Where Ancient History, Ancient Religion, and Comparative Mythology meet Cosmology creating Imagery, and Traditions we see and use all around us still today.
HRC Clay Tablet 1. Agricultural account tablet in Sumerian referring to flocks and herds, probably the property of one of the great temples of Southern Babylonia. About 2400 BCE.
Babylonian Clay Cone. Cuneiform inscription in Sumerian, recording the building of the Temple E-ninnu, the shrine of the patron god of the city of Ningirsu, and its dedication by Gudea, governor of Lagash. About 2350 BCE.
Atmoo writing the name of Ramses on the fruit of the Persea. From The History of the Art of Writing by Henry Smith Williams, 1901.
Clay Tablets
In the beginning, all writing was a form of accounting. As people developed agriculture, settled into towns, and began trading goods, they needed a way of keeping records of their exchanges. The first account records were small, marked clay tokens that represented quantities of various products, whether numbers of sheep, bags of grain, or loaves of bread. These counters date back 9000 years BCE to pre-historic Mesopotamia. The word "history," which stems from the Greek word for "knowing," means the study of the written or recorded past. Pre-history, therefore, signifies the period before writing or recording. Consequently, the Historical Period began around 3000 BCE when the Sumerians made the leap to writing. These early written characters were pictograms‚essentially pictures of the words or their sounds. Today, we often play with rebuspuzzles that mimic these early writing styles. The phrase "I owe you" written as "IOU" is a common example of a rebus. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and modern Chinese characters are other examples of pictographic script. Later, the Sumerians' picture-writing evolved into cuneiform, which means "wedge writing" in Latin. Cuneiform was written with a wedge-shaped stylus, much like the ones used on today's hand-held computers, onto damp clay tablets, which were then baked until hard. The Sumerians had enormous libraries of clay tablets containing their laws, business transactions, and literature.
Stylus and ink pot. From Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities, 1897.
Papyrus Scrolls
Egyptians began writing around the same time as the Sumerians. The name of their written characters, hieroglyphs, comes from the Greek word for "sacred carving." Compared to the 26 letters of the English alphabet, there are over 700 different hieroglyph signs. Ancient Egyptians wrote on many of the same surfaces that the Sumerians did: clay, stone, bone, metal, and leather. They wrote most often, however, with reed pens on papyrus scrolls. The papyrus plant is a tall reed that grows in the marshy areas around the Nile River. The fibers from the center of its triangular stalk were separated into long, narrow strips, which were laid crosswise to each other and beaten together to form a uniform sheet. New papyrus sheets are thin, flexible, and translucent. The individual sheets were then glued together into long scrolls. The longest Egyptian scroll ever found measures over 133 feet, which is only 18 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty, though most scrolls were much shorter. Long books were often divided into several scrolls. Papyrus continued to be the most popular writing surface for centuries; both the Greeks and the Romans used it.
St. Luke with Scroll and Codex. Book of Hours. HRC MS. NO. 5. Mid 15th century, France. Written in Latin and French. Page 20r. St. Luke is the patron saint of bookbinders. His symbol is the ox or calf.
Rough Notes:
What is Language? – Language as Symbolism Overview
Language can be thought of as a system of communication that uses symbols to convey deep meaning. Symbols can be words, images, body language, sounds, etc.[1]
An Introduction to the Idea of Language as Symbolism and Symbolic Language
Language is symbolic in more ways than can be summarized in a sentence or paragraph, but generally we are talking about how symbols can stand for something else, how they can be used to communicate, and how they can be imbued with meaning.
For a simple example of symbolic language: the word cat is symbolic of the idea of a cat, a dollar is a symbol of $1 of economic value, the word yes or a nod is a symbol of confirmation, a grimace is a symbol of disapproval, and a smiley face emoji is a symbol of happiness .
If I want to communicate happiness, it can be as simple as offering symbolic emoji to a friend. That simple symbol doesn’t have just one meaning, but it has a fairly common meaning, and general “communication value” (it works for conveying ideas between people).
That said, most symbols, and our use of them in practice, is anything but simple.
Most symbols mean many different things at once, and can mean different things to different people depending on a number of controllable and uncontrollable factors (like context, subtext, and the past experiences of those communicating).
Luckily, we can use a mix of symbols to better illustrate complex ideas quickly. Unfortunately, using a single term or even a mix of terms for a deep complex concept can lead to a world of communication problems.
Consider the following points:
Each symbol we use is like a shortcut. We don’t need to explain mass-energy equivalence each time we want to express the concept, we can just say “E = mc 2” and our science friend will know what we are talking about. Still, it isn’t “that simple”, as we often have to define symbols in conversation, using other symbols, each potentially adding complexity to our communication (given the fact that multiple meanings can be “anchored” to a single symbol).
Symbols don’t always have inherent meaning. Instead, symbols are generally given their meaning by humans based on their usage, and then those meanings and their interpretations differ based on context and subtext (leading to a world of opportunities for complex communication… and miscommunication).
Semantics, Semiotics, and Symbols: Semantics is the study of meaning. When we say “language is symbolic” we aren’t talking about “what we say” (what symbols we use), but “what we mean” (what the symbols we use mean; what we are trying to communicate). Language is symbolic in that the symbols we use have a deeper “symbolic and semantic” meaning beyond their literal meaning. The study of this can be called “semiotics” (meaning “observant of signs”; a Greek term popularized by John Locke; see below). Another way to say this is a signifier (a symbol) can signify (represent) meaning other than its literal meaning or even its common dictionary meaning (AKA signification).
TIP: For a simple example of what isn’t a symbol: A rock is a rock. I can look at it, it is what it is, i’m not using it to communicate. It isn’t symbolic of a rock, it is a rock. If a person can sense it, if it has any meaning that isn’t purely literal, if it has any “communication value”, it is a symbol. If a person can sense it, but it only has its literal meaning, and has no communication value, it isn’t a symbol. In this way, almost all our communication tools are symbolic, we use a mix of complex symbols with differing meanings to express specific ideas (or more specifically to illicit specific understandings in those with which we communicate).
NOTES: While on the topic of rocks and symbolism, we can say that if a symbol is “heavy with meaning” or conveys “heavy concepts” the symbol “has weight”. Symbols can be very powerful, think about national symbols like a country’s flag, they are emblems that people identify with and rally around. The same goes for historic figures, events, laws, gestures, photos, acts, songs, and more. When we pair together symbols, it creates a type of religion, in terms of the state, it creates a civic religion. Here one should note that symbols don’t just have direct communication value, they have indirect value as well (for example, if one creates an identity out of a symbol created or imbued with meaning by someone they never met. More on all this below.
Jung and Signs and Symbols: Speaking of semantics, there is a Jungian mode of thought where we can call “things that stand for actual things” signs, and we can call “things that stand for metaphysical concepts” symbols. In our terms, we’ll consider symbols and signs as analogous. Jung is a master of symbology and signs in terms of their metaphysics (just like Locke is a master in the empirical sense and Chomsky is a modern master in the logical sense), consider checking out Jung’s work![2]
In its simplest form, every letter used to form our formal written and spoken language is a symbol. Words symbolize meaning, and phrases and combinations of words symbolize different meanings. Then, these words and phrases take on different meaning in different contexts.
However, as noted above, it isn’t just letters and words that are symbolic. Any sensory information that can be transferred between entities in any way can be thought of as symbolic of deeper meaning (whether meaning is conveyed intentionally or not), as a symbol is defined in this sense as, “something that means something else”. In this respect, things like tone and inflection can be symbolic as well.
Meanwhile, purposefully using a symbol or a mix of symbols to communicate allows us to express complex ideas, with many deep meanings, and thus combinations of symbols can themselves be symbolic.
For example, spoken phrases like “we need to talk” or single words like “oh” can be used literally (being symbolic of only their literal meaning), or they can be paired with specific body language, tone, infections, and other social cues to take on deeper meanings. Meanings can change by context, and sometimes subtle social cues can change the meaning of other symbols completely. Thus, while some meaning is static, much is based on context (and not just the context of the communicator, but the context of the listener).
For another example, on this page I use a mix of images, videos, words, phrases, font-weight, questions, statements, metaphors, and other symbolic tools to define language as symbolism (how “meta“). One written word by itself may be symbolic of only a singular literal meaning, but when paired with other the words in the sentence, paragraph, or page (when read “in context”) many layers of complexity are able to be conveyed.
If I send a loved one a ” ” emoji out of the blue, it is sweet; if I send it to a stranger, it is creepy. The symbol didn’t change, the context did. Furthermore, if the loved one is in a bad mood, the “:)” may be perceived differently than if they are in a good mood, and context matters in this way too.
A straight line can be near meaningless, or it can represent a meaningful “1” in the binary code that forms the foundation of your computer’s software. A wave of a hand can mean hello, it can mean I love you, or it can mean hail Caesar; it depends.
Thus, it is not just the symbols themselves, but how we use them that is symbolic, and while a given symbol can have deep semantic meaning on its own, it is context, subtext, and the paring of symbols which allows us to express complex ideas and deep meaning…. and, as noted above, can lead to miscommunication.
The Weight of Symbols and Miscommunication: We can define symbols, be defined by symbols, and identify with symbols. Sure, we can give names to terms and we can make up a code language, but most terms out there are already defined (imbued with thick layers of meaning, emotion, and other symbolism). Some terms, like those in the realm of politics, metaphysics, and other semantical arts where emotions and allegiances run high, can carry a ton of “weight” that can be hard to avoid “the gravity” of (note how those phrases are symbolic of the deep meaning of symbols). This makes communicating with these more complex symbols a complicating task. Learn more about Defining Labels, Being Defined By Labels, and Identifying With Labels.
Language as a Formal (and Informal) Symbolic System of Communication
Suffice to say, this definition of language as a formal (and informal) symbolic system isn’t just concerned with symbols themselves, but with the formal AKA “defined”, “bounded”, “specific” (and informal “not-purely-defined”) rule-sets for combining symbols to express meaning. We can also consider other aspects, such as how meaning can be expressed both intentionally and intentionally (such as reading unintentional body language as a social cue).[3][4]
We may not be able to define a broad system like this completely, but we can argue that it is a discrete system (specifically it has the property of “discrete infinity”), as it is both limited (with some symbols and combinations of symbols being meaningless) and unlimited (we can create [essentially] endless constructs from a limited set of symbols). See a discussion on Chomsky’s concept of discrete infinity.[5]
Below is a video explaining what we mean when we say “formal language”. Check out the Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker videos below for other perspectives (from [more] qualified linguists).
The core here is the theory that language is symbolic and symbols are language, the complexity that comes from that is what spans the works of figures like Locke and Chomsky (and this page). Feel free to comment below!
MUSING: A picture is worth a thousand words, and that is if one is being modest. The picture below tells the story of how wet sand was used to glide large statues and stones across the sands of Ancient Egypt, this is how the Pyramids were built. It took us until around 2014 to find out, because we didn’t understand the symbolism of the old Egyptian drawings despite them being in front of our face the whole time. The lesson here is that purposefully attempting to convey meaning is only part of the battle when it comes to communication, a lot has to do with our common rulesets for using symbols and context. Another takeaway is that symbols can have layers of deep metaphysical meaning, or they can be very practical like the symbols below (which essentially just constitute a “how-to” with a single basic meaning).
TIP: As phrased well by the article Language as Symbolism which presents an excerpt from Language in Thought and Action, by S. Hayakawa, “The process by means of which human beings can arbitrarily make certain things stand for other things may be called the symbolic process. Whenever two or more human beings can communicate with each other, they can, by agreement, make anything stand for anything.”
TIP: In Binary 1=on and 0=off. Symbols sometimes have strict meaning in context, when bounds have been clearly defined. However, we are talking about a system with only lose boundaries. So outside of binary, we can redefine 1 and 0 for our conversation as 0=complex and 1=I think I get it. So, despite the inherent “0”, I’m hoping you feel like “1” by the end of this page.
TIP: There are many ways to muse on the concept that language is symbolic, we do our best to cover all of them below. When in doubt check out the greats like Chomsky and Pinker (but don’t forget to also study those who disagree with their stances for a full picture).
Defining Language as Other Systems
With the above covered, it should be noted that there are many different ways to define language, and to express the concepts behind how we communicate, beyond looking at the symbolic nature of communication (i.e. it is semantics).
Other definitions of language focus on our neurology, our communication tools, or the cryptographicnature of language.
I feel this is all encapsulated by studying symbols, but since the topic is ultimately semantic, you shouldn’t stop your studying on this page (to say the least). The goal here is to get you thinking of language as symbolism.
Defining Terms Related to Language
Before we move on to deeper explainers and insight, let’s clarify a few terms. For the purposes of this article:
Language is the ability to acquire and use a system of communication (it isn’t just the system itself, it is the ability to acquire and use of the system). It is the ability to transfer ideas.[6][7][8][9]
Linguistics is the scientific study of language.
Communication is the imparting, reception, or exchange of information.
Memory, as a broad term, is our ability to glean sensory data, record information, connect information, and then recall information. See our section on memory.
Formal Language is when we follow common, structured, and accepted rule-sets. When we “play” with those rule-sets, we are using informal language.
Discrete language is a limited system of language with specific or discrete possibilities (there is no 5 1/2 word sentence for instance). Discrete infinity denotes the ability to construct endless combinations within the discrete system.
Language as a technology is language as a tool-set, it is somewhat of a philosophical concept.[10]
Symbolism is something that stands for something else. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas and deep concepts.
Semantics is the study of meaning. It is looking at not “what we say”, but “what it means”. [11]
Language is symbolic means what we say has deeper “symbolic and semantic” meaning. EX. Your partner says, “we have to talk”. [12]
What isn’t Language? As noted above, the term language doesn’t technically describe symbols like the spoken or written word on their own (so, by a more strict definition, the letter A is not language until it is used to communicate something). Symbols are simply tools used by humans to communicate. Language is a broad term that describes all the communication tools used by humans that emerge from how our thought process works. [13]
This is important because it allows us to better understand how our systems of communication work. By studying linguistics through the lens of symbolism, we are able to better understand the complexity of language and the communication systems we use.
Below is an excellent overview of language by Harvard professor Steven Pinker to compliment the above study of how language works as a symbolic system.
QUESTION: Have you ever thought about how hard it can be to say what we mean? I have. Here is the page on it.
Language and Symbolism: What Type of Symbols do We Use to Communicate?
Symbols used as communication tools for language can include: the written and spoken word, numbers, equations, pictures, body language, inflections and tones in our voice, other sounds like music, expressions, metaphors, rhythms, pitches, clothes we wear, slight gestures, eye movement, or literally anything you can think of that another person can “sense” directly or indirectly. If it coveys sensory data, and carries meaning, it is a symbol.
Different symbols have different meanings in different contexts, and studying how those systems work is the root of much of the social sciences, language arts, and the arts in general.
Examples of non-traditional symbol-based languages include astrology, mathematics, and physics.
Even a simple symbol, like an emoji or phrase can carry a lot of deep meaning in regards to emotions, to concepts, and more. A few simple well placed strokes of a pen can land you in jail, and you could easily lose life long friends over a few choice words.
Even a lack of communication is symbolic, thus even the absence of symbols can be symbolic.
FACT: Even the cognitive machines we are building run on the concept of symbolism, much like Turning machine did. It isn’t just humans who communicate with symbols, we have taught computers too as well.
Conveying Meaning Vs. Understanding
What we say is one thing, what people understand is another.
We rely on symbolism, metaphors, and context to express the deep meanings, but interestingly we can only control out-put and not input.
It is always up to others to process what we say on a conscious and subconscious levels. The power of symbolism is vast, especially formal symbols (as we can be more sure of the meaning they will convey).
Although the ability to clearly convey deep meaning (including emotion) isn’t something we think about every time we communicate, it is something we know intuitively from fields like marketing where a little swoosh can convey in one symbol what we struggle to convey in tomes.
Language as an Evolving Technology
The practice of using symbols as communication is at least as old as the first communications between our ancestors. We can see pictograph symbols painted on cave walls and we can find them in the ancient text of past civilizations.
Over time, as cultures change, the meaning of words and symbols change rapidly as well. Given the changing meaning of symbols and language information must constantly be translated to retain its original meaning as language changes.
FACT: Human communication was revolutionized with speech approximately 500,000 years ago. Symbols were developed about 30,000 years ago, and writing about 5000 years ago.[1]
Language as Symbolism: The Deep Meaning of Simple Symbols
In its simplest form, every letter used to form our formal written and spoken language is a symbol. Words symbolize meaning; phrases and combinations of words symbolize different meanings. These all take on different meanings depending on context.
The word “good” is a symbol for about 7 or 10 different ideas according to a given dictionary. Depending on context, in a basic way, it can mean anything from “well-behaved” to “not evil” to “honorable”. In a more realistic way, “good” the word is a complex symbol that can mean much more than it’s dictionary definitions. It is within these lines of thinking that we can consider all language to symbolic and of the ways in which we use those symbols to convey meaning to be communication.
Below we explore some more ways in which all forms of language are symbolic and why symbolism is so important to communication.
Language is symbolic in that the symbols we use “stand for a concepts and ideas“. It can also be symbolic in the metaphorical sense, as combinations of symbols can have an array of alternate meanings. For example: “I’m throwing in the towel” isn’t meant to be interpreted literally, it’s an expression that uses throwing in the towel to mean “giving up”.
Since we can consider all language as “symbolic” we can call this type of symbolic language “metaphor” for the purposes of this article (this avoids confusion over the semantics of words).
When we string words, phrases, and pictures together, we can paint a metaphorical picture. In other cases, deep meaning can be derived without words ever being said.
Allegorical stories teach us morality, sometimes without ever expressing a point directly. Symbolism plays hand-in-hand with metaphor, as language as symbolism involves using symbols as metaphors.
Pictographic Symbol as Language (From Cave Paintings to Emojis)
Imagine explaining to someone what the cross symbol (†) means. It’s hard to convey the breadth of this using the English language. We could write tomes on the meaning of the cross today and throughout history. It will mean different things in different cultures.
Symbols like the male and female symbols, the star of David , a yin-yang symbol, or even an emoticon such as can convey worlds of meaning on their own. They can be used with other symbols to make statements as. These “universal” symbols will be interpreted different depending upon a number of factors, but resonate and carry meaning throughout almost all cultures.
Because cave paintings used pictograph symbols we can sometimes understand their intentions today and they communicate ideas to us. Other more complex symbols that represented words in dead languages can elude us and the ones we can decode can lose their meaning in translation. Mathematic symbols that represent numbers are typically easier to backward engineer as they have a logical rational rather than an invented one (like the Modern English language).
Thinking about symbolism: What does this mean to you “ = ”? How about this “ = 1 + 0″? Or this “( + )< $ = “? Symbols are powerful and they hold weight. What meaning does an “F” on your paper rather than “A” have?
All the above symbols have weight and each tells a story. Admittedly it’s a little much cramming these powerful symbols semi-randomly into a meme. However, it’s precisely this power that the meme is trying to convey.
Words and Phrases as Language
More than the meaning of pictographic symbols, words and phrases differ from culture to culture. Some society will interpret the meaning of a phrase or word differently; others will have to translate to the best corresponding words or phrases in their culture. Some cultures have words for concepts that other cultures struggle to even describe.
Examples of words and phrases as symbolism:
Assume I am speaking to someone who speaks my version of English. I can say the word “good” to convey a number of things based on context and tone. If I say it in a nice and loving way the reaction will likely be positive. Good doesn’t mean much on its own, but it’s a “nice” word.
If I say “is good”, that carries a meaning with a different nuance. This phrase invokes the idea that something “is not bad or evil”. With a simple phrase, I have implied a morality and have judged. We can pair words and phrases to invoke even deeper meaning.
As cultures changes, year-to-year or culture-to-culture, words become loaded with meaning. In America “Communism” carries a lot of negative weight. In Germany “Nazi” carries a lot of negative weight (and so does 卐 for that matter).
The basic symbol of a word or phrase may be able to be defined by a dictionary, but the true meanings of words and symbols are in a state of infinite growth and can be so ethereal they are hard to pin down.
Art, Music, and Body Language as Symbols
Symbolism in language and communication isn’t just limited to words. We use images, paintings, sculptures, music, body language, dance, and more to convey meaning. Lighting can convey meaning. Tone, context, and the absence of words (silence) can all convey meaning as well.
From here, it is simply a matter of using your imagination to think about the different ways in which language works as a symbolic system.
Conclusion
Language and communication go far beyond the basic dictionary definitions of words. Symbology is at the heart of all communication. Our brains are much more complex than our language, so we rely on concise symbols to carry complex meaning. The way we weave the symbols together, along with factors like intention and context, help to convey ideas, concepts, and emotions.
Movies themselves are metaphors for how humans experience life on a deeper level. Creating a unique language of metaphors and symbols for your film is a big part of being a visual storyteller. Symbolic images help us to understand abstract concepts that cannot always be translated into words. I use the word metaphor to encompass metaphor, symbol, motifs, and leit motifs for the remainder of this book to simplify things.
Metaphor = Action/Sound. Visual or auditory representation of a separate action, experience, or idea. A character blows out (action) a candle in a bedroom to show death of a loved one.
Symbol= Object/Sound. Visual or auditory representation of another object. The candle (object) is in the shape of a ballerina to show grace and beauty.
Motifs= Collections. Collections of related metaphors or symbols used to represent a related concept. Lights or flames going on and off to show life or death states throughout a film.
Leit Motifs= Repetition. The repetition of identical metaphors or symbols to represent a greater concept. The color of the candle is gold (valuable color), along with other gold symbolic objects and activities in each scene to show the overall concept of what is valuable in a character's life.
Figure 2.20 When my main character accomplishes her plot goal of completing her vision quest, she tattoos herself with a symbolic brand she saw in her shamanic journey. This symbol helps us see that she has undergone a great transformation. What types of symbols or metaphors can you include in your story to show whether your characters achieve their plot and theme goals?
NOTE
Setting Up Metaphors and Symbols - You can set up metaphors and symbols in your films in two basic ways:
Universalmetaphors and symbols have all been used before and everyone understands them right away.
Personal metaphors and symbolsare thoseyou create by first presenting them and then defining them for the audience.
Figure 2.21 I developed a leit motif using snakes and spiders to represent unknown fears in my vision quest cave story. Ezzie's biggest fear is poisionous snakes and spiders, and the cave is full of them playing various archetypal roles. At the end of the story, during her shamanic journey, she meets the King Rattle Snake and Queen Black Widow who help her to understand her fears and give her lots of valuable information. Snakes are symbolic of sacred knowledge, death, fear, and rebirth, which fit nicely with the story. Spiders are known for their ability to travel between the real world and the mystical world, which is what the character needs to do to accomplish her plot goals.
Where to Place Metaphors and Symbols in Your Story
Metaphors and symbols can be used to develop plot, theme, and character in deeper ways visually. As a filmmaker, you need to create a unique metaphorical language in your story. You may want to practice taking different storytelling techniques in this book and seeing how you could apply them in metaphorical ways. If you want to show character history, you could have the character doing a metaphorical scene activity from the past, such as a martial arts meditation. You may want to place certain symbolic objects in key scenes, like pictures from exotic travels. The following list will help you think of ideas on where to place metaphorical activities or symbolic objects in your story to help develop plot, theme, and character:
Objects/props.Household items, flags, T-shirts, games, art in room, statues, furniture style, shape of windows, magazines, pictures, weapons, wall hangings, books, instruments, pets, cars, people, houses.
Music/sounds.Background sounds, songs, atmospheric music bed, music in scenes, street noises, weather sounds, sirens, people crying/laughing/ screaming in the next room, weird unexplainable sounds, heaters, equipment, natural sounds, animals, event sounds. Conceptual narrative sound design and auditory metaphors are covered in Chapter 7, "Narrative Sound Design."
The color of everything in the frame may mean something. Refer to the color section in this book to explore some meanings associated with each basic color. Carefully choose colors for everything in each scene, including for costumes, sets, lights, cars, hair color, makeup, props, sky, fur, and weather. If your theme had a color, what would it be? Chapter 6, "Mise En Scène for the Twenty-First Century," covers the use of symbolic color in more detail.
Heard in dialogue or appearing on sets or otherwise onscreen (pop-up bubbles to indicate thought, subtitles, and so on). Posters in the background, titles, onscreen text with background info, poems, fables, stories inside stories, signs, subtitles for slang, graffiti, product names on packages, license plates, bumper stickers, billboards, song lyrics, street names, character names, location, event lingo, speeches, slang, vocabulary, dialect, cultural misinterpretations, multiple meaning for some words, word puzzles, T-shirt sayings.
Location as character. What does the setting say about the mood of each scene? A conversation in a junkyard has a different context than one at the top of the Eiffel Tower. National monuments, natural settings (swamps, waterfalls, caves, rivers, ocean, desert), cities with different personalities, small-town local flavor, visual themes, types of businesses, geographical themes, amusements parks, clubs, bars, graveyards, temples, stores, abstract interpretations of the Internet, art galleries, circus tents, fantasy places.
Character types.People who represent the theme or plot to the extreme (positive or negative, even an extreme mix of the two). Costumes, stereotypes, fashion preferences, cultural backgrounds, accents, jewelry, uniforms, piercings, tattoos, hats, clothes, masks, T-shirt sayings.
Colored lights, light sources, brightness, lighting subjects specific to metaphor. Good characters may be in bright light, whereas evil characters may be darkly lit. Quality of light (time of day as a metaphor). Glowing around certain characters, face-lighting strategies to evoke emotion, source of light (sun, spaceship, flaming building) as metaphor, spinning ambulance lighting in room to represent emergency situation.
Placement of characters and metaphoric objects inside the frame to represent relationships. Where are your characters in relationship to each other metaphorically? You could have three characters who form a love triangle standing around a fire to represent a secret affair about to be uncovered. What metaphoric items surround the characters? Are they talking while walking through a field of sunflowers or in between cactuses? What metaphoric objects could you place between characters to show relationships or emotional states during a scene? Two characters on opposite sides of the frame with knives hanging on the wall between them may represent conflicting emotions. How could you use a series of staging metaphor shots to show relationships? In Citizen Kane, one of Kane's marriages dissolves in front of our eyes as, in a few quick match cuts, Kane and his wife sit farther and farther away from each other at bigger and bigger dinner tables.
How could you interject little stories into scenes to show plot, theme, or character? You might want to have just pictures of parable characters or allude to them visually through stuffed animals, statues, paintings, cartoons, or drawings on the set. Try to think of new ways to incorporate parables visually into your films. Perhaps you could make your own little cartoon fable to play on a TV in the background during a scene. You might make up your own original Aesop-type fable, which the characters could discuss, see in a play or on TV, read in a book, hear about in dialogue, or be relayed by a magical object. In the Crying Game, the theme of how you can't change your basic nature is developed by the characters talking about the frog and scorpion fable in each of the three acts. The frog agrees to give the scorpion a ride across the lake, but then gets stung.
Symbol dictionaries. You may want to start collecting resources for metaphors, such as symbol or dream dictionaries, to help you tap into universal subconscious visual metaphors. Listed here are some examples of symbols and possible meanings. Record your own favorite symbols and what they mean to you for use in your films.
Project 2.20
Pick a Color for Your Theme. Choose one color to represent the theme of your film. List five ways to use this theme color, both on physical objects and as a metaphor.
Figure 2.22 I/O Error. In this short film by Michael Dougan, he uses the metaphor of twin boys to show the theme of how two opposing sides of a person cannot coexist peacefully. One boy is good, and one is evil. Triplet actors were used for the little boys, and compositing techniques in post were used to duplicate the adult actor who plays the grown men.
Figure 2.23 During the opening shots of Citizen Kane, we are drawn up to a point of light as we get closer and closer to the window of the room in which Kane is dying. When he dies, the light goes out. This is a good use of metaphoric lighting to represent story events. How could you use a similar technique in your story?
Figure 2.24 This symbol, worn around the neck of a character, was created by taking an ahnk and turning it upside down to show strange religious beliefs. The shape of a flying saucer was laid over the cross to symbolize alien creators. How can you take two symbols and combine their meanings and shapes to make a unique one for your film?
Project 2.21
List Possible Metaphors and Symbols for Your Film. As you go through the following example metaphor and symbol charts, list one idea for each type of chart to use in your film. For example, pick a symbolic animal that may appear somewhere in your story as a pet, in a painting, discussed in dialogue, or as a character in a fable. Practice combining metaphors and symbols and using repeating patterns to create a unique visual language.
Animal
Symbolic Meaning
Bee
Society, industry, work, dangers of courtship, immortality, rebirth, order
Combining Metaphors. How could you combine some of the previous examples of metaphors to create new ones? Create three different combinations with explanations for what they represent. How could you add specific colors and numbers to deepen the meaning?You could compose a shot of a queen figure eating a fig, with two woodpeckers on her shoulder, next to a pyramid, with lightning bolts in the background, to symbolize female authority, guardians, psychic ability, concentrating power within, and unexpected change.
Sacred geometry is universal and will help you plan story elements using numbers as metaphors. You could have a character say he has seven (often associated with being lucky) dreams about an upcoming event. Or use the corresponding geometry and shapes when constructing your scenes, such as having seven colored stones on an altar that a character uses to pray for things.
Show the audience one metaphor or symbol, then another, and have them draw a third separate conclusion from the two. Chapter 8, "Preproduction Story-Editing Choices," covers in depth ways to use juxtaposition.
Number
Symbolic Meaning
1
Number "1," top of group, circle, wholeness, center, unity, oneself, independence, single purpose, universe, equality, seed, stable, father, intolerance, stubbornness
Third time a charm, things always come in 3s, 2 failures to 1 success, triangle, harmony, freedom, completion, relationship/balance, holy divinity, power, God's halo
Human body, 5 senses, stars, leaves, communication, nature, footprints, regeneration, vortex, authority (five-star general/sheriff star) spiral/transformation (the yellow brick road in TheWizard of Oz begins as a golden spiral (based on 5) to symbolize transformation).
6
Structure, balance, order, function, time, weights, intuition, practical
Figure 2.25 According to Norse mythology, horses could understand the will of the gods. Odin rode an eight-legged stallion called Sleipnir. The eight from our number chart symbolizes the ability to go between worlds (like spiders with eight legs). This combination of number and symbol works well for this myth. How could you combine established metaphors to create original ones? How could you use your digital tools to create new visual metaphors? It would be interesting to see an eight-legged 2D or 3D animated horse.
Figure 2.26 This Bigfoot biting the head off of a raven (death) could be a metaphor to foreshadow a close brush with death or a metaphor for overcoming the fear of death.
Using Visual Metaphors to Show Character History
Metaphors and symbols are a great way to develop your character history. Go through your character history questions and see how you could show the important points using metaphors.
Figure 2.27 Clocks are sometimes shown going haywire when something in the film world is out of synch. What other types of ordinary symbolic objects or metaphors could you play with visually to show the state of your film world changing?
Project 2.22
Use Metaphors and Symbols. Think of three ideas to show character history using metaphors and symbols somewhere in your film.
Using Visual Metaphors to Show Backstory
Metaphors are great to develop the backstory for your film without having to explain everything.
Using Visual Metaphors to Show Character Traits
Metaphors are great tools to use when developing character traits.
Character History
Metaphoric/Symbolic Image Description in Script
Strange rituals in family for immortality.
Blue shrine full of glass bees in character's bedroom.
Weird hobbies for character in position of authority.
Royal sporting axes hung on walls.
Character feels trapped in old symbolize loss of freedom.
Character eats partner's pet bird to relationship.
Dangerous person.
Pet alligators and venomous snakes crawl around backyard.
Well-educated and cultured upbringing.
Has a grand piano delivered to house.
Misses lost love.
Carries a picture, gift from beloved, or ribbon from hair.
Artistic side.
Artwork displayed.
Most prized possession is an old love letter.
Letter is kept in a secret draw in a gold case.
Character is very happy and playful emotionally.
Wears rainbow suspenders, has a pinball machine in his bedroom, and has funny toys
Character needs tension to create.
Character turns on music really loud late at night to build sculpture, disturbing other people.
Character is terrified of getting sick.
Wears gloves, disinfects chairs before he sits down, wipes off phones, wears a surgical mask outside.
Character thinks the good old days were better.
Character drives a 1957 Chevy and wears vintage clothes.
Backstory Information
Metaphoric/Symbolic Image Description in Script
Leader of film world as an outlaw
Picture of king surrounded by gun collection framed on the wall.
Social order of people in town
Rich people wear bright colors, walking poodles; poor people wear gray and are sweeping the street.
Lay of the land with edge of the known world said to be forbidden
Mural featuring a map with the edge of world full of monsters; characters call it "the edge."
Important heroes who character admires
Temple devoted to dead hero in middle of town.
Past catastrophic event
Pitch-black historical memorial site with a big flame still burning.
Character Trait
Metaphoric/Symbolic Image Description in Script
Leader
Uniform, medals on chest, ribbons, special gold scepter.
Professional wrestler
Superhero outfit, mullet, gold chains with wrestling medals around neck, apartment full of wrestling posters and trophies.
Alcoholic
Silver flask in pocket, mini liquor bars in secret spots in each location, drinking at each location.
Lover
Tattoo of girl's name on heart, carrying fresh picked flowers, digital effects slight golden glow aura.
Humble
Character hiding from recognition events, awards.
Well–educated
Carries books everywhere, uses a magnifying glass to look at things, wears glasses, hangs out at museums.
Uptight
Hair perfect, tight starched clothing, gets upset about litter on the street or slow people at stores.
Warrior/solider
Scars on body, wears hidden weapons, jumps when people touch him from behind, flips into martial arts pose when startled.
Figure 2.28 This sacred Bigfoot cave has symbolic paintings on the walls that tell the history of the clan (to develop backstory information).
Project 2.23
Backstory Objects. Choose 10 items to place symbolically on your sets to represent the backstory of your film using the metaphoric approaches previously described.
Project 2.24
Character Trait Metaphors and Symbols. Think of three ideas to show character traits using metaphors and symbols somewhere in your film.
Using Visual Metaphors to Show Character States
Mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, and intellectual states of characters should be expressed through metaphoric and symbolic cues. An object may be present in the scene to symbolize a character's state or the character may say something that gives us a clue.
In Transit, the Venice hotel room has clothes all over the floor, symbolizing how messed up Emmy's life has become with Oscar. She has a black eye, too. These visual clues let us know her character state in the scene. In the Baden-Baden scene with her husband, the hotel room is perfectly neat—with separate twin beds symbolizing the state of their marriage. How can you use symbols like this to show us character states in each scene?
Figure 2.29 This Bigfoot finally snaps one day during a date and punches a hole through a tree. How could you show your characters having uncontrollable outbursts or overwhelming emotional moments that cause them to change suddenly in your film?
Project 2.25
Create Character States. Think of three ideas to show character states using metaphors and symbols somewhere in your film.
Character State
Metaphoric/Symbolic Image Description in Script
Someone not what he or she seems
Reflection in funhouse mirrors
Wise shaman head of tribe
Says he only "drinks out of ancient skull"
Person going crazy
Gory disturbing art project the character is making throughout film
Loss of life force
Crops in field dying
Relationship status negative
Couple fighting over the color of drapes
Lost-love memory
Pendant with old picture around neck
Revenge for death of loved one
Handmade knife from loved one's family
Midlife crisis
Character buys Harley-Davidson motorcycle
Obsessed with food
Character digging around for hidden candy bars
Scientific mindset
Has vision looking into liquid inside heated glass beaker
Losing important object
Dog floating down the river
Spiritual epiphany
Shaves head or cuts off hair to symbolize new beginning or mindset
Needs to control every little thing because of fear of chaos in world
Arranging objects in straight lines
Needs to feel clean in a dirty business
Taking very long and meticulous grooming shower with lots of special lotions and shampoos
Character hitting bottom
Character starving in a dark messy house
Using Visual Metaphors/ Symbols with Nature Shots
In the animated short Transit, we see subtitles of what happens to the characters at the end. When the information comes up about Emmy being missing and her body never found, an ominous shark fin glides by the floating suitcase in the water and then the suitcase sinks. This symbolizes foul play is involved in her disappearance; after all, sharks can eat people and leave no clues. A puddle of blood then forms on the surface of the water, letting us know that Oscar killed her, cut her up, and threw her body overboard in the suitcase. All of this information is conveyed with simple text on the screen and a shark fin moving around a symbolic suitcase covered with travel stickers from the places they had visited together.
Figure 2.30 Mutant bugs and snails in a toxic waste dump cave could be used to show the dangerous effects of chemicals on living organisms.
Event Occurring in Scene or Another Area
Metaphoric/Symbolic Image Description in Script
Death
Black crows on a snow-covered black winter tree
Rebirth/resurrection
Springtime shots of flowers blooming, little birds in nests chirping, sunny skies, green grass
Losing important relationship
Dog watching a ball roll into storm drain and looking upset
Someone about to steal
Fox in henhouse stealing chickens
Catastrophic event coming
Comets (lens-flare effects) in sky
Rough emotions
Big waves crashing on rocks
Spiritual epiphany
White animal being born in a barn
Murder
Blood running into water
Lots of work to be done
An anthill or bees in background
Angry emotions boiling over
Heat waves melting up from a prickly cactus-covered desert road
Project 2.26
Create Nature Shots. Think of three ideas to use nature shots with metaphors and symbols to visually develop information in your story.
Writing Exercise 2.12
Write a few pages concentrating on just using different types of metaphors, symbols, and themes.
Using Metaphors and Symbols to Show Theme
As discussed earlier, metaphors and symbols are great ways to show theme in subtle ways. You could turn your characters into animated animals or use some of your digital tools to invent new types of metaphoric characters. What other ways can you use metaphors and symbols to show themes in your film?
David Lynch is a master of cinematic metaphor. All of his films, and the TV show Twin Peaks, are worth studying for how they handle metaphor in bold, simple, and original ways. He is particularly good at creating personal metaphors and symbols. An opening scene in the film Fire Walk with Me takes place at an airport (new beginnings); this sets up the whole film. A dancing girl in a red dress comes out and does a quick pantomime, but says nothing, as the three detectives carefully watch. Later on in the car, one detective asks the more experienced one what the dancing girl meant. Below is a chart breaking down the metaphors and symbols of the "dancing girl" scene. The audience would never understand the meaning of this symbolic language unless the characters explain them, which makes the metaphors a personal creation of the filmmaker.
The theme of the movie is that in the search for meaning, you cannot know everything and nothing is what it seems, which is wonderfully illustrated with the use of visual metaphors and symbols. Detectives as characters are metaphors for solving a mystery, such as solving life's mysteries, which is part of the theme of the film. Theme and metaphor are often tied together very closely in visual stories.
This scene is interesting because of the original use of metaphors and symbols. If the film would have started in an office with the detectives talking about the case, it would have been flat, uninteresting, cliché, and boring. The startling use of personal metaphors in this film pull us into the story, much like a puzzle we need to solve to understand what is happening.
Figure 2.31 This bluescreened character is floating over a motion graphics timeline animation of his life as a dream. How could you create an original dream sequence in a film using digital tools? Maybe you could build a surreal dreamscape in a 3D or 2D photo collage, and use bluescreened characters flying or drifting over areas.
NOTE
Write Down Your Dreams. If you have problems remembering your dreams, just tell yourself before you go to bed that you will remember them and keep a notebook with a pen nearby so that you can write them down as soon as you wake up. You may even want to tell yourself to dream that night of certain themes or questions to see what comes up. Write all dreams down even if they do not make sense, because they might reveal their meanings later. Sketch any cinematic elements of dreams next to the description if you have time.
Using Your Dreams to Help Create a Personal Visual Language
Many of us have developed a personal system of metaphors and symbols from life experiences hidden deep inside our subconscious, and these often show up in our nightly dreams. Maybe whenever you dream about playing chess, you are having to think strategically about changing some situation in your daily life.You may want to keep a dream journal and get a sense of how your mind thinks about metaphor and symbol, which you can then work into your films. The more you write down your dreams, the more you understand how you personally think in visual symbols and metaphors. Dreams can often help us find new ways to communicate visually on a deeper subconscious level, to show emotions or situations that may be hard to explain with straightforward dialogue or action.
Shot in Fire Walk with Me
Metaphoric/Symbolic Meaning
Someone smashes a TV set during one the TV show Twin Peaks.
This film is going to be different from of the opening shots.
FBI detective has a safe strapped around his body.
"He cracked the Whitman case," meaning this man is good at solving mysteries.
David Lynch makes a cameo as an FBI boss.
This is important information, so pay attention.
Dancing girl in a red dress comes out with a sour-looking face and does a quick pantomime.
Sour face means problems with the local authorities.
Dancing girl's eyes are both blinking.
Trouble higher up with sheriff and deputies.
Dancing girl has one hand in pocket, and one in a fist.
The local authorities are hiding something, and they are going to be belligerent.
Dancing girl starts walking in place.
This case will involve a lot of legwork.
Different colored thread has been used to alter the girl's dress to size.
Tailored dresses are code for drugs.
Blue rose pinned to dress.
No such thing as a blue rose. More experienced detective tells the other one, "Can't tell you about that." Hermeneutic search symbol.
Creating Film Puzzles with Metaphors
Films are like puzzles and people like to try and figure things out in their heads. What was "Rosebud" a metaphor for in Citizen Kane? This is the dying Kane's last word at the start of the film, and the rest of the movie is a search to discover who or what Rosebud was about. Film geeks continue to argue about the true meaning of "Rosebud" whenever the subject comes up.
How can you put a puzzling aspect in your film to make it more engaging? Can you ask some type of visual question or create a visual puzzle? In Memento, the main character is trying to figure out who killed his wife, which gets pretty messy and confusing because he cannot remember anything for more than 10 minutes. Polaroid pictures serve as the metaphoric puzzle pieces this character uses to try and put his past back together. The answer to both these film puzzles are still not very clear even by the end of the films. Sometimes it is more interesting not to solve everything for the audience and let them figure it out for themselves (or continue to question).
NOTE - Definition
Hermeneutic The search for meaning. This popular philosophy comments on how humans search for meaning in films. Watch for this idea and see how each director handles it differently.
Figure 2.32 Metaphoric Puzzles. Orson Wells gives us an extreme close-up of Kane's last word, "Rosebud," which serves as the mystery puzzle to be solved in the film.
NOTE
Create a Puzzle in Your Film. Think of some way to twist your plot around a mystery or puzzle for the audience to solve. Review your favorite films that have puzzles and add the techniques used to this list. A good approach is to begin near the middle or end of the story and figure out some reason to go over what happened. You might use a detective interviewing someone about a crime, an old person thinking about her life, a reporter interviewing someone, a character reflecting back on his experiences through old photographs, a character telling his story in a voice-over, or present a mystery to be solved.
Film Puzzle Ideas to Get You Started
A character cannot remember something, but she is trying to find out what it is by using visually metaphoric clues.
A mystery event, crime, or situation needs to be solved.
Key character says something puzzling and then disappears.
One character is trying to find out the truth about someone/something that is not what it appears to be.
The character is displaying puzzling behavior, which is discovered to be connected to a past and forgotten trauma.
The character is trying to understand a strange situation. The character is in such a setup, alternate reality, or dream.
The character finds a strange object or information he has been tracking down.
Use multiple story lines, different character POV's, or characters intersecting at key points.
Working with Positive and Negative Theme Charges
Another way to work with metaphor and theme is to play back and forth between negative and positive manifestations throughout the film.
Different characters often represent different perspectives on the same theme. If you are doing a theme on loyalty among gangsters, you could have one super-loyal gangster, one who is playing two different crime families against each other, and some people who go back and forth between loyalty and disloyalty. What happens to these characters shows us your theme. If the super-loyal character gets rich and the two-timing one dies horribly, loyalty is a good thing. If the super-loyal gangster gets killed and the disloyal one wins the big prize, loyalty is not important or is even a bad thing in your film world.
NOTE - Definition
Theme Charge Negative or positive manifestations of theme.
Characters themselves can be great metaphors for themes.
Project 2.27
List Positive and Negative Theme Charges. How could you have different characters or situations represent positive and negative sides of your theme?
The main character in Kafka's Metamorphosis wakes up one day as a cockroach. How can you play with transforming your character types to showcase your theme better? Digital tools and animation techniques make it easier to turn characters into bugs or other metaphoric creatures. Harvey is a 10-minute short film from Australia with a character that is literally sawed in half (3D effect) looking for his better half or ideal relationship (a great use of visual metaphor with digitally enhanced original character design). How could you use DV effects or 2D/3D animation to metaphorically show your characters in a new way?
What type of metaphor can each of your characters represent in your film world? What do the characters do for a living, how do they dress, what kind of cars do they drive, where do they live?
Themes sometimes represent best dreams or worst flaws. Who is destroyed? Who grows? What special quality in the protagonist helps him achieve his goals? In Lily and Jim, both main characters want a relationship, but both of them have pretty ineffective communication skills (worst flaw and theme).
Using Visual Metaphors to Develop Theme
The theme, or unspoken moral message of the story, needs to be carefully handled. You must make sure the audience gets the theme on some level, but not be too preachy (a delicate balance). Metaphors provide a great way to communicate theme while telling your story visually.
You can use existing metaphors or create your own original visual metaphoric language for your film. Suppose that you are doing a film on the theme of greed. You might have all the really greedy characters wearing green, talking about money, clinging cash registers in the background, characters using greed-type slang such as "time is money," people in the background chasing blowing dollar bills, or a lead character counting his money as he delivers his lines. The best approach for developing visual metaphors and symbols is to create a list of possible ideas and then see which ones you can play with without being too obvious or preachy.
Figure 2.33 A character falling into a bottomless pit could be metaphoric for diving into the unconscious. The theme of my film is that every living being has a specific purpose. The theme goal of my protagonist is to find her purpose by learning to trust her intuition. Showing her falling into a pit is a good way to symbolize going deep inside to find her purpose and trust the hidden parts of her intuition.
Theme
Metaphoric/Symbolic Image Description in Script
Treasure the little things in life.
Character eating fresh pie, savoring every bite.
Alienation of youth.
Young character looking out of place at grownup party.
Desire leads to suffering.
Character getting beat up trying to get what he wants.
Exploration of character.
Searching for meaning of last word uttered on deathbed.
The blurry line between sanity and insanity.
Show all the characters acting crazy but functional.
Violence as cost of individuality.
Hip, artsy, unique criminal characters.
Cost of deception.
Pet cat found hanging on clothesline by antagonist.
Power of love can change fate.
Character screaming so loud that he wins game of chance to save lover.
Writing Exercise 2.13
Write a few pages about how to show your theme using a unique set of metaphors and symbols.
Project 2.28
Showing Theme. Think of five symbols or metaphors to show theme in your film.
The opening shot of the film Memento shows a fresh Polaroid picture as it develops. It takes a moment for viewers to realize that the film is rolling backward—the picture is becoming less clear the longer we watch it. This is a great visual symbol for the theme of the way we reconstruct memory and how what we remember fades and changes over time. This whole film is told backward in short memory bursts because the main character can remember things for only 10 minutes at a time. Polaroids are the way this character keeps track of who people are and what he thinks is happening. The opening shot tells us a great deal about the character, plot, and theme in a stunningly original visual metaphor that is both simple and deeply complex at the same time.
When you really understand your main characters, metaphors, and theme, it is much easier to develop the events in your story and write your script. Building up original characters is like creating new beings in the world who start to take on a life of their own inside your imagination. Creating strong metaphors and themes will make your story deeper and help you choose visual designs that fit the ideas you are presenting.
Figure 2.34 Ezzie stole a video cell phone from a camper and likes to crank call the speed dial people and scare them with her big furry face and ferocious roar. Sometimes during the film, she calls different people on the phone and asks for help or advice, or does something silly. This helps show a connection between the Bigfoot film world and the human world. A Bigfoot using a video phone could be interpreted as a metaphor for the way technology is trickling down into the masses and changing our lives in unexpected ways. This idea could be used as a subplot device in an animated series where the character steals a different phone each week and talks to a new cast of speed dial people. How could you incorporate a unique digital storytelling approach in your film as a symbol or metaphor for theme? Maybe your character could consult his PDA–playing DV video clips you create to show a higher power guiding him through the story. What other digitally enhanced gizmos could you use to tell us a story in a new way?
9 Visual Storytelling Symbols to Take Your Content From 🙁 to 🙂
For tens of thousands of years, humans have found meaning through the creation and interpretation of symbols. Those symbols can take many forms: words, sounds, events, numbers, and images, to name a few. But just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, a symbol only carries whatever meaning a person assigns it. In that sense, almost anything can be a symbol—as long as someone interprets it as signifying something beyond its literal definition.
Symbols have long been the cornerstones of visual storytelling, and for years, storytellers have relied on them to illustrate unspoken feelings, forecast future events, and set an overall tone within their works. And symbolism plays as critical a role in modern content creation as it did in classic literature. Symbols can be used to visually develop plot, theme, and character to a deeper level than mere words can achieve.
Designers and marketers use symbols when creating brand logos to help refine a brand or group’s identity. A logo that includes symbolic visuals can cause people to associate a brand with concepts such as trust, reliability, patriotism, family, and faith. Many churches, for example, incorporate the Cross in their logos, which instantly communicates—without words—several major tenets of Christianity. Likewise, the Nike Swoosh projects a sense of movement, associating the brand with agility and speed.
Although some symbols have universal meaning (the association between love and red roses, for instance, or danger and the skull and crossbones), designers must be cognizant of the fact that others can have very culture-specific interpretations. Something as basic as a color can carry entirely different meaning in America and western Europe than in India or China. White, for example, symbolizes purity, cleanliness, and peace in Western culture. But in many Asian countries, the color represents death and bad luck. Although white is worn by brides in the West, it is traditionally worn to funerals in the East. Misunderstanding the symbolic differences of the color in various cultures could cause quite the fashion faux pas.
Nothing illustrates the many different interpretations of a single symbol than the world’s most commonly used emojis. Although these graphic symbols have formed a near-universal digital language all their own, their original meanings to Japanese designers often bare a stark contrast to how American users interpret them.
Consider the folded hands emoji, for example. Americans use the symbol to represent pleading or prayer, common uses for clasped hands in their culture. But the emoji was originally designed to signify an apology or gratitude, as is the custom in Japanese culture.
By taking into account the meaning of various symbols to different audiences, visual storytellers can include them in their graphics and presentations to not only add meaning, but more vividly describe a character, plot, or scene. Enhance your stories with the following nine symbols:
1. The Raven
Few images are as ominous as the raven—a fact upon which poet and author Edgar Allen Poe built a good deal of fame. As scavengers, ravens were seen throughout history on battlefields, picking through the remains of fallen warriors. It’s no surprise, then, that their association with death and doom became cemented in the human psyche, causing ravens (and their crow cousins) to be the focus of serious superstition.
Ironically, many ancient cultures saw the raven as a symbol of intelligence, transformation, and wisdom.
But to modern pop culture audiences, the raven is strictly a bad omen. Visual storytellers can utilize images of black birds to communicate feelings of doom with audiences or to foretell death and disaster.
2. The Butterfly
Across cultures, butterflies represented in myth and art symbolize transformation because of the showy insects’ famous metamorphoses. What could be a better symbol of rebirth than a butterfly unfurling from the cocoon it once built as a caterpillar? Including images of butterflies in a visual story can forecast a transformation or vividly represent any sort of change.
Some cultures also associate butterflies with the soul. Storytellers often employ the insects’ arrival to represent a visit from a lost loved one and hope for life beyond death. The presence of the butterfly doesn’t have to be obvious, either: in Titanic, director James Cameron placed a focus on his heroin’s hair combs. While the combs themselves held little relevance, their butterfly decorations symbolized the internal change Rose would undergo before the end of the movie.
3. The Owl
It seems owls are everywhere nowadays. The birds, generally associated with wisdom, can be found in jewelry, home décor, and even clothing designs. The symbol’s popularity, however, isn’t limited to the 21st century.
Sacred to Athena, the Greek goddess of learning, the owl was depicted on Greco-Roman currency as a symbol of intelligence. Likewise, Native American cultures considered the owl the keeper of sacred knowledge. Medieval Europeans even thought owls might be wizards in disguise. In a visual story, an image of an owl can be used to represent intelligence within a character or a lesson to be learned.
4. The Rose
Few would fail to recognize the association of a red rose with romance, and the symbol is commonly used in literature, film, and art to represent love. It’s not a new connection, either. In Greek mythology, the rose was associated with Aphrodite, the goddess of love.
But roses can also carry other meanings. For example, in Christianity, the rose is considered a symbol of the Virgin Mary. In some depictions of Mary, you’ll notice a garland of roses around her head in the shape of a halo or crown. That garland speaks to the rosary—a form of devotion in the Catholic faith.
The rose is also the national flower of England, dating back to the English civil wars of the 15th century, which came to be known as the Wars of the Roses. In visual storytelling, an image of a rose can be used to symbolize the nation, something that would not be lost on Her Majesty’s subjects.
5. Rain
Rain is an especially potent symbol for sadness—likely because, in reality, the weather pattern begets feelings of depression, darkness, and exhaustion. It makes sense that those atmospheric shifts that make us feel so gloomy in our day-to-day lives could create the same melancholy among characters in a story. In film, rain has been used to create a sense of foreboding and even to symbolize human tears.
Rain may be most commonly illustrated to denote sadness, but its potential isn’t limited to creating a forlorn mood. Rain is also associated with purification and rejuvenation. For example, a character might walk through the rain to symbolize the cleansing of his or her soul. For example: in Disney’s classic, The Lion King, a great rain arrives when Simba defeats Scar, washing away the fire and signaling a rebirth of the pride.
6. Fire
Fire’s symbolic meaning varies across cultures and can hold different connotations based on the context in which it is used. Often, a raging fire is used to symbolize destruction, punishment, pain, anger, death, and fear. This likely hearkens back to humanity’s earliest days: before man learned to control the flame, fire was a force that could quickly wipe out an early settlement, and ancient societies had no efficient way to combat the blaze. It commanded fear. Even today, drought-ridden parts of the world suffer fires too major to control.
But fire can also symbolize rebirth—as in the myth of the phoenix, a bird that bursts into flames and is reborn from the ashes.
When employing fire as a symbol in visual storytelling, it’s important to match its form to context as you work through the content creation process. While a raging forest fire can easily be interpreted as fear and danger, a candle’s flickering flame can represent truth, good’s conquering of evil, or hope in a world of darkness.
7. Flags
A flag can be used to denote a variety of meanings in a visual story, depending on the type of flag used. Countless brands employ visuals of certain countries’ flags to associate themselves with patriotism and national values among audiences. Other types of flags can carry entirely different meanings. Take, for example, the blue flag with a yellow equality sign represents the Human Rights Campaign, and is “one of the most recognizable symbols of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.”
A flag’s color can also be employed to symbolize a variety of concepts. Historically, nations designed their flags with these symbolic colors in mind. Red, for example, can be used in a flag to denote revolution, valor, and blood loss, while white generally represents peace or surrender. Blue symbolizes freedom, yellow represents wealth, and green is commonly associated with agriculture and fertility. It’s no wonder, then, that two of the world’s most common flag color combinations are red, white, and blue; and green, red, and yellow.
8. The Skull and Crossbones
Most popularly associated with the Jolly Roger flags flown above pirate ships, the skull and crossbones is frequently used to strike fear in the hearts of its beholders and foster a sense of dread or danger within a story.
The image of the bones crossed below a human skull even originated as a symbol of death placed on tombstones in the Late Middle Ages.
The most common use of the skull and crossbones symbol in modern contexts is the symbol’s placement on labels denoting poisonous substances as a warning of danger. First used on containers of poisonous substances in the 1850s, the skull and crossbones became a universally accepted warning within 30 years. Still, context is key. Just as different cultures might interpret the same symbol in different ways, some now fear that young children familiar with the pirate tales of pop culture might grow overly curious of bottles marked with the skull and crossbones.
9. The Dove
The white dove is used in a variety of settings as a symbol of peace. So universal is the symbolism, the dove is a paradigm of peace in Judaism, Christianity, and Paganism. And while early Christian art employs the dove to represent peace of the soul, the bird was later used to also visually communicate the end of conflict.
Over time, the dove became so synonymous with peace that it ultimately became the symbol of pacifism. Not only is it commonly used in political cartoons, but the dove has even been adopted by the Olympic Games, as well as various antiwar and anti-violence protest groups. A person who identifies as a pacifist is even sometimes referred to as a dove.
Visual storytellers can include images of doves in their presentations to denote the arrival of peace, a tranquil state of mind, or the absence of violence. In a religious or spiritual context, a dove can be used to symbolize grace, holiness, and divinity.
Visual storytellers have used symbolic imagery to communicate or reinforce their messages since the dawn of time. What were Egyptian hieroglyphics, if not a collection of symbols used to communicate? And just as that ancient form of communication only held meaning to those who understood the written language, modern symbols can carry entirely different connotations from one context or culture to the next.
Rough Notes:
25 Modern Symbols That Have Lost Their Original Meaning
Modern symbols can say more about a person, a group of people, an organization, or even a religion and political ideology than a thousand words. Most of us are perfectly aware of what certain symbols represent; in many cases a single hand gesture or salute is enough to give you a clear message (often times not an amicable message to say the least). For example, the swastika is one of the most recognized symbols in the modern world, as well as one of the most feared in history. Even though the swastika is a peaceful, ancient, sacred symbol from Eurasia, not many people know its true origin and most associate it almost exclusively with Nazism and the Third Reich.
However, the swastika is not the only symbol that has lost its original meaning. Other examples include the trident and pentagram, symbols that most people nowadays relate to Satanism and its rituals. However, the origin of these symbols goes back to ancient Greece and has nothing to do with its contemporary meaning. There are so many symbols we use everyday and yet their original meaning is something completely different. Get ready for an awakening with these 25 Symbols in modern times that have lost their original meaning. You might not see “the bird” the same way again.
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: commons.wikimedia.org
In modern times, the raised fist symbolizes solidarity and socialism, while it also expresses unity, power, and defiance. It dates back to ancient Assyria where it represented resistance to violent acts.
24
The mistletoe
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: commons.wikimedia.org
Each December many people worldwide decorate their houses with mistletoe and kiss beneath it. The original meaning of this plant, however, had nothing to do with kissing or hugging. Ancient Norse myth, where the mistletoe originates, saw a mistletoe as a symbol of ritual castration.
23
The infinity symbol
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
In modern times the infinity symbol has become a secular mathematical sign for the infinity of numbers, time, or space, but its original meaning has nothing to do with its modern use. In ancient India and Tibet it represented perfection, dualism, and union between male and female.
22
The Ankh
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
The Ankh became popular in the West once it was adopted by New Age mysticism groups during the sixties and seventies but has been around for thousands of years. It comes from ancient Egypt where it was a hieroglyphic that symbolized life, while according to other sources it was considered to be the key to the Nile.
21
The trident
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: commons.wikimedia.org
Also known as “the devil’s pitchfork” in pretty much every Christian country, this symbol’s origin has nothing to do with Satan. Its origin can be traced back to ancient Greece, where the trident was seen as a sacred symbol and the powerful weapon of Poseidon, god of the sea.
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20
Mudras (Hand Gestures)
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
It might sound ridiculously funny to those who happen to know the origin of the mudras, but there are indeed many people, especially in the United States, who think that some of the mudras originated in American ghettos and represent certain gangs like the Bloods or Crips. Of course, the original mudras have nothing to do with violence or gangs and originated in India where they symbolize peace, harmony, and good mental health, among other good things.
19
The lightning bolt
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: deviantart.com
This is another symbol that many people wrongly associate exclusively with Nazism, since the double lightning bolt was the official symbol of the Waffen-SS. The history of the lightning bolt, however, goes back to ancient Greece where people considered it a symbol of divine power and punishment from Zeus against those who challenged the gods or wronged others.
18
The two-fingered salute
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: YouTube
The two-fingered salute —not to be confused with the V sign— might not be the most popular way to salute someone today, but some people will still do it, mostly instinctively. Regardless of how it is viewed today, this salute goes back to ancient Rome, where defeated gladiators used it to ask for mercy from the Lord of the Arena.
17
The Phoenix
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: etherealcathedral.wordpress.com
Also known as the Reichsadler, or “imperial eagle,” this symbol derived from the Roman eagle standard used by the Roman emperors. In modern times the symbol has almost exclusively been associated with Nazi ideology, Hitler, and the Third Reich.
16
The double-headed eagle
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: commons.wikimedia.org
The double-headed eagle is a symbol that most people wrongly associate with Russia when in fact its origin goes back to the Byzantine Empire. Used as the dynastic emblem of the Greek Palaiologoi dynasty (the last emperors of the Byzantine Empire), the double-headed eagle became the symbol of Greek Orthodox Christianity, from whence other Orthodox nations (like Russia, for example) later borrowed it.
15
Iron cross
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
The Iron Cross was originally a military decoration in Prussia but during the First World War it became a popular symbol in Germany and appeared on almost every German fighter plane and tank. A few years later it became a symbol of fascism in France then Portugal.
14
The Caduceus
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
Today people associate the caduceus with medicine. In origin, however, the caduceus, which features two snakes winding around a usually winged staff, is the traditional symbol of the Greek god Hermes, the messenger god.
13
The Devil’s horns
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
Most of us think of Hard Rock music when we see the devil’s horns, but this symbol’s history goes all the way back to ancient India where it was used as a gesture by the Buddha to expel demons and remove obstacles such as illness or negative thoughts.
12
The barber pole
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
You probably don’t know this, but the colors on the old-fashioned, almost iconic barber pole are not random. They symbolize the bloody legacy of the medieval period, when people went to barbers not just for a haircut and a shave but also for bloodletting and other medical procedures. See, during the Middle Ages bloodletting was a common treatment for a wide range of diseases and apparently barbers were as trusted as the physicians of that time.
11
The skull and crossbones
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: commons.wikimedia.org
A skull and crossbones is mostly used these days as a warning sign of danger, usually related to poisonous and deadly chemicals. This symbol’s design, however, goes back to the Middle Ages, where it was used as the absolute symbol of death.
10
The Star of David
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
Since 1897, when it was chosen as the central symbol on the flag at the First Zionist Congress, the Star of David represents the Jewish and Zionist community worldwide. However, in third- to fourth-century AD Israel, it lacked such value and import; it was only a decorative architectural design in synagogues.
9
All-seeing eye
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
When most people see this symbol they automatically think of Masonic brotherhoods and their secret agenda for world domination, or just the one-dollar bill, yet its origin is quite innocent: it is supposed to be the eye of God watching (and protecting) humanity.
8
The ichthys (Jesus Fish)
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
The ichthys comes from the Greek for fish and is composed of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point so as to resemble the profile of a fish. Many people connect it with early Christianity because in Greek the ichthys is an acronym for “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and our Savior,” but in actuality the symbol was first sacred to the pagans. To be more specific, the Greeks and Romans, before the Christians appropriated it, it was believed that the ichthys was the offspring of the ancient sea goddess Atargatis.
7
The peace sign
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
What we all know as the international symbol of peace was designed in 1958 by a British designer and artist named Gerald Holtom as the logo of the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).
6
The heart shape
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Pixabay
The heart shape is a symbol that today is strictly associated with love, romantic relationships, and most recently Valentine’s Day, but in ancient Greece it had nothing to do with these things. We first meet the heart shape as a symbol for silphium, a species of giant fennel that once grew on the North African coast near the Greek colony of Cyrene. The ancient Greeks first used silphium to flavor food and as a medicine, but it would later become the most popular form of birth control.
5
The V sign
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
The V sign is a hand gesture that people widely use nowadays to show their peaceful intentions or to express victory. The origin of this sign, however, has nothing to do with peace or victory. It dates back to the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453) when English archers used to taunt their French enemies by raising their two fingers, well only if they had both. See, whenever an English archer was caught by the French, usually had his index and middle fingers chopped off his right hand, ensuring that he wouldn’t be able to kill another French soldier in battle.
4
The pentagram
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
The pentagram is the simplest regular star polygon and was associated with the golden ratio and architectural perfection in ancient Greece. Nowadays, unfortunately, most people think of evil and black magic since the symbol ended up representing Satanism.
3
The thumb signal
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
Though somewhat debated, some sources claim the origin of thumbs up/down to be from the Roman Gladiators. Roman crowds used this hand gesture at the end of a gladiatorial event to decide whether a defeated gladiator should live or die.
2
The middle finger
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia (Censored by List25)
We think it’s unnecessary to explain the meaning of this gesture. This symbol goes back to ancient Greece, and though it wasn’t seen as offensive or hostile like it is today, it was associated with sexual intercourse and fertility, because it represented the phallus (a sacred object that resembled an erect penis).
1
The swastika
Source: Symbols and their meaning (Book), Image: Wikipedia
In most parts of the West the swastika is synonymous with Nazism, fascism, and racism, but in reality this symbol of good fortune and well-being has been a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, and other Eurasian religions for the past twelve thousand years.
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symbol, or even an emoticon such as can convey worlds of meaning on their own. They can be used with other symbols to make statements as. These “universal” symbols will be interpreted different depending upon a number of factors, but resonate and carry meaning throughout almost all cultures.
