Cinematic Symbolism: Delving into Metaphor within Film

Abstract

Metaphor transcends its role as mere embellishment and emerges as a pivotal process within both language and cognition. This article ventures into uncharted territory within film studies by exploring the potential application of Max Black's interactional theory of metaphor and cognitive metaphor theory to analyze metaphor in film language. This perspective, though hitherto unexplored in film studies, proves indispensable for dissecting complex metaphorical structures within film texts and offers a precise framework for understanding associative language in film. Initially, this study delves into the description of the metaphorical process as delineated by interaction and cognitive metaphor theories, applying them to the analysis of film texts. Special emphasis is placed on elucidating how ideology intricately intertwines with the construction and reception of both conventional and non-conventional metaphors. In the article the final segment, meticulous analyses of Roland Emmerich's "2012" is conducted, spotlighting the interplay of structuring, personification, and displacement metaphors in shaping the ideological discourses embedded within the films.