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1、Cynthia.Lee-CIS.SWU--吾星讲义吾星讲义Cynthia.LeeCynthia.Lee - -1Audio-Visual Courses Language required: English OnlyA symbol is something that stands for or suggests something else, usually on account of a relationship, association, convention or resemblance.A motif is a recurring feature or idea related to
2、 the theme of the film; frequently it will be a recurring symbol.Scales, for example, are symbols of justice (because they are associated with the idea of balance); The color red may symbolize danger, violence, or intense passion (because of its association with blood);The goat may be symbolic of lu
3、st (simply because the two are conventionally associated).Some symbols are universal, but some symbols are culturally specific. Water, for example, almost universally symbolizes fertility because the two are naturally associated. On the other hand, bread and wine, symbolizing the body and blood of C
4、hrist, will be more significant in Christian cultures. The lamb, representing Jesus Christ and his sacrifice, is another potent Christian symbol-something that was not lost on the makers of The Silence of LambsOne of the funniest moments in American cinema is the scene in Reservoir Dogs where the ga
5、ng members are being assigned their code names. The names are all based on colors: for example, there is a “Mr. White“, a “Mr. Blue“, and a “Mr. Pink“. Mr. Pink, however, is indignant about his name, and asks if it can be changed to “Mr. Black“. Its a trivial issue, of course, since these are only c
6、ode names, but Mr. Pink is aware of the color symbolism that associates pink with effeminacy and homosexuality, and black with seriousness, gravity, and power. Symbolism in the films can be quite subtle. When, for example, E.T. holds out his forefinger to touch the fingertip of his young human frien
7、d Elliott, the scene recalls the Cynthia.Lee-CIS.SWU--吾星讲义吾星讲义Cynthia.LeeCynthia.Lee - -2famous Michelangelo painting “The Creation of Adam“ on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in which the forefingers of God and Adam momentarily touch, and thus becomes symbolic of a deep spiritual connection betwe
8、en the two.Symbolism Windows, Doors, MirrorsContents Door,Door, windows,windows, mirrorsmirrors CultureCulture reflectionreflection SymbolismSymbolism in in WesternWestern CultureCulture RoseRose SymbolismSymbolism in in WesternWestern CultureCulture TableTable quizquizDoor, windows, mirrorsCynthia.
9、Lee-CIS.SWU--吾星讲义吾星讲义Cynthia.LeeCynthia.Lee - -3Stylistic features and effects of framing: windows-intrusive gaze; doors-distinguish “outsiders” from “insiders” or signify possible courses of action; mirrors-signify self-examination or incipient psychological collapse. Interest in the symbolic meani
10、ngs of doors, windows, and mirrors is not limited to students of literature. Below are the ideas of three very different thinkers (a nineteenth-century Englishman, a Chinese essayist, and a French psychoanalyst) who approach the topic from three very different angles.Doors: Thomas De Quincey, “On th
11、e Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth” De Quinceys essay concerns the scene in Macbeth in which Macbeth and his wife, having just carried out the murder of Duncan, are startled by a porter knocking loudly at the gate. De Quincey argues that the dramatic power of the scene derives from the contrast betwe
12、en two “worlds”: the dark, murderous, devilish world of Macbeth and his wife; and the ordinary world of humdrum, day-to-day activities. The knocking at the gate is the moment when the murderous world fades away and the ordinary world returns. “The murderers and the murder must be insulated-cut off b
13、y an immeasurable gulf from the ordinary tide and succession of human affairs-locked up and sequestered in some deep recess 【】the knocking at the gate is heard, and it makes known audibly that the reaction has commenced; the human has made its reflux upon the fiendish; the pulses of life are beginni
14、ng to beat again; and the reestablishment of the goings-on of the world in which we live first makes us profoundly sensible of the awful parenthesis that had suspended them.” The essay is one of the best-known critiques of Shakespeare, and a remarkable explanation of how the door (or a gate) is more
15、 than just a physical barrier; it is also a symbolic barrier separating two separate dramatic, moral, and emotional worlds. Windows: 钱钟书，钱钟书， “窗窗” Qian Zhongshus essay “窗” in The marginalia of life(translated by Ngai-Lai Cheng), is one of the more interesting discussions of the significance of windows. According to him, windows are symbolic of pleasure because they allow one to capture the beauty of nature and bring it inside. But just
