Symbolism

[Kuiper]

I don't think your examples are symbolism, Kuiper.

Fair point, especially on the Wall-E example; my post was less about symbolism and more about the fact that people can often be influenced by things that they're not consciously aware of, but I think it applies to symbolism as well. For example, in Twelve Angry Men, there are circumstances in the juror's room that serve as a physical metaphor for the attitude and atmosphere in the room: the room starts off oppressively hot and humid, and the start of the film is the point at which the first advocate juror is under the most "heat" from the other jurors, metaphorically speaking. Then, at the midpoint of the film, when it looks like things are turning around and the vote has gone from almost unanimously guilty to being a 6-6 split, it starts to rain outside (relieving the humidity) and the fan starts to work (providing some reprieve from the heat). The interesting thing is that the hot and humid "pressure cooker" setting is presented even before the first juror voices his dissent, so we get the symbolic part of the metaphor before we even see what it's supposed to represent. In a way, it's "priming" us by giving us the symbol first. Even before the heated argument starts, it feels like the atmosphere (mood) of the room has already been established. This seems similar to how symbolic coloring is often used to make a location or person seem "darker" and more ominous.

You're describing instinctive emotions with a biological nature that developers can use to their advantage.

I think this actually gets at an interesting question of whether symbolism can be tied more to cultural expectations or biology. I think that many common symbols and motifs are based on cultural influence. For example, from the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, we get the names "Adam" and "Eve," and the fact that the "forbidden fruit" is often portrayed as an apple has led to the apple being used as a symbol for temptation. I think that's cultural; there's nothing about apples that makes them inherently more tempting than, say, a pear, and there are many places in the world where apples simply don't grow, meaning that encounters with apples aren't really a fundamental part of the human experience.

However, I do question how much certain symbols are biological in nature, like "light/dark" symbolism for example. It's something that's often represented in culture (Luke Skywalker wears white while Darth Vadar wears black; the good cowboy wears a white hat while the villain wears a black one; heaven and angels are bright while hell and demons are dark). Is this something that was invented by early storytellers and then passed down from generation to generation, or is there something about dark colors that makes them inherently more mysterious, associated with shadows, and potential dangerous, while lighter/brighter colors are the opposite and seen as more plain and honest and virtuous? Is putting the Jedi in white robes and the Sith in black ones symbolism, is it appealing to the "instinctive emotions with a biological nature" as you describe, or is it both?

For another example, take "big = powerful" and "small = weak." Is that symbolism, or appealing to our biological instincts? The fable about the lion and the mouse seems to be symbolic in nature (as most fables are), and I think size is a part of that; I think there's a reason that the story is explicitly about a lion and a mouse, as opposed to a lion and a goat or something else. It's not merely a story about a relationship between predator and prey; it's a story about how the small (weak) mouse was able to help the large (strong) lion.

Then look to cinematic techniques that emphasize size. A high angle shot makes its subject look short and small, while a low-angle shot makes the subject look tall and large by comparison. (Incidentally, Twelve Angry Men uses this technique to make its characters look "larger than life" in the movie's third act.) In the case of the Silence of the Lambs clip, it's used to emphasize the strength of one character by making him look bigger, and the weakness of another character by making her look smaller. Is that not symbolism?

[Mammon]

That's actually a mixed bag of examples. The room temperature, that's symbolism. It works upon the feeling of people but both in execution and idea it's symbolism. The apple and 'the lion and the mouse' are also symbolism. Even if the fable relies on biological aspects, the lion was chosen for being a large and Majestic animal while the mouse is seen as shy and insignificant, thus symbolism.

The light and dark situation however is a gray area at times. The darkness is an instinctive fear because we don't know what's in it and we're daylight animals, especially if we feel like there's a predator hiding in that darkness. The light v darkness idea is a symbolic meaning based upon this fear and honed over the years. While I would place such direct symbolism as Star Wars or the bible directly under 'symbolism' because it's no longer relying on that fear rather than the established meaning behind it, there are plenty of other situations, such as horror movies, that would still fall in that gray area. And one of the most unforseen examples: clowns. They're not meant to be scary, but clowns are considered to be scary by a lot of people these days because their expressions are faked, overdone and unreadable. Do they count as an instinctive fear because they tap directly into that, or as symbolism because the symbol of clown can these days be combined with horror quite easily?