Aix Posted January 22, 2016 Report Share Posted January 22, 2016 Thoughts on themes and symbolism in any sort of media? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunar Origins Posted January 22, 2016 Report Share Posted January 22, 2016 It's pretentious and a result of my English teacher trying to find sheet for us to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maeriberii Haan Posted January 22, 2016 Report Share Posted January 22, 2016 Topic prompt felt a bit too vague and open... Oh well. At times they add fun depth and could enhance the experience, at times they're just plain pretentious. I prefer subtler ones than more blatant ones due to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aix Posted January 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2016 It's pretentious and a result of my English teacher trying to find sheet for us to do.Some people say it's supposed to prepare you for any sort of analysis, essay-writing, and oral presentation presumably because of the fact that with literature you have to think and make your own interpretation of sheet (aka lrn2bullshit things), but I feel like better preparation would be actually doing other stuff. Topic prompt felt a bit too vague and open...idk what else could be discussed with this prompt other than your opinion on putting themes and symbolism in books, video games, movies, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krein Posted January 22, 2016 Report Share Posted January 22, 2016 Thoughts on themes and symbolism in any sort of media? I think it's interesting and clever, especially in stuff like video games. Symbolism is actually a big reason why I appreciate the Silent Hill series, since even the way you fight certain bosses (like the Abstract Daddy) can be representative of certain aspects of the characters' minds or pasts. In literature, I feel it adds in a lot more depth and meaning to the stories and lessons a piece might be trying to teach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerion Brightflame Posted January 22, 2016 Report Share Posted January 22, 2016 You will find some measure of both of these things within essentially any creative medium. Generally I find the things that lack these end up without cohesion or poorer quality. It might not be to the inane amount of depth that high school analysis goes to (That stuff I find is more subconscious on the writer or directors part. It might add to things, but I don't think it's concious effort. It's also rarely so obvious as some high school deductions), but it will be present. In television, theme's are often used to link between character arcs across episodes and entire seasons. You use vary characters plot lines to compare and contrast approaches to a specific thought or idea. It usually serves to enchance the story, because it lets the audience think more. And sometimes themes will stretch across multiple pieces of work by a given artist or author, generally again because it's exploring multiple different approaches to the theme. Take Lovecraft, he has the fairly obvious theme of knowledge being this corrupting and horrifying force across a huge number of pieces. Symbolism is more subtle, but arguably used in more direct purposes. Like in television I find symbolism is usually heavily used for foreshadowing, because one for of foreshadowing is drawing parallels to other events occurring. But again, it varies. Like, the hardest thing about symbolism is that unless it's done well, it is pretentious because you are rubbing something obvious in someones face. I know that creative media likes doing that nowadays, but there is a limit. To say it serves no purpose in modern media is to cut a lot of good media short. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie Posted January 22, 2016 Report Share Posted January 22, 2016 As a person who loves to dive into Art House film and plans on going into art school of course im a sucker for symbolism in media and I love putting it into my own work. I find it interesting to find hidden themes and symbolic elements and even if I dont catch them they can still be enjoyable when theres an experience to them. Though I really hate it when its too blatantly thrown at you, it can get pretentious when its obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Crouton Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 On symbolism in TV/movies, Example of good symbolism: Batman Returns, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle at a costume party as the only two people not in costumes. Example of bad symbolism: The Matrix, where a guy literally tells us that Neo is Jesus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 Well I love seeing symbolism and themes. However I really feel uncomfortable with the idea that I have to put them into my writing for it to be considered good. I just don't understand that. I tend to go as natural as I can when I write so I don't think too much about that stuff. Though it happens sometimes anyway.Basically they can be cool but I don't think they're totally necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nyx Avatar Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 Well I love seeing symbolism and themes. However I really feel uncomfortable with the idea that I have to put them into my writing for it to be considered good. I just don't understand that. I tend to go as natural as I can when I write so I don't think too much about that stuff. Though it happens sometimes anyway.Basically they can be cool but I don't think they're totally necessary. It's pretentious and a result of my English teacher trying to find sheet for us to do.Never had to do that in English, yet. Themes and symbolism can be good when used in a subtle manner. But then there's throwing in a white horse or a cross for little to no reason, thus forcing symbolism when it's not necessary or enhances the experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aix Posted January 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 Well I love seeing symbolism and themes. However I really feel uncomfortable with the idea that I have to put them into my writing for it to be considered good. I just don't understand that. I tend to go as natural as I can when I write so I don't think too much about that stuff. Though it happens sometimes anyway.Basically they can be cool but I don't think they're totally necessary.Sometimes writing can feel empty or meaningless without any theme to it. Otherwise, it may seem all over the place without an underlying theme tying it all together. Though, it's perfectly possible to have a good work without themes. However, themes are like a something extra, I've never seen anyone think themes are something you should exclude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 Example of bad symbolism: The Matrix, where a guy literally tells us that Neo is Jesus. FINALLY YES, good god The Matrix had a whole ton of bad symbolism, like they dont even stop with the guy literally calling Neo Jesus, they take it farther by giving him disciples, make one of them betray him, and have him die and come back to life. Also in the third movie they literally switch up the letters in LIMBO to MOBIL. Yeah funk 2001: A Space Odyssey the Watocwskis (or however you spell their fuckin name) surely got it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halubaris Maphotika Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 The thing that Social Justice Warriors feel needs to be in EVERYTHING. I used to enjoy themes and symbolism until it became an annoyance thanks to bunch of White-guilt, upper middle class, college brats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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