Call & Response

The Third Call: Little Boy Games/ Big Boy Games — Jessica

What is it that Pooh says? Start at the beginning and go on until the end? Or something like that…

So let’s start at the beginning. What is a metaphor?

I spent a lot of time yesterday reading and browsing around, trying to come up with a definition in my own words that was not only correct, but made enough sense to me to be able to remember it. This is what I got: a metaphor is a comparasion between two different things that have a similar trait or characteristic. Usually the shared trait will lead to a deeper understanding of the quality possessed by one of the objects. An easy example of this is God as King. The majesty, authority and power of a king is easily understood and helps to clarify for us the same quality in God even though it is to an unimaginable degree more with the Lord.

All well and good for writing and speaking, but how does that translate visually? I found a lot of things written about metaphors in advertising and was able to glean a few useful items. To start, they give a specific name for each of the objects. There is the target, which is the main subject, and the vehicle, which is the metaphorical subject. So think about a sports car with a wildcat in the ad. The car is the target and the cat is the vehicle (the metaphor) that explains the qualities of the car — sleek, sexy, fast, aloof, cool.

My six year old begged to play Dogopoly the other day while I was trying to catch up on the news. I was suddenly reminded of Boehner saying of the shutdown that “It’s not a damn game.” Aha! I grabbed my camera and began to shoot. Only in my mind I had to work out what was the target and what was the vehicle. Who should be in focus and who could be only suggested or hinted at? Looking through the shots, this is the one that I think bests conveys the metaphor. It’s definitely something that will take a lot more practice until it becomes second nature.