The GOOD IS LIGHT and BAD IS DARK metaphor in feature films

Forceville, Charles; Renckens, Thijs

doi:10.1075/msw.3.2.03for

Article published In: Metaphorical creativity across modes:
Edited by Laura Hidalgo-Downing and Blanca Kraljevic Mujic
[Metaphor and the Social World 3:2] 2013
► pp. 160–179

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The GOOD IS LIGHT and BAD IS DARK metaphor in feature films

Charles Forceville | University of Amsterdam

Thijs Renckens

Published online: 14 February 2014

https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.3.2.03for

Light and darkness can be used metaphorically to help structure good and bad in all media, but film is particularly suitable for exploiting such metaphors. On the basis of examples from three feature films, we discuss in what way the metaphor functions in general and suggest how it allows for a degree of creative play. Moreover, it is pointed out how the metaphor usually interacts with other narratologically salient elements in order to achieve its specific, context-dependent effects. The paper ends with suggestions how the study of this and other conceptual metaphors in film may benefit both metaphor and film scholarship.

Keywords: multimodal metaphor, light versus dark, Conceptual Metaphor Theory, good versus bad

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