Have you ever read something incredibly and profoundly dumb that you felt obliged to say "NO" out loud to your monitor? I saw this floating around a few months back:
Here's the thing though...your English teacher was probably right!
Granted, there are some books and authors where this picture applies. If you're reading a Tom Clancy or Dan Brown (both fine, readable authors in their own genres), chances are those details are just be purely descriptive. For example, I remember reading the Da Vinci Code and it was mentioned that the main character wears a Mickey Mouse wristwatch. Now is that supposed to be symbolic of something? Probably not. It's probably supposed to be just a little distinguishing, humanising detail to make his character seem more relatable. And I know that sometimes meanings can be projected when they're simply not there: I remember in our high school English class we were analysing parts of Baz Luhrman's version of Romeo & Juliet. We watched the scene where they first meet, seeing each other through a fish tank. The teacher asked us what we thought it represented, and in my head I went off on many different tangents and obtuse explanations. The teacher then smiled, and told us that the director had said in an interview that it was just something he'd seen in a restaurant, and he thought it looked cool. In other words, the fish tank was just a fish tank.
But chances are, if you're reading a book with 'literary aspirations', then yes- those blue curtains probably do mean something. Elsewise, why mention them at all? I mean, what does the blueness of the curtains add to the description if not to symbolise something? But the fact that the author does mention them could mean that they represent something, maybe even something significant.
Think of the emotions associated with the colour blue. The sarcastic comment mentioned depression, but you could also have calmness, masculinity, nature, physical space (skies/oceans)- all things that the colour blue could represent. And curtains? Most rooms have curtains, so again- if they're not important why mention them? Maybe they represent comfort, or insecurity, or veiling/obscuring of things- again, there are many possible connotations. I'm far from a skilled writer (I'm not even all that great of a reader), but I think that part of what separates good authors from great authors is that the very best writers set the story up so well that even in their descriptions of simple objects- yes, including blue curtains- they are communicating messages to you, the reader, and establishing or hinting at the world in which their story takes place.
Yes, sometimes they are *just* fish tanks or blue curtains- but often a good book is like an iceberg; what you see on the surface narrative is just the more visible part of something much larger underneath.
Or to put it in cutesy, Vine form...
No comments:
Post a Comment