visual metaphor

[darthshawn]

I heard a term today that has got my mind in a knot, the idea of a visual metaphor. If you have some ideas of what this may imply or how to apply it I would love to know what you think.

[marti-c]

Hi Shawn
I have been having a discussion about this one with my other half. I dont even try to be that analytical when it comes to films, but my guess would be as follows:

The official meaning for a metaphor is the comparision of 2 things without using the terms like or as! ( using like or as is a simile ).
i.e. He was a lion in the ring (metaphor)
He was like a lion in the ring(simile)

It would stand to reason that showing , for example, a man fighting in a ring and maybe doing actions that compared him to a lion would be a metaphor.( or even morphing actually into a lion temporarily).

P.s. Shawn , this could be complete bollocks so dont believe every word

[shakespeareskin]

hiya Shawn,

okay a metaphor is as he said above, however many metaphors are comparisons. Looking at classic literature you can take a cue from Marry Shelley's "Frankenstein". Shelley creates a metaphor for the relationship between God and man in the characters of Dr. Frankenstein and The Creature. A good example of a Visual Metaphor in film would be in the movie "Forrest Gump". In Gump the visual metaphor's are the scenes in the begining and the end on the feather floating around. it's a metaphor for life, or our "life journey". Hope that helps...