Sunday, September 30, 2012

Visual Metaphor Research

Part 1: Verbal Metaphors


1) “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” - St. Augustine

      target: world
       source: book
      ground: book has a lot of pages, just like the world consists of many countries or destinations
      tension: scale, shape, what they are made of
      The metaphor compares traveling with reading, and equates an intangible idea of not traveling with just reading one page in a book. It provides an illustration.

2) "Past is a foreign country." - David Lowenthal

        target: past
          source: foreign country
          ground: often beyond our reality and experience
          tension: past describes time, while country describes space
          This line is a title of an article, that summarizes the idea explored by a scholar Lowenthal. The idea is that people never exactly know what happened in the past, since they were not present there, just like they can't completely know and understand people from another country because they are not present there and don't walk in those people's shoes.

3) "All the world's a stage." - William Shakespeare

       target: world / life
          source: stage / theater
          ground: in life and theater, people play roles
          tension: theater shows imagined scenarios, while world/life is reality
Shakespeare compares the world / our life to a theater to emphasize how in life we often have to play roles written for us by society, our jobs, our families, etc.

4)  "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast." - Ernest Hemingway


          target: Paris
          source: moveable feast
          ground: lively festive and romantic atmosphere, beauty
          tension: Paris - a specific geographic location, feast - a general word that describes a celebration
With this metaphor, Hemingway wants to say that Paris can be such a bright and happy memory, that wherever the person goes, the memory of Paris remains a source of inspiration and fulfillment.

5)  "The ocean was a smooth skin reflecting the light with the million mirrors." - Yann Martel, Life of Pie
         target: ocean
          source: skin
          ground: smooth surface
          tension: different density: ocean is water/liquid, skin is flesh
Metaphor emphasizes the flatness and smoothness of water.

Part 2: Visual Metaphors


1) Alessandro Gottardo, Embracing the sloth, Real Simple, 2012



          target: meadow
          source: lake/river/body of water
          ground: flat surface, association with leisure time and summer
          tension: texture, color
Metaphor uses replacement and similarity.


2) Alessandro Gottardo, The day I felt the richest, Reader's Digest, 2012

          target: sun
          source: melon
          ground: shape, color, association with summer, warmth
          tension: size, structure, purpose
Metaphor uses fusion and similarity.


3) Alessandro Gottardo, Classic novel treasure, Real Simple, 2012

          target: book
          source: door
          ground: shape, both can be open and peeked into
          tension: size, purpose
Book can be opened just like a door that leads to treasures, secrets, knowledge. Metaphor uses fusion and similarity


4) Alessandro Gottardo, Asia and Middle East problem, Plansponsor Magazine, 2012

          target: bowl of soup
          source: storm
          ground: liquid
          tension: size, taste
Storm in a bowl with Eastern design communicates the problems/conflicts taking place inside Eastern countries. Metaphor uses replacement and similarity

5) Chris Buzelli, Giant Obligation, Plansponsor Magazine



target: obligation
          source: whale
          ground: giant, heavy
          tension: obligation is an idea, whale is an actual object
Metaphor illustrates the heaviness and hugeness of the obligation through comparing it to the whale.
Metaphor uses replacement and similarity


6) Chris Buzelli, Book Monster: taming the wild text, Educational Leadership Magazine




target: fear of reading / learning to read
          source: monster / dragon
          ground: scary, intimidating, hard to overcome
          tension: intangible vs tangible
Metaphor uses juxtaposition and similarity

7) Stephen Savage, Trouble in Venezuela, New York Times



target: troubles in Venezuela
          source: fire in neighbor's apartment
          ground: can be watched from a safe distance, neighbor relations, map location: US on the North, 
          tension: scale of two apartments vs two countries, scale of the actual problem
Metaphor uses fusion and similarity


8) Stephen Savage, History of American Thought, The New York Times Book Review

target: American thought
          source: light bulb
          ground: idea of enlightenment
          tension: concept vs actual object
Metaphor uses fusion and connection.


9) Luke Melanson, Can't help myself: the power of habits, New York Times book review




target: average person
          source: puppet
          ground: humanoid
          tension: alive and thinking vs. inanimate, in control vs. being controlled  
Metaphor uses fusion and opposition.

10) Christina Ung, Financial incompatibility



target: financial incompatibility
          source: family conflict, sexual incompatibility, adultery
          ground: negative, about breaking apart
          tension: different aspects of the relationship, financial is more practical, 
while love is more emotional 
Metaphor uses fusion and connection


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