Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,943
edits
Rule of Symbolism: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
m (categories and general cleanup) |
No edit summary |
||
| (9 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|''"He went back until he was ninety to see a ''hat''? Why didn't he just go back to the store and buy a new one?"
''Mother's eyes hardened. "The story isn't about the hat, Jimmy."
''"Sure, it is. The hat, the hat, that's all you talked about. Every other word was 'hat.'"''
|''The Man in the Ceiling'' by Jules Feiffer}}
Essentially, this is when something would normally stretch [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]], but it is so central to the themes or premise of the story that it is allowed so that it can be used as a symbol.
Line 10 ⟶ 11:
A [[Natural Spotlight]] is often this.
This rule is also related to the [[Anthropic Principle]]. What [[Anthropic Principle]] is for the existence of a work,
A [[Super-Trope]] to [[Crucified Hero Shot]], [[World of Symbolism]], [[Purple Is Powerful]], [[Symbol Motif Clothing]].
Line 17 ⟶ 18:
Contrast [[Faux Symbolism]] (when something only appears symbolic), [[What Do You Mean It's Not Didactic?]], [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory]] (when people see symbolism in everything). See also [[Stock Monster Symbolism]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* This trope is almost entirely responsible for anime [[Hair Colors]] and [[Personality Blood Types]].
* ''[[One Piece]]'' has a ton of things mostly justifiable by the symbolism involved. One example that stands out is the Rumbar Pirates' last song together: the entire crew getting up and singing while all suffering fatal arrow wounds then dying one by one is patently absurd, but it works because it drives home the sense of loss that the scene calls for.
** They also pull the "fate's intervention" bit, although some fans argue that the scene in question is an as-yet-unfired [[Chekhov's Gun]].
* The ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' movie runs almost entirely on this, containing such outrageous examples as constantly moving, modernist-esque buildings, surreal video sequences, and
** Except ''possibly'' the car thing. At least one source claims [[Word of God]] is that the creator just wanted to turn a girl into a car. [[Your Mileage May Vary|Personal interpretations may vary wildly.]]
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''... [[Your Mileage May Vary|depending]] [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory|on]] [[Faux Symbolism|who]] [[Broken Base|you]] [[Internet Backdraft|ask]].
* ''[[
* ''[[Ergo Proxy]]''... [[Your Mileage May Vary|maybe]].
* Magic in ''[[
* ''[[Yami no Matsuei]]'' sure loves
* ''[[Loveless]]''. Butterflies, anyone? Since the manga is essentially about growing up and/or leaving behind the past to become something new.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
Line 37:
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[
** 'Allegedly'? That's half of what makes the first one so great. On the other hand, this trope is largely what did in the sequels, which sacrificed plot for thematic indulgences, meaningless symbolism and pointless digressions that just slowed the pacing to a halt.
* ''[[
* Julie Taymor's version of [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Titus Andronicus (
* ''[[Equilibrium]]'' had plenty of this.
* [[Takashi Miike]]'s ''[[Gozu]]'' makes almost no sense at all without the realization that, not only is nearly everything symbolic, it uses symbols and tropes drawn from several entirely unrelated sources ( {{spoiler|mainly Japanese and Greek mythology, as well as psychological metaphors for the main character's coming to terms with his homosexuality}}).
* Roger Ebert made an observation regarding the controversial ending of ''[[Taxi Driver]]'': "The end sequence plays like music, not drama: It completes the story on an emotional, not a literal, level."
* '''Star Wars''' is rife with incidents of symbol-intensive, yet belief-defying events.
** The [[Battle Amongst the Flames|final battle]] between Anakin Skywalker <ref>Technically it was between ''Darth Vader'' and Obi-Wan Kenobi, but The Vade isn't truly transformed until he dons the suit</ref> and Obi-Wan Kenobi in ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'' takes place [[Convection, Schmonvection|within an active volcanic caldera]] of [[Fire and Brimstone Hell|Mustafar]], much to the [[You Fail Physics Forever|chagrin of the scientifically adept]]. According [[Word of God|to Lucas]], the setting was meant to remind us of [[Paradise Lost|something else]].
* ''[[Inception]]'' is filled to the brim with more things that could possibly be symbolic than you'll ever see. However, since most of the film takes place in peoples' dream and it's explicitly mentioned that artificially-created dreams only provide the frame, which is then filled in by the dreamer's subconsciousness, it's mostly justified.
* [[American Beauty]]: Everything. The director goes into great detail in the commentary about it. Its ripe for Media study classes.
* Done [[In
* [[Black Swan]], would also invoke this trope.
* [[Sucker Punch]], when you have a metaphor/fantasy scene, inside another metaphor/fantasy scene, which all reverts around another metaphor/meaning.
* From ''[[The Sixth Sense]]''. Would you ''really'' expect a woman to wear a bright red dress to a funeral? You would if she's the killer.
* In the Disney animated feature film, [[The Lion King]], the symbol that made sure Simba overcame his {{spoiler|unnecessary}} guilt, was during the cleansing rains pouring down on Pride Rock after the final battle, a wildebeest skull is washed away by the torrent.
Line 56:
== [[Literature]] ==
* The book of Revelation/The Apocalypse of St. John in ''[[The Bible]]'' is arguably the best example in all of Western civilization. It had to be; it was primarily an indictment against Rome, and wouldn't have made it past the Roman censors had its author(s) not hidden their message under a heap of symbolic language. ("The seven heads are seven hills.")
* The [[Discworld]] novel ''[[
* The [[Toni Morrison]] novel ''Sula'' has the Deweys - three unrelated boys who are all given the same name and treated as interchangeable, subsequently becoming [[Single-Minded Twins|Single Minded Triplets]] who are somehow all child-sized after a decade or so. The bizarre, unlikely biology at work here is that they represent the larger social effects of stereotyping.
* The weird... meteor... giant "A"... THING that appears in the sky about midway through ''[[The Scarlet Letter]]''.
* ''[[One Flew Over the
* [[Thomas Pynchon
* ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' has symbolism from almost every mythological source around, and somehow integrates it into the story ''all the time'' without sounding pretentious.
** The series could easily be accused of [[Faux Symbolism]], since it tends to throw in names from dozens of mythologies without always drawing meaningful parallels to the myths. However, due to the nature of the series's cosmology, even the meaningless symbolism has meaning, since it ties into the theme of how myths are misremembered and misinterpreted as they fade over time.
* William Golding had a plane evacuating children from England crash in the Pacific rather than the Atlantic Ocean in ''[[Lord of the Flies]]'' specifically so that he could contrast his setting with that of another book, which also featured an island in the Pacific.
** ''[[Lord of the Flies]]'' is ''loaded'' with this. Why does Piggy's hair remain short and neat while the other boys sport shaggy, unkempt hair? Because he is the symbolic embodiment of reason and intelligence.
Line 69:
** Same with {{spoiler|Harry pulling Godric Gryffindor's sword out of the Sorting Hat}} in the second book, to demonstrate that a person's choices are what ultimately determines what kind of person they are. Of course, it could have just been sent to Harry by Dumbledore. If this is the case, then it's a subversion.
* In ''[[The Pale King]]'', The IRS seal depicts the mythical hero Bellerophon slaying the Chimera, which represents those who are stuck doing the difficult and unpopular work.
* The [[Fractured Fairy Tale]] short stories in Angela Carter's ''The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories''. Everything in them. [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made
* The book ''The Rules of Survival'' deals with a teenage boy and his younger sisters living with their abusive mother. The cover? A picture of a bowl of broken glass with a spoon sticking out of it.
* A lot of the criticism leveled at the new ''[[Battlestar Galactica
▲== Live Action TV ==
▲* A lot of the criticism leveled at the new ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined|Battlestar Galactica]]'' came from the tendency of the writers to draw thematic and symbolic parallels to real-world events, even when it didn't make sense for the world of the show. Many saw the show as a 9/11 allegory, even though the damage the Cylons inflicted on the humans was incalculably greater than that of the terrorist attacks on America. The absurdity of a room full of reporters questioning the president was pointed out many times -- it was meant to resemble the real-world political situation, but a population of less than fifty thousand could not possibly need that many competing news organizations. The abortion storyline was meant to challenge the audience's ideas about real-world abortion, but the fact that the fleet would have a very hard time supporting a bunch of helpless infants clearly made Roslin's decision unfeasible.
* In ''[[Breaking Bad]]'', the {{spoiler|plane crash}} at the end of Season 2 and {{spoiler|Gus' death and last moments of life}} at the end of season 4 are somewhat out of place in an otherwise subtle and highly realistic show, but the symbolic point they make, especially of the former, are very important to the series.
== Theatre ==
Line 82 ⟶ 80:
* The overbearing Winter versus Summer in ''Celebration'', the [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[The Fantasticks]]''.
* Arguably there were a few instances in Jez Butterworth's play ''Jerusalem'' which stretched the audience's ''[[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]]'' but had symbolism instead. For example, when Johnny ("Rooster") {{spoiler|beats the bongo drum heavily in the last scene to "summon giants", after a few moments, the audience then hears three loud stomps in a similar style to footsteps, then on the last stomp the stage blacks out instantly, ending the play. It's unlikely there were actually giants in context to the rest of the play, so it can be interpreted more easily as a metaphor (which carries symbolism) rather than a literal event.}}
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Cryostasis Sleep Of Reason]]'' might be the single greatest example of this in video games, much of the plot is symbologically told through a fairy tale. The monsters quickly turn from Ice Zombies to weird abstract demons, and God help you if you attempt to make any non-symbolic sense of the ending, hell, God help you if you attempt to make sense of anything after you enter the Prison.
* The whole of ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'' itself is pretty much 80% symbolism. Another notable
** You're slightly off the mark. That room with the deceased man in front of the television isn't meant to be taken as a suicide, especially given the [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]] in the conversation that follows. Given {{spoiler|Eddie's}} downward spiral into sociopathy as {{spoiler|-he-}} murders more and more people — and the only human corpses you find are in {{spoiler|his}} wake, it becomes increasingly apparent that {{spoiler|Eddie murdered that man and is vomiting in the toilet due to his initial, short-lasting revulsion at his own actions.}} The character model is James' simply because — and they've admitted this — they got lazy and didn't think anyone would notice.
* In ''[[
* Corpses show up in crucifixion poses all over ''[[
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' the name of our very ''[[The Ace]]'' is a symbol: Zack (of course short for Zachery...) means "Memory", ...
* The [[Final Boss]] of ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'', Necron, is one of the biggest cases of [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]] in the industry, but fans of the game justify his appearance with this. The main theme of the game is that everyone and everything wants to live, and even the [[Big Bad]] Kuja is only trying to kill everyone because his own life has been robbed from him by his father, Garland. Necron is the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of death, and shows up in the end to give the heroes a chance to literally defeat Death itself.
Line 100 ⟶ 97:
* Likewise, the powerful shadows in ''[[Persona 4]]'' represent sides of the characters' inner selves that they would prefer to keep concealed so naturally, when you finally see them, the symbolism just slaps you around with a fresh tuna. A caged bird? A gigantic over-muscled *thing* with flowers for a head? A half-man half-woman robot thing? Yeah.
* This tends to be the only strong defense for ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'''s ending. {{spoiler|John Marston's death makes the entire game essentially a [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]] story and leaves the player to play as a character who is widely considered to be [[The Scrappy]], but the symbolism of a large number of government agents shooting down one of the last aging gunslingers ties into the game's theme so well, it works.}}
* ''[[The Neverhood]]'' abounds with symbolism related to the Garden of Eden, from the setting itself (which is a kind of Eden-gone-sideways) to the main villain's plot (he stole his leader's
* The old RTS 7th Legion has much symbolism related to the Apocalypse.
* ''[[Yume Nikki]]'' takes place in a [[Dream Land]]. Being [[Mind Screw|more dream-like than usual]], the game is composed entirely of this and [[Rule of Scary]].
* In ''[[Hyperdimension Neptunia
* The Ancient Cistern in ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
* What ''[[Braid]]'' is seemingly about is a man called Tim trying to rescue a princess from an evil monster. What Braid is ''really'' about, and who or what Tim, the Princess and the Monster represent is a topic that is heavily debated, with ideas ranging from the game being about {{spoiler|one man's slip from sanity, the relationships between men and women in general, a man trying to fix a crumbling relationship, a man learning that some mistakes cannot be reversed, a man stalking an innocent women etc}}. It's kinda [[Mind Screw|MindScrewy]], you see. The most accepted theory is that Tim is {{spoiler|a scientist on the Manhattan Project}} and the Princess is {{spoiler|the Atom Bomb}} but even that is contested. However, what the game is actually about is entirely up to you, as [[Word of God]] refuses to elaborate. A lot of this overlaps with [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory]] style symbolism.
Line 111 ⟶ 108:
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]'' uses this in-universe. When the characters are watching one of the last scenes of ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'', the white flowers in a field turn red in a dramatic moment. Decoy Octopus questions the reason for such a phenomenon, only to be told it doesn't matter.
== [[Web Original]] ==
* On their episode on ''[[Metroid: Other M]]'', the guys at ''[[Unskippable]]'' had fun pointing all the obvious mother/child related symbolism (The title being an anagram of Mother, forming the abbreviation Mom. The baby's cry alarm. The bottle station shaped like a baby's bottle) in the intro. Paul eventually declares "I am starting to think this is just a symbolic dream Samus is having."
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Blanket statement: most works that attempt to justify a [[Deus Ex Machina]] as evidence of fate intervening in somebody's favor. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it is usually an attempt to use this trope.
* As much as crucifixion has been used for symbolism through the years, the symbolism of the most famous crucifixion was that the punishment was given to slaves, pirates, and enemies of the state.
** The crucifixion (as opposed to other methods of execution) was seen by the Roman Empire as ''too harsh a punishment'' for ''actual'' Roman citizens. Thus, it was used ''only'' for slaves (who were citizens of other nations brought to Rome as captives) and pirates (citizens of NO nation) within Roman borders; it was used for non-citizens in Roman-held territories, like the most recognized case. Incidentally, the cruelest punishment for Roman citizens was not considered to be execution, but ''exile'', either to Roman territories away from the centre of power, or (gads!) outside Roman borders altogether, for those particularly heinous offenders. However, exile ''was'' much more [[Serious Business]] in those days, when travel wasn't as quick and safe and most civilizations weren't as welcoming of new additions to their populace.
Line 124 ⟶ 120:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Religion Tropes]]
[[Category:Rule of Index]]
[[Category:Laws and Formulas]]
▲[[Category:Rule of Symbolism]]
| |||