Visual and Multimodal Metaphor in Advertising and Political Cartoons
CERES-Palais, Raum "Ruhrpott" (4.13)
Guest Lecture by Dr. Charles Forceville (University of Amsterdam)
Visual and Multimodal Metaphor in Advertising and Political Cartoons
Metaphor, according to Lakoff and Johnson, is “primarily a matter of thought and action, and only derivatively a matter of language” (1980: 153). If this is correct, then metaphor should occur in other modes than only the verbal mode. And that, indeed, turns out to be the case. This presentation focuses on two genres in which visual and multimodal (here: verbo-pictorial) metaphors are used abundantly: Advertising and political cartoons. While across the two genres, the metaphors’ formal appearance does not differ much, the genres steer the viewer and analyst into different interpretation strategies. After briefly (re)visiting some of the basics of metaphor theory as developed by Max Black and Lakoff and Johnson, I will present many examples of metaphors in both genres.
