FauxNixon

8 Movie Metaphors Worth Puzzling Over

We’ve all seen lists of great screen kisses, great car chases, great fight scenes. They’re easy to appreciate, and perhaps that’s why they get all the attention. Now maybe it’s because I’m a film geek (or because I was an English major), but for me there’s nothing like a really well-done film metaphor. (Really!) It goes back to rule numero uno of good cinema — show, don’t tell — and there’s nothing like a tasteful, well-executed visual symbol to do just that (and really get those geek-juices flowing too). If movies were books, it’s during those big metaphor moments when I would begin underlining and circling passages feverishly, certain I would return later to study and decode every juicy hidden meaning (yeah, right).

Now, this is by no means a conclusive list (it’s somewhat limited by what I could find on DVD and what was already on YouTube), but these eight clips represent some of the finest (or at least most interesting) symbolic/metaphoric moments in cinema in the last 20-30 years. What do they all mean? I’ll take a stab at parsing them, but I’d love to hear what you all think, too.

These are, for the most part, safe for work — but I’ll boldly indicate the few that are not. And watch the videos, people! It took forever to cut these together. (Yes, I did a little editing — but just to maximize the metaphors in the shortest amount of time. Sorry, Stanley!)

See the rest of the post (and the clips!) here.