A symbol is a thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract. For example, in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”, the black bird stands for death and loss. An absent reality is the one in which symbols take you to a different and non-conscious reality, based on the meaning you give to a certain symbol.
There are different kinds of symbols in literature, such as: ·Colors:red represents danger and passion. Green means life and hope. Yellow represents age and decay. Blue symbolizes peace. Orange represents strong spiritualism or sexual love. Purple can symbolize royalty and pain, while violet means clear mindedness. Brown represents the earth and it can also be tied to humility. White represents innocence and enlightment, and pink suggests feminity, and black is related to death and evil. ·Nature: Seasons represent the progression of human life: spring (birth), summer (maturity), fall (old age) and winter (death). The sun and gold are masculine symbols, while the moon and silver are feminine. The apple tree symbolizes temptation, the sycamore represents vanity, the oak represents strength and the chestnut, foreknowledge. · Directions: The four compass directions are seen as symbols of different things, depending on the work in question. The east is tied to birth and renewal. The west is related to decrepitude and the end of things. The north is a place of death, hostility and loneliness, while the south symbolizes comfort, strength and peace. ·Animals: the lion and the peacock are associated with pride, but the lion is also a symbol of strength, while the peacock's pride represents vanity. Owls are wise, hawks are observant and ravens are a signal of death. The salmon is also a symbol of wisdom, while the mouse represents humility and fear. Foxes and cats both symbolize trickery, but the cat is clever, while the fox is sneaky. Snakes are often a symbol of evil and temptation.
In films, almost everything can be used as a symbol. For example:
A character: In “Black Swan” Nina's mother is a symbol of sexual restrain, while Lily is a symbol of sexual freedom. The White Swan part of Nina is a symbol of childhood and control, and the Black Swan symbolizes matureness and wildness.
The plot: In “The Truman Show”, the story of a man living a fake life is just a symbol for the whole "Reality vs Dream" existential question, which comes from the times of Descartes.
Sound: Star Wars is a clear example of this maily because of the Imperial March, which is a symbol of Darth Vader. This theme has a clear military, powerful, oppressive feeling to it which matches the character it was made for.
An allegorical symbol is a figure of speech in which abstract ideas and principles are described in terms of characters, figures and events. An example of this is the movie The Wizard of Oz, in which cowardice is represented in the lion, thoughtless panic in the scarecrow, and so on.
The signifier is a form which the sign takes or something that can be touched, seen, and so on and the signified is the concept it represents. Example: a bird that symbolizes freedom; a rose that represents passion.
Carl Jung believed that symbols were a key in understanding human nature. A symbol, as defined by Jung, is the “best possible expression for something essentially unknown”. Symbolic thinking is holistic, right-brain oriented, and it is complementary to logical, left-brain thinking. An example of Jung’s symbols is the shadow, which is a representation of the personal unconscious as a whole that usually embodies the compensating values to those held by the conscious personality.
The importance of Cirlot’s work is that became aware of the ‘symbolist ethos’ of modern art, because symbolic elements are present in all art, in so far as art is subject to psychological interpretation. This is why Cirlot had this need to understand and clarify every symbol in all its aspects. “Dictionary of Symbols” is useful and important because we can use it as a tool to recognize and understand symbols that are present in every aspect that we need to analize, such as literature, paintings and even films. There are many entries on this dictionary, those on architecture, color, nature, graphics, numbers, etc. Examples of words are: ·Bell: its sound is a symbol of creative power. Since it is in a hanging position, it partakes of the mystic significance of all objects which are suspended between heaven and earth. It is related, by its shape, to the vault and, consequently, to the heavens. ·Juice: represents life-giving liquid. It is a sacrificial symbol connected with blood and also with light as the distillation of igniferous bodies, suns and stars. · Leaf: one of the eight “common emblems” of Chinese symbolism, it is an allegory of happiness. When several leaves appear together as a motif, they represent people.
Ernst Cassirer argues that man is a "symbolic animal". Whereas animals perceive their world by instincts and direct sensory perception, humans create a universe of symbolic meanings. Humanity can’t be known directly, but has to be known through the analysis of the symbolic universe that man has created historically. He is particularly interested in natural language and myth. An example of Cassirer’s interest in human language is the word “fire”, which can be used to express fear when people are in a dangerous situation.
Gille Deleuze brought film studies closer to philosophy. For Deleuze, film was superior to other arts because it combines time and movement in such a necessary fashion. More than that, cinema must be considered as a philosophy because it constructs its own “concepts.” Cinema is not an applied philosophy submitted to traditional philosophical concepts, but it develops “cinematic” concepts through different symbols presented along a movie. Symbols are there as an allusion of something that wants to be noted by the audience, and that makes films an interest subject for a philosophical study.
According to Northrop Frye, the extrinsic mystery is the mystery of the unknown or unknownable essence when art is an illustration of something else, whereas the intrinsic mystery is the revelation of something unlimited in the art, no matter how well we know it.
An archetype is a character, symbol, or behavioral pattern that is a universal template for a character that is copied throughout all forms of storytelling. Archetypes were first seen in the writings of Plato and then later Sophocles, although it was popularized by Carl Jung. In literature, the use of archetypical characters and situations gives a literary work a universal acceptance, as readers identify the characters and situations in their social and cultural context. The writers attempt to impart realism to their works, as the situations and characters are drawn from the experiences of the world. Some examples are: ·The hero (archetype of character) is a character who predominantly exhibits goodness and struggles against evil, in order to restore harmony and justice to society .For example, Hercules. ·The mentor (archetype of character), whose task is to protect the main character. It is through the wise advice and training of a mentor that the main character achieves success in the world. For example, Gandalf in “The Lords of Rings”. ·The villain (archetype of character), whose main function is to oppose the hero in order to avoid him/her to bring justice. For example, The Joker in “Batman”. ·The journey (archetype of situation), in which the main character takes a journey that may be physical or emotional to understand his/her personality and the nature of the world. Examples are Dante’s “The Divine Comedy” and Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travel”.
Symbols in arts (literature and films)
Grapes: pleasure, abundance, fulfillment, and a life free from care
Fire: anger, passion, love, pain or death. It can also mean rebirth (the phoenix)
Light: used for truth, enlightenment, safety, or it can be used as a holy image
Water (rain): depression, human tears
Sun: source of light, heat and life; masculinity
Moon: changing and returning shape, feminity
Dance: to break free
The city: wealth of culture, diversity, history, art, affluence and design.
Woman: can be related to innocence but also to temptation.
Forest: the human subconscious, the mind and thoughts
Stairs: the lessons learned in life, which bring us higher and higher in knowledge, success (if going up).