Guest Lecture by Dr. Charles Forceville (University of Amsterdam)
Metaphors in films differ from those in static images because (1) the target and a source of a metaphor can be cued after each other rather than having to be recognizable synchronically; (2) films can draw not only on visuals and written language, but also on spoken language, sound, and music. In this presentation some scenes with creative film metaphors will be shown and discussed, as well as some instances of the deeply entrenched conceptual metaphors GOOD IS LIGHT and BAD IS DARK. If and when we are aware of these latter in artistic film narratives, we may even judge them mere clichés. That said, the medium of cinema need not resort to cliché-varieties of the LIGHT/ DARK source domains. By playing around with shades of light and dark, and with shifts from light to dark or vice versa, the conceptual metaphors may trigger creative mappings that contribute to the narrative’s story-line and to the cueing of affective states.
This lecture is part of the Master Class on “Multimodal Metaphor Analysis” with Dr. Charles Forceville (University of Amsterdam). The Master Class will comprise daily lectures, discussions and working sessions, organized by the Metaphor & Materiality working group.
