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Symbolism
Since film is primarily a visual medium, symbolic imagery can be very effectice in supporting the plot and story elements, or communicating the emotional state of a character in the drama. Symbolism is perhaps even more effective when it is in the background or concealed in another image. Consider the following images from the Matrix and A Beautiful Mind. Neo means "new," and what does that have to do with 101? What does 101 mean for a college professor like John Nash? What about room 101 in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World?
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When we first meet Neo in his apartment.
THE MATRIX |
John Nash's office door at the university.
A BEAUTIFUL MIND |
Although these images look similar, the point here is to connect the symbolism of the number 101 with the character and in the context of the film. How many other times has this room number been used in the movies?
Metaphor, Subtext, Allegory
A metaphor is something that means, or points to, something else. We seem to learn better and understand more through analogy and metaphor than we do the direct route.
EXAMPLE: (Casablanca) The story of Casablanca takes place mostly in Rick's Cafe Americain, where Free French, local Moroccons, Nazi soldiers, ex patriots, Italians, Russians and European refugees all come to have a drink. The location is a bar, but it represents the world in the early years of WWII. Rick represents America, whose policy was isolationism at the time. As Rick said several times, "I stick my neck out for no one." But by the end of the movie, he risked his life for people, and, likewise, America eventually took up the cause of the Second World War and stuck her neck out for all people.
Theme
"Theme is not what your story is about - it's what it's really about."
~Katherine Herbert
Finding the central theme of a film can seem elusive at times, but the theme is a recurring question or pattern that gets addressed several times and on many levels. It is what the main character struggles with or explores along the way.
The "Rule" of 3's
"The third time's the charm," we often say and so many things come in threes (trinity, trilogy, triptych). In film there's a device that gets used alot and is very effective, that uses this rule of threes. Basically, a line of dialog is spoken early in Act I, repeated in Act II and again near the end of the film, sometimes it's the "movie line" itself. Something happens on the third time - the context has changed to where the line has completely different meaning, or the line is delivered by a different character, also giving it new meaning.
There's a really good reason for using the rule of threes. By keeping the line of dialog the same, each time it's repeated, we are able to see how far the plot and characters have changed since the last one. As an audience member, there's also really great reasons for this device: The first time we hear this line of dialog, it's usually a "throw away" line and not much more than trivial information. The second time we hear it, we're on top of it and go, yeah, I knew that...and then, by the third time, we see it coming a mile away, and just as we're about to say the line before the actor does, look out! The context or character has changed and the words now have a completely different meaning. In comedy, this is known as a "bait and switch" joke.
EXAMPLE: from Casablanca: (Renault speaking to Rick)
1. Louis Renault: ...under that cynical shell, you're at heart a sentimentalist.
2. Louis Renault: Just as I suspected, you're a rank sentimentalist.
3. Louis Renault: Not only are you a sentimentalist, you've become a patriot.
~In just three lines of dialog, we can clearly see Rick Blaine's character arc, or, transformation!
ASSIGNMENT: There are other rules of three in Casablanca, although "here's looking at you, kid" was said at least four times. Analyze the rule of three with the line "Round up the usual suspects" and show how the meaning and significance of the line had changed by the third time. What was different? Why was it important to say the line twice much earlier in the film?
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