of my favorites is the burn on Pat McBeths’ Hand in Scotland, PA. While it is easy to identify, I love it because it consumes her, and ultimately ruins her, when in reality it doesn’t even exist.
Another one from The Shining would be the use of Jacks writing space, as if he has already separated himself from the outside world, and is moving toward inner separation.
posted by RobVan on 2-12-2008 at 9:15 am
Don’t feel bad jon… no movie metaphor list is complete without the mention of Lynch… My personal favorite of his is the severed ear just under the surface of suburban utopia at the beginning of Blue Velvet. Anyone care to weigh in on the slew of metaphors and plot devices that connect Waking Life?
posted by nathan on 2-12-2008 at 10:10 am
All I gotta say is
Puppet Master: All the metaphor you need
posted by Doug on 2-12-2008 at 10:10 am
One out of leftfield is the Cocaine Badger from “It’s all gone Pete Tong”.
It’s an interesting take on drug addiction, cravings and loss of control.
posted by Dave on 2-12-2008 at 10:27 am
What about the rain of frogs in Magnolia?
posted by Bozo on 2-12-2008 at 10:49 am
Any thoughts on the contents of the briefcase in Pulp Fiction? I’ve never been able to make up my mind on that, and haven’t read anything that spells it out specifically.
posted by Mike on 2-12-2008 at 10:50 am
The very end of Being There is probably my alltime favorite. It is mind boggling, and a great end to a great film. Of course Det Sjunde Inseglet (The Seventh Seal) is an amazing one. The entire film is really just a metaphor.
posted by Ty on 2-12-2008 at 10:51 am
The bone doesn’t cut to a spaceship
it cuts to a nuclear bomb/weapon.
the first weapon to the last weapon.
posted by Alex on 2-12-2008 at 10:54 am
In my opinion, 2001 is a cinematic symphony exploring man’s evolution from a simple creature prone to violence into something beautiful and great.
The steps of our evolution have usually been defined primarily by the tools our ancestors have used. The bone, as depicted in the film, is man’s first tool. When the primitive man throws the bone into the air, and it “turns into” the space transport, the film essentially fast-forwards into the future. The space capsule is just another tool for man.
However, we are about to see in HAL that man’s tools have come to control him. It is time for the next step in evolution – a spiritual “communion” with the heavens.
Rightfully so, the ending of the film is confounding. Just as the primitive man was wildly confused by the discovery of the tool and the monolith (representing the brink of discovery and evolution), so is modern man’s sense of reality disrupted by the evolution to come. Even the laws of time and space itself, which man, in the film, has conquered, are called into question as Dave spends his last(?) remaining years with whatever force he has discovered on his mission.
I love this film because Kubrick provides no simple answers, but has intrigued me enough to come back to the film over and over and over. I think it is one of the most important and stimulating films ever made.
Nice post!
posted by Nathan on 2-12-2008 at 11:01 am
Re: Barton Fink… I always thought of the wallpaper coming down as his mind coming apart. He’s sitting in this hotel room, trying to prostitute his gift by writing a wrestling picture (unsuccessfully) and the harder he tries the more everything falls apart (literally AND figuratively). I think the beach is his mind finally snapping. He stares at the picture the entire time he is attempting to write, and at the end he finally ends up inside it.
Of course, I could be oversimplifying.
posted by Brian G on 2-12-2008 at 11:08 am
The bone/space station in 2001 is supposed to represent man’s first weapon (the bone) and man’s newest weapon (the space station). In the novel 2001, the space station is equipped with nuclear weapons, although there’s no way to tell that in the movie. However, the symbol still remains.
As for the Monoliths, they are the architects of mankind’s evolution. They enabled the ape to utilize the bone as a weapon, thus progressing man’s evolution. The one buried on the moon gave out signals that could only be detected when man was advanced enough to detect them, thus setting off another stage of evolution (i.e. Dave Bowman turning into the Star Child).
posted by nick on 2-12-2008 at 11:10 am
Anyone seen The Prisoner tv series? Metaphors gone wild.
posted by dw on 2-12-2008 at 11:14 am
Just out of curiousity…this site is suppposed to be for those interested in various subjects all typically regarding some form of higher thought…why then are the authors worried about “swear words” in the clips.
Is this article for children or adults? I think the majority of us can handle the “swear words”.
Just thought writing like this demeans the overall goal of the website.
posted by IsThisForKids? on 2-12-2008 at 11:22 am
@ Mike re: Any thoughts on the contents of the briefcase in Pulp Fiction?
I remember reading a while ago that some people thought it was Marcellus’ soul that he had bought back from the devil, although that’s conjecture. I don’t think Tarantino has ever said anything definitive.
posted by Ray on 2-12-2008 at 11:32 am
@mike:
I’ve read that in Pulp Fiction, the suitcase has the head guy’s soul in it, and the poor saps that John Travolta and Samuel Jackson blow away are little imps that stole it. At some point in the movie, there’s a view of the back of his head and he has a band-aid on it; that’s supposedly where someone got there soul stolen from them.
posted by Dash, USVI on 2-12-2008 at 11:41 am
my favorite film metaphor is the film grain in pi. As the main character descends into madness the film becomes grainier and grainier.
posted by Dave Keene on 2-12-2008 at 12:25 pm
Nick beat me to it with his profoundly definitive analysis of the epic scene.
As far as the monoliths are concerned, I recently came upon a fascinating bit of movie trivia concerning Kubrick’s, Clarke’s dilemma on how to best portray the ‘intelligence’ depicted in the movie having sought out none other than Carl Sagan on this matter.
His advice has really stood the test of time advising not to portray the alien intelligence directly but to utilize a visual prop, the monolith works extraordinarily well in symbolizing their presence. “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” really demonstrates how insightful
Sagan’s advice was that while when first released it may have awed the audience to see the alien first greeting humans watching it today is really sort of painful in seeing how unconvincing it appears.
Watching 2001:A Space Odyssey today really boggles the mind at how visually
timeless it is, except for views of the Earth, the set designs, space ships, are
incredibly well done, which goes for the
monolith portrayal as well, which is astounding considering how primitive the state of special effects was at that time.
What amazed me about Kubrick and Clarke approaching Sagan was that Sagan remained consistent on this issue in his novel “Contact” portraying the aliens indirectly.
posted by Marc Savoy on 2-12-2008 at 12:29 pm
The suitcase in pulp fiction contains the soul of Marsellus Wallace, played by Ving Rhames. The camera cuts behind Marsellus and shows the bandage on the back of his skull. This is where the devil takes the soul out of a person when you have sold it.
posted by Hellzapoppin on 2-12-2008 at 12:29 pm
The suitcase in Pulp Fiction: I’m pretty sure I read an interview with Tarantino where he said it was a MacGuffin, i.e. a plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story, but is of little importance otherwise.
Barton Fink: I would agree that the hotel represents Hell. It seemed pretty obvious, always hot and literally burning in the end. The wallpaper and the picture were two things I wondered about. Perhaps the peeling wallpaper is the crumbling of Barton’s ideals about the common man, and the destruction of his idols? The picture seemed to fit into that theme as well, some unattainable ideal, the beautiful girl on the heavenly beach with her back to him.
posted by JW on 2-12-2008 at 1:24 pm
Absolutely fantastic list, especially the Barton Fink inclusion which is often overlooked in the bevy of great Coen Brothers films.
posted by FauxNixon on 2-12-2008 at 1:42 pm
I never really understood the ending of The Shining. What does the picture at the end symbolise? The picture with Nicholson smiling whilst at a large gathering of people, looks like 1930’s.
posted by carl on 2-12-2008 at 1:50 pm
@carl:
He’s been taken by the hotel – he’s part of the place and the staff now. The place is haunted by a malevolent force and he’s joined it.
posted by mordros on 2-12-2008 at 2:39 pm
For Portable Living Room i guess it could be said that the house is a sort of portal, outlet, or amplifier for his imagination in lieu of going to the beach. in the end his imagination grows very powerful and he’s a bit scared of it (or he’s afraid he might be over his head if these things he sees are in fact real as opposed to just his imagination) so he closes the window and returns to reality. by that time it’s already taken him where he’s wanted to go which was the beach.
that’s just my stab in the dark at it. :)
posted by Everfalling on 2-12-2008 at 2:49 pm
Alas, I have no brilliant insights to share other than I was struck while watching The Exorcist at how primitive and medieval Regan’s treatment seemed, and it reminded me of Ken Russell’s The Devils – was very gratified to see The Devils referenced in the credits.
BTW Is This for Kids – if you reread the intro most carefully, you’ll see that what you take for a parental advisory is a “Workplace” advisory, as in, maybe you are surfing Mental Floss at work, and your cubemates don’t need or want to hear “FUCK!” coming from your cube.
Perhaps one needs to be capable of higher thought to interpret this intro sentence, repeated, verbatim, here: “These are, for the most part, safe for work — but I’ll boldly indicate the few that are not.”
TWEAK! ;-)
posted by LibraryLady on 2-12-2008 at 3:37 pm
@ carl:
Mordros has it right. This is easier to understand in the novel. During their entire time at the Overlook, the hotel’s dead and the malevolent (to steal the perfect term from Mordros) forces are trying to win Nicholson’s character over to their side…this struggle is explored much more in the novel than in the movie version. The novel character seems to fight a lot harder against the madness and evil taking him over; Nicholson just sort of lets it take him, reveling in it.
posted by crescentfresh on 2-12-2008 at 4:15 pm
Re: Isthisforkids… The warning for swear words is so you don’t open the link in public when it’s not appropriate (i.e. sitting next to a 8 year old and her mother at Starbucks).
posted by Alicia on 2-12-2008 at 4:55 pm
If you’ve ever read 2001 you will get the obvious connection of the monolith scene to space travel.
The transformation from animal to human occurs when the animal learns to use found objects as tools to aid natural behavior. The monolith aids the transformation and starts the process of evolution. Follow the path and you will get to space travel.
posted by khall on 2-12-2008 at 5:07 pm
@ several re: Pulp Fiction
Yup, I’ve heard the soul theory a number of times, but really haven’t heard anyone involved in the film confirm that. I like what JW said above, that it’s simply a plot device. Sometimes we read too much into things because they make sense or mean something to ourselves personally.
posted by Mike on 2-12-2008 at 5:17 pm
As Mike said above, and according to those involved in the film, the stuff in the suitcase was not intended to be studied.. it was simply plot grease.
Really, really effective plot grease. :)
posted by Leita on 2-12-2008 at 6:07 pm
The 2001 cut (which I agree, is awesomeness!) was intended to connect the first WEAPON technology with a more modern weapon technology (the space craft is essentially a nuclear battleship in orbit).
posted by Stanley on 2-12-2008 at 6:16 pm
The sound of bells in Belle Du Jour.
posted by natalie on 2-12-2008 at 7:11 pm
The Pulp Fiction briefcase is kinda like the Monolith, in that they’re both supersymbols that represent whatever you want to read onto them. If you’re mapping “desiderata” onto the briefcase and “object of power” onto the Monolith… you’re probably as close as anyone’s ever gonna get.
The little lady and I were watching the new “Final Cut” of Blade Runner the other night, and it struck us that for all the interesting Scott/Ford quibbling it’s provided us with, the question of “is Deckard a replicant?” is the loveliest piece of misdirection ever worked into a sci-fi movie. It’s a central question whose answer can only be revealed by careful examination of the film’s manifest metaphors, extrapolations and projections; and once you get there, you kind of have to admit that in this context, “human” just refers to that same beautiful intangible joie de vivre that suffuses so much of PKD’s work.
posted by Tom on 2-12-2008 at 8:01 pm
On Blade Runner: one question I can’t answer when asked is, if Deckard and the cops know the Nexus 6 units were scheduled to shut down and die anyway, why the need to send him after them?
And I think once they let Scott put in the unicorn scenes, that was the tip off, because of the origami, that Deckard’s memories were implants.
posted by Johnny Cat on 2-12-2008 at 8:47 pm
@Johnny Cat: Yeah, um, I’m a little embarrassed I never wondered that before. Is it possible Tyrell could have given them more life (fucker) if he’d a wanted to, or was Deckard just charged with tracking them down before they did too much malarkey?
posted by Tom on 2-12-2008 at 8:56 pm
Great list! If I can chip in:
Matrix – I know there were so many people interpreting it that it sounds cliche to include it, but I still love it. So many metaphors – big and small…
American Beauty – the main characters being metaphors of “American Beauties”: the wife = business community, neighbor = armed forces, neighbor’s son = entertainment industry, Angela = sexually-liberated youth; and how the common man attempt to “just be” reveals the truth behind the beauties’ illusion.
Videodrome – the doors on the movie the Max crosses to advance to each next level.
I will try to think of others…
posted by Luiz on 2-12-2008 at 9:05 pm
in blade runner the whole reason is to show the NEXUS’S (nexii ??) that humans still control them. they ARE going to die. but we, humans, are still in control. you are our slaves. you cannot escape and do whatever you like.
posted by simon on 2-12-2008 at 10:26 pm
Excellent point, simon. k thx bye.
posted by Johnny Cat on 2-12-2008 at 11:34 pm
My favorite film metaphor is in Terry Gilliam’s masterpiece, “Brazil”. In the very first scene, something happens that neatly encapsulates and foreshadows the entire film: A nameless bureaucrat notices a spot on his desk, tries to wipe it off, and when he is unsuccessful, moves a stapler over to cover it up.
posted by Salvius on 2-13-2008 at 12:44 am
Re: Blade Runner – I’ve always insisted that “Is Deckard a replicant?” is the wrong question. The *right* question is “Are the replicants people?” (Not human, obviously, but ‘people’)
posted by Salvius on 2-13-2008 at 12:49 am
On Blade Runner: one question I can’t answer when asked is, if Deckard and the cops know the Nexus 6 units were scheduled to shut down and die anyway, why the need to send him after them?
It seems obvious to me to say that while they were scheduled to shut down it wasn’t scheduled to happen for quite some time and Deckard was sent to terminate them to prevent them from committing crimes, hurting anyone as portrayed by
gruesome death of Tyrell.
Deckard getting to the errant Nexus unit
early enough would have saved Tyrell.
posted by Marc Savoy on 2-13-2008 at 2:25 am
@Salvius: I think that’s what I was trying to say all along. Kudos.
posted by Tom on 2-13-2008 at 5:00 pm
Barton Fink: I think one the things the movie talks about is the creative process, and how it defies the logic of art imitating life (in the case of an abnormal experience as the one Barton had being the inspiration for him doing his own masterpiece). In the end, one of the things that the film is trying to say is that it comes the other way; life imitates art as well, so we see the random girl doing the exact same pose as the painting in the hotel room.
posted by Suza on 2-13-2008 at 9:56 pm
Recently saw “The Fountain” and was intrigued by the ring that Rachel Weisz gives to Hugh Jackman and it’s allusions to his acceptance of death. “The Fountain” is chock full of metaphors but, as reflected in the majority of other posts, 2001: A Space Odyssey’s bone/station is the best… XD
posted by Tyler Durden on 2-13-2008 at 10:14 pm
not sure if anyone’s still checking this thread, but i read somewhere (though i can’t find the source at the instant) a fairly convincing argument that in ‘barton fink,’ john goodman represents the germans before and during wwii, gradually incroaching on civilized europe (rep. by the v. jew-y john turturro), ultimately ending in a holocaust.
it’s kinda cool, though i’m not entirely sure i buy it.
posted by Joel on 2-19-2008 at 1:10 am
Barton Fink is one of my personal favorites. I think that the whole film is chock full of metaphors (and by not explaining them, the gammit of explanations are near endless). I always took the painting to represent absolute beauty (intellectual, philosophical, actual). Barton, in his own words, creates beauty. He is all about the beauty and poetry of the common man. The problem with seeing the beauty in something (in your mind)is that the further into your own head you go, the more detached from reality you become. The hotel scene/Charlie vs. Muntz/the loss of his family/ being fired all culminate with the beach scene. He has had his illusions about man come crashing down around his head, and is left with only his mind (and more than likely someone elses in a conveniant little package…whose arrival allowed him to finish writing)and his idea of perfect serene beauty (the girl).
BARTON:
…You’re very beautiful. Are you in
pictures?
She laughs.
BEAUTY:
Don’t be silly.
his final illusion (that he understands what beauty/art/humanity is) comes crashing down just as the bird plummits into the sea.
posted by Jonathan on 3-7-2008 at 2:36 pm
Cool Beans, Man. Always in search of a few good metaphors.
My personal favorite is at the end of “The Big Lebowski”, when Walter scatters Donny’s Ashes over the Ocean, only to have it fly back into the Dude’s face, symbolizing the impossibility of man to escape the legacy of those who have gone before, and the responsibility for Donny’s death that rests upon the Dude’s shoulders, a memory he is forced to live with.
posted by Icebox on 3-18-2008 at 12:31 am
The reel of kisses in Cinema Paradiso. It’s all the passion of life, suppressed by the church, encapsulated in one reel of film and at last released. Emotionally stunning.
posted by Tysto on 3-21-2008 at 12:03 am
Bravo to the reel of kisses in Cinema Paradiso. Always the one of the introductory viewings in my high school film class.
posted by JSimm on 6-9-2008 at 12:58 pm
would you consider the piano scene in Betty blue to be a metaphor when zorg starts to play the piano it sounds beautiful but then Betty sits down and sort of stabs at the piano keys but it makes it sound even better and then the two of them play and the music is much more beautiful than either one’s on their own its like its showing you how they fit together as a couple
posted by mandy kavanagh on 6-19-2008 at 11:41 pm