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Symbolism as a literary tool essay
Imagery and theme
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In society we are surrounded by images, immersed in a visual world with symbols and meaning created through traditional literary devices, but augmented with the influence of graphics, words, positioning and colour. The images of Peter Goldsworthy’s novel, Maestro (1989) move within these diameters and in many ways the visions of Ivan Sen’s film Beneath Clouds (2002) linger in the same way. Both these texts explore themes of appearance versus reality and influence of setting, by evoking emotion in the responder through their distinctively visual elements.
Misleading impressions directly relate to the concept of appearance versus reality and the naive nature of the first impression. Maestro is a novel written in first person and the opening constructed from a number of simple sentences that create a visual contrast between the rustic physical characteristics of Keller and the strict material characteristics of his clothes. This descriptive language highlights the visual absurdity of the scene, the climate being no factor in Keller’s choice of clothing, yet his physical being of a ‘boozer’s incandescent glow” demonstrated distinctive imagery. The narrator also reflects that Keller’s greeting, his suit and accent had passed judgement from his father, and the narrator’s first impression was tainted by his father’s visual perception. Emphasis is also put on the naivety of Paul’s first impression of Keller, only years later can the narrator suggest that the judgements he made of Keller were ‘misleading’. The narrator adds ‘of course’ suggesting the naive closed personality of the narrator in the opening scene has changed.
Similarly in Iven Sen’s film Beneath Clouds the concept of misleading impressions is explored through distinctive vi...
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...olours of the opening scenes combines with the horrid lifestyle of Vaughn and Lena, whilst the greens and clouded with droplets of rain as they drive over the range brings in the ideas of hope and a future for both of the characters. The vital role the changing images that surrounds the pair gives insight into the influence of settings on plot and character development.
It is true that the essence of any story is emphasised through distinctively visual images created for the audience. The ability of any composer- an artist with paint brushes, a musician with chords or the writer with words- to entice and evoke is at the centre of a narrative. Both Peter Goldsworthy’s novel Maestro and Beneath Clouds by Iven Sen evoke emotions in the responder through distinctively visual elements and exploration of the concepts appearance versus reality and influence of environment.
When meeting the first character, the country farmer, we are directly addressed, giving a feeling of approachability within the community. The shot of the farmer is a mid-shot on eye-level which emphasizes the feeling of being directly spoken to and make him feel ‘less of a threat’. The setting of the film is firstly of a country road and a quite, sleepy country village. The focus on the Christian church allows the audience to think of the community as trustworthy, religious and likeable.
Even aside from the ambiguity of what is real within the text of the film, Black Swan clearly presents imagery that goes beyond what is seen and experienced in our world. Based on Arnheim’s perspective, Black Swan is art because it experiments with the forms of color, sound, framing, and with editing of time and space. Application of his theories illuminates the ways in which these aspects of film effect viewers’ process of making sense of reality, and how that interpretive process can be intentionally altered. In this respect, any filmmaker who uses film’s formal elements to create and effectively communicate meaning over and above simply conveying what was in front of the camera at the time can be said to be creating art.
Intro: In Steven Connor’s ‘Ears Have Walls: On Hearing Art’ (2005), Connor presents us with the idea that sound art has either gone outside or has the capacity to bring the outside inside. Sound work makes us aware of the continuing emphasis upon division and partition that continues to exist even in the most radically revisable or polymorphous gallery space, because sound spreads and leaks, like odour. Unlike music, Sound Art usually does not require silence for its proper presentation.
Lehman, Peter and Luhr, William. Thinking About Movies: Watching, Questioning, Enjoying. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003.
Thus the relationship between visuality, the body, and knowledge can been understood as an exploration to find the truth and of truth, as the responder finds out, truth is ultimately subjective. The visuality of the film creates a sense of uncertainty for both Leonard and the audience. The main narrative in the film is shown backwards in vibrant colour. Not only is the inversion of the narrative progression symbolic of Leonard’s preoccupation with the past and his struggles with it, it also serves to ... ... middle of paper ... ...
Maestro by Peter Goldsworthy is yet another coming of age novel that shows the development of Paul through his life and the changes that occur with growing up. Although the reader isn’t positioned to view Paul as someone to look up too, he is written so we can relate to him. This clever writing by Goldsworthy shows the mental and emotional knowledge gained through the journey from a tiny duckling to a majestic
The camera is presented as a living eye in her work, capable of bending and twisting, contorting reality in its own light. It is at the same time a sensuous device, one that exp...
... movie stars like royalty or mythical gods and goddesses, viewing the drama between great archetypal characters in a personal psychic realm. By considering the statements made and their societal impact from a Marxist perspective, Benjamin’s method is highly effective, as it does not simply consider art in terms of pure aesthetics anymore, but considers art’s place in a society capable of mechanically reproducing and endlessly duplicating film, photography, and digital art. His qualm with losing the aura and mystique of an original work is negated by the cult of movie stars, the adoration of fame, the incorporation of soundtracks which embody a particular time period, cinematographic allusions, and time-capsule-like qualities of a film such as Basquiat, a 90s tribute to the 80s, produced both as a part of and resulting from the art movements and trends it addresses.
Since its emergence over 30,000 years ago, one of visual art’s main purposes has been to act as an instrument of personal expression and catharsis. Through the mastery of paint, pencil, clay, and other mediums, artists can articulate and make sense of their current situation or past experiences, by portraying their complex, abstract emotions in a concrete form. The act of creation gives the artist a feeling of authority or control over these situations and emotions. Seen in the work of Michelangelo, Frida Kahlo, Jean Michel-Basquiat, and others, artists’ cathartic use of visual art is universal, giving it symbolic value in literature. In Natasha Trethewey's Native Guard, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,
For Vetrov, “the city was not a “text” to be “read” but a sight to be seen, A visual rather textual experience” (Strathausen 2003, 24). Vertov asserted that images should speak for themselves; he used the intellectual montage to encourage his audience to participate actively in the film, to “revolutionize” their “visual thinking”. He had never imposed a “pre existing meanings” of his filmic text, he wanted the viewers to be part of the decoding process of his film (Russel 2009,
This film captures this class distinction without subduing the atmosphere through the use of a variety of cinematic devices. “A good film is not a bag of cinematic devices but the embodiment, through devices, of a vision, an underlying theme” (Barnett, 274). The audience can see this theme of the realities of the oppression, poverty and despair of this time period through the use of the things mentioned, but also through the character development that is driven by the character’s hopelessness. Each of the characters associated with the lower class is motivated by the conditions, which are viewed through the cinematic devices mentioned above: color, spherical lenses, long shots, and high angle shots. Sources Cited:.
Each chapter invents its own reality, a reality of the screen, of the movies, that is brought into closer contact by means of a literary text. The book as a whole, then, glorifies in the postmodern tradition multiple interpretations of reality. Movies themselves present alternative realities or interpretations of perceived realities, most often differing from our own individual constructions. Thus, by offering ...
As an audience we are manipulated from the moment a film begins. In this essay I wish to explore how The Conversation’s use of sound design has directly controlled our perceptions and emotional responses as well as how it can change the meaning of the image. I would also like to discover how the soundtrack guides the audience’s attention with the use of diegetic and nondiegetic sounds.
In her essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, British film maker Laura Mulvey attempts to demystify how pleasure can be fulfilled in film. Contending that a pleasure in looking (scopohilia) and a pleasure in possessing the female as what to be looked at (voyeurism) fufills the audience’s desires, Mulvey suggests how filmmakers use this knowledge to create film that panders to our innate desires. In “Meshes of the Afternoon” by Maya Deren and “Vertigo” by Alfred Hitchcock, it is seen that Mulvey’s argument—the desire to look, the hunting, seeking, and watching, and harnessing of the female form is natural human desire. Deren and Hitchcock will use entirely different techniques to achieve that sense of fulfillment for the audience. But how does this watching and looking translate in to the written word? In “The Winter’s Tale” by William Shakespeare, we will see the ideas approached by Mulvey and the themes used by Hitchcock and Deren utilized to create a sense of looking and objectifying the woman in the absence of the screen. Through this paper, the concepts of pleasure for Mulvey will be shown to have applicability not only in cinema but in art in far more universal terms. First, a discussion of pleasure and Mulvey’s definition of it will allow for clearer understanding as to what this fulfillment actually is. Secondly, Vertigo will be examined—as an example of “mainstream film” utilizing the ideas of scopophila and voyeurism in a perfect balance. Scottie and his search will then be contrasted with Leontes of Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale, where again desires will be balanced in harmony with Mulvey’s principles. It is to become clear through...
...n though they are approached in different ways to make this much more of a Hollywood film, but a work of art nonetheless. This is also more of the kind of film an audience of my age is used to seeing, so approaching it in an analytical setting was very interesting and significant when it came to experiencing the film in a different way. The weaving in between dreams gave the film an essence of French New Wave with the film’s long shots within which ever dream the central group is in, but breaking continuity in order to maintain a connection between each group member stuck in a dream phase. Also, I noticed as the group progressed further into the dreams, each dream world got lighter, however, once the groups falls into to limbo, the lighting is dark and ominous, creating the mysterious vibe that makes the film linger with wonder to the viewer after the conclusion.