really obvious symbology in films

[Mid Boss]

Superman Returns takes the "Superman is Jesus" concept and clobbers you over the head with it like a giant mallet.

Superman takes the Jesus pose MANY times while flying. Lex stabs superman in the side much like Jesus was stabbed while being crucified. Superman is comatose for three days before vanishing right out from under the nose of the security outside his room. There's more details but I haven't seen the movie in years so I can't remember them all.

It was so blatant and straight faced that it was almost comical.

 

[Norithics]

I think the king of this one has to be a slightly obscure film by the name of No Such Thing [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248190/], which featured Robert John Burke as the monster and was more ham-fisted than a kung-fu film starring Porky Pig. They might as well have just had the main character scream, "THIS IS A FILM ABOUT SOCIETY, YOU SHOULD THINK ABOUT SOCIETY."

Oh, Burke. I would rather have seen you do Robocop 4: The Coppening with your partner as Whoopi Golberg.

 

[shootthebandit]

The Matrix comes to mind - especially the end 'pose' Neo has in Revolutions.

I freaking hate symbolism in films. It's never as meaningful as the director thinks it is.

I can't think of a single film that I felt was improved by symbolism.

You ever seen "the wall" by pink floyd. Symbolism/imagery overload

 

[WoW Killer]

It was so blatant and straight faced that it was almost comical.

OT: Any time a pivotal character has initials J.C. for instance John Connor, JC Denton, John Coffey (the big dude from The Green Mile).

 

[Scarim Coral]

I'm spoiling this since I am pretty sure almost no one had heard of this blockbuster film that came out in China two years ago.

Spoiler: Shaolin or The New Shaolin Temple ending

Ok so the main character sacriface himself to saved the villain from the explosion and it just so happen that his lifeless body fall perfectly onto the Budda statue palm.
Throughtout most of the film, he set up to enlighten himself as a way to redeem his former evil and selfish past self so for him to fall on that just pretty much saying he has been forgiven for his past deeds.
Sure I admit that was well done but it was over doing it.

 

[FalloutJack]

I thought District 9 handled it well enough.

 

[Klaflefalumpf]

Can we count (early) zombie movies in this? They tend to have a lot of social commentary. Not quite symbology but it's along the same lines.

 

[Dangit2019]

Jesus imagery is rarely good. Most of the time, it's just the laziest excuse to make your movie look like it means something when it doesn't.

 

[Lilani]

I feel like listing Fullmetal Alchemist, even though it's not a movie. I watched FMA Brotherhood first, and now I'm watching the original series and I'm finding myself really disappointed in how the homunculi are handled. They are very different in how they work between the two shows, and without giving any spoilers, basically their names are after the seven deadly sins. Wrath, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Pride, Greed, and Envy. In Brotherhood, the characters all really embody their name in one way or another. It either comes out in their demeanor, or has something significant to do with their character arc. Either way, their name comes to mean something about them, either in how they physically behave or as a part of their psychological baggage.

But in the original series, the way they work really hampers this. I'm at about episode 45, and I still have yet to see the kind of depth that was in Brotherhood. Their names seem to embody them only at a surface level, which is very disappointing. In Brotherhood, Envy's trait in particular was used in a great way at the end of his character arc:

Spoiler

Envy was reduced from his huge monstrous form to a tiny little grub, and at that point it was revealed that while Envy hated humans, he also envied what they had that he didn't (mortality, normal life, more choice, etc). It was a cruel paradox he was stuck in--hating and wanting to kill humans, yet desiring traits of theirs that he could never have.

But in the original series, you have a totally different Sloth from Brotherhood, and she doesn't have any traits you might call "slothlike." She doesn't move or act slowly, and she has...water powers. She's more of a waterbender than any sort of embodiment of the Sloth. I much prefer Brotherhood's treatment of the characters. To me, if you're going to have such heavy-handed symbology in a set of character's names, you'd better do a LOT with it.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Can we count (early) zombie movies in this? They tend to have a lot of social commentary. Not quite symbology but it's along the same lines.

The first four Romero zombie movies are straight out symbolic of -isms.

Night = Racism
Dawn = Consumerism
Day = Militarism
Land = Capitalism
Diary = Media
Survival = The futility of long-standing family feuds, I guess

 

[DefunctTheory]

John Coffey (the big dude from The Green Mile).

Is it really symbolism if the movie flat out acknowledges it? Doesn't it just become a story about angelic creature coming to earth?

 

[Dalisclock]

What? No mention of "In Time", the film that's trying to be both an action film and a biting political/economic commentary but kind of falls on it's face when it tries to equate money and time(left to live). I appreciate the message but economics doesn't work that way.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

Man of Steel, The Matrix, and Death Note all have pretty obvious Messiah parallels in terms of symbolism and imagery (Death Note especially; each of the 13 manga volumes has a cross in the background, and I?m pretty sure Light does a crucifix pose in two of them and the anime opening).

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Mine choice would be Evangelion or more specifically the 3.0 movie.

Spoiler: this has to be over symbolic

 

[Sir Christopher McFarlane]

I am more impressed with the subtle symbolism in films I can not notice. For instance, the teddy bears in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining unravel a plot thread that wasn't verbally touched on.
Film maker Rob Ager has built a career out of releasing his film analysis on DVD. He usually analyses classic films and exposes much of that hidden symbolism.

 

[shootthebandit]

I am more impressed with the subtle symbolism in films I can not notice. For instance, the teddy bears in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining unravel a plot thread that wasn't verbally touched on.

Explain please

 

[Sir Christopher McFarlane]

I am more impressed with the subtle symbolism in films I can not notice. For instance, the teddy bears in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining unravel a plot thread that wasn't verbally touched on.

Explain please

Spoilers. Possibly.Stanley positioned the teddy bears in several scenes to represent both Jack and Danny. They also appear in places where the characters appear in other scenes. Wendy also hallucinates a scene of a man wearing a bear costume and a man in a suit in a bed. It's the way of the film giving away that Danny's psychological problems are at least partly caused by him being sexually abused by his father.

 

[shootthebandit]

I am more impressed with the subtle symbolism in films I can not notice. For instance, the teddy bears in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining unravel a plot thread that wasn't verbally touched on.

Explain please

Spoilers. Possibly.Stanley positioned the teddy bears in several scenes to represent both Jack and Danny. They also appear in places where the characters appear in other scenes. Wendy also hallucinates a scene of a man wearing a bear costume and a man in a suit in a bed. It's the way of the film giving away that Danny's psychological problems are at least partly caused by him being sexually abused by his father.

Its just accepted that jack is abusive towards his wife and son (i didnt realise it was sexual) i think its just an assumption the viewer is supposed to make. With it being kubricks take on a steven king story its not going to be handed to you on a plate

Theres just so much going on in the background the more you watch it the more you pick up on. For example is there really a supernatural presence or is it just a manifestation of jacks personality

 

[Frybird]

"Have you tried...NOT being a mutant?"

Yep, the X-Men movies are pre-tay sledgehammery at times. But ah well, i'm alright with it.

------------

And it's probably not really "symbolism", but i love how Edgar Wright Movies are very heavy on foreshadowing upcoming stuff through visuals and dialogue.

A few examples:

"A bloody Mary first thing, a bite at the King?s Head, couple at The Little Princess, stagger back here and bang? back at the bar for shots." (Shaun of the Dead)

"Splat The Rat!" (Hot Fuzz)

"Uh-oh."
NEGA-NINJA!!
"I can never get past that guy."
"Don't beat yourself up about it." (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World)

 

[Olas]

Okay, I'll be 'that guy'

To be honest, I can't think of much off the top of my head. I guess pretty much all of Aronofsky's movies are cluttered with symbolism. If anyone's seen the movie Pi, the film is filled with symbols of

Spoiler: order

and

Spoiler: chaos

Though the most blatant recurring image in the movie is that of the brain, more specifically the protagonists own brain, which he keeps seeing in hallucinations of throughout the movie.

Spoiler: don't click if you have a weak stomach

The fact that he keeps poking at his brain in those hallucinations might be foreshadowing what he ends up doing at the end of the film.

Spoiler