{"id":56,"date":"2011-06-15T20:18:08","date_gmt":"2011-06-15T20:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/patriciaesposito.wordpress.com\/?p=56"},"modified":"2024-02-12T00:56:09","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T00:56:09","slug":"the-power-of-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/patriciaesposito.com\/?p=56","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Image"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine Gandalf a minute. What do you see?<\/p>\n

The first image that pops in my mind is the pointed gray hat. Not any gray wizard\u2019s hat, but a softened hat, slightly bent, worn at the edges, a sense of not only history in him but comfort, no need for embellishments or flash. A true hat, a used hat, a fitting hat.<\/p>\n

For each character, there is probably some defining image. My mind flashes with Aragorn\u2019s boots, worn too, mud-stained, a foot traveler, a strong and steady stride.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

And what about images that represent not a character alone but an entire story or a theme? Why does the hollowed hiding place in the tree linger with so many of us after seeing\u00a0To Kill a Mockingbird?<\/em>\u00a0On a broader scale, what do the wide expanses of frozen white make us feel in\u00a0Fargo,<\/em>\u00a0and do they come to represent the movie as a whole?<\/p>\n

In storytelling, whether in novels or short stories or movies, images can convey as much as dialogue or action. The image doesn\u2019t have to be specifically symbolic, as in a one-to-one relationship like the \u201cA\u201d in\u00a0The Scarlet Letter,<\/em>\u00a0or how a key might come to represent unlocking a secret. Sometimes an image carries with it universal associations that we can\u2019t define: water, doors, open skies, passageways, lone trees, shadows, a sun rise.<\/p>\n

A movie or a book can be subconsciously more powerful if the writer or filmmaker incorporates resonant imagery, letting the setting convey ongoing themes or character transitions, letting a single image speak rather than the characters themselves.<\/p>\n

Imagine a scene in which two characters stand face to face: one is shouting about an important missed phone call, while the other is unable to speak. The argument has nothing to do with what\u2019s really happening between them, which is a betrayal and a broken promise. As they argue, the silent character\u2019s focus is on a china teacup, narrowing in on the crack running between flowers, a crack that appears larger and larger as the argument goes nowhere.<\/p>\n

If later in the book or movie, a teacup is once again seen, in a different house, perhaps an older woman holding a fine cup, never broken, we might not consciously ask, what does this mean, what shift is happening here? But somewhere in our subconscious the new image recalls the old; somewhere inside, something stirs and we sit up, become more engaged with the story, without knowing why.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s magic in the subtle play of images. Sometimes you might see a movie or read a book that brings to mind a color. I\u2019ve heard people say, \u201cThat movie was so blue,\u201d or \u201cThat book felt orange.\u201d Obviously, the writer or filmmaker associated a color with the mood of the story or with the characters\u2019 emotions. Often it\u2019s not a conscious choice, but something that happens in the writing stage, which is taken up unconsciously by the reader or viewer.<\/p>\n

But when revising any story, the writer should look at the potential of an image, at what the character might\u00a0not\u00a0<\/em>say, at the action that might\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0happen, but that the image might show. And trust that the reader, the audience, shares a similar consciousness, and will intuitively know.<\/p>\n

Often it\u2019s the subtle image working at the deeper level that stays with the audience, that creates a reaction that feels a bit like a mystery, a stirring inside that lingers after the story is finished.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine Gandalf a minute. What do you see? The first image that pops in my mind is the pointed gray hat. Not any gray wizard\u2019s hat, but a softened hat, slightly bent, worn at the edges, a sense of not only history in him but comfort, no need for embellishments or flash. A true hat, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,62],"tags":[111,109,112,110],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction_and_poetry_author_patricia_esposito","category-grammar-and-editing","tag-defining-images-in-fiction","tag-imagery-in-writing","tag-images-define-theme","tag-power-of-image"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Power of Image - Life's Seductive Beauty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/patriciaesposito.com\/?p=56\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Power of Image - Life's Seductive Beauty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Imagine Gandalf a minute. 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