Discover the Metaphor

For ages, humanity has required, needed, even necessitated, the world of entertainment.

Throughout different eras and different philosophies, the usage and delivery of that entertainment has changed.

But the one key need among them all was simple; they were required.

And this led me to wonder, why?

But as you know, one question leads to others, so I was forced to deal with all the ways this idea exploded.

Do we need entertainment?

Introduction

The word need may be strong, but it’s the only word to define the role of entertainment in our lives.

Just as a story has its scenes of intense drama, there must also be times of relaxation and reflection.

And in this duality, the concept of entertainment becomes a Need instead of a Want.

I conclude that we not only require entertainment, but that we promote it as necessary for quality living.

But it pushes me to wonder again – how can we use entertainment to optimize our experience of it?

Metaphorically Speaking

I shall take entertainment into two areas to simplify the playing field.

For my approach, I shall take entertainment as:

•  creating art
•  appreciating art

From these two approaches, then I will place my emphasis on the second one because there are several books addressing the first one, the creation of art.

But how do we appreciate art?

• Is it best left to the individual?
• To society?
• The Government?
• God?

For me, the best approach to this situation is just to define a system by which we can use to translate entertainment.

As a product or service, entertainment becomes a package, whether physical or digital.

As a package, we can experience the entertainment and we must always ask ourselves the simple question.

What is the metaphor?

Traditional Meaning of The Metaphor

Though simile is a vital and efficient tool, it lacks in the ability to ascertain the power and depth of art.

For our purpose, the metaphor is a more broad spectrum and allows us to go beyond comparison (old traditional thinking) into new territory (making one thing become another).

By utilizing the metaphor, we force our minds to “translate” one thing into another and this requires a more creative and collaborative effort to completely experience art.

Spiritual Meaning of the Metaphor

The simile can be seen as the physical shell of meaning, of the premise, of the essence of an idea.

As a tool to define the literal ideas in art, the simile works fine and provides the outer coating of art, essentially the least important factors in understanding its value.

The Metaphor is by far the more powerful tool, distilling the differences and forcing us to synthesize two diametrically opposed ideas and fusing them into a new and (we wish) enhanced meaning.

From the two or more, we find the one.

This creative interpretation is an illusion because it simply coaxes us into pushing our minds into hostile territory – the world of thought.

To thoroughly experience art, we must appreciate the value.

Without an understanding of the metaphor, how can we fully experience the art itself?

Examples

The Breakfast Club

Without realizing that the kids in the Breakfast Club are different psyches or parts of the brain, how do we find the deeper meaning of the movie’s final essay, the metaphorical synthesizing of different ideological facets of thought?

The Matrix

For years, we’ve heard about conspiracies and about how someone is trying to control humanity. Shadow governments, Men in Black, UFOs, Reptilian Agenda, Aliens posing as God, the list goes on. But those are ideas, the raw material. Yet, when someone took that idea and turned into the Matrix, the metaphor intensified the power of those feelings, thus “packaging” the idea in its optimal expression.

And now, it’s part of our Culture to reference the greatest movie ever made.

Pretty Woman

Women complain bitterly about the idea of Julia Roberts being a prostitute in the film Pretty Woman. Yet, the film’s power lies in how prostitution was “packaged.”

Julia Roberts did what she did to survive and as a result, it became the only world she knew, but she dreamed of different ones.

Richard Gere’s obsession and anger led him to create the world he knew and he never dreamed of changing.

After they meet, she wants a richer, deeper, and more intimate world. He wants to “trophy” her and buy his way into her life, still continuing the world he knows.

As much as we despise the concept, they both are prostitutes, literally.

Yet, people despise her character and hardly despise his.

The metaphor dwindles down to a simple line:

What will you live for?

What will you die for?

Without her prompting and her beacon, he would never have found the understanding of seeking a different world, of finding higher ground.

The fact that many people overlook his prostitution hints at a bigger metaphor about our society.

Is it ok to prostitute yourself for money? In business?

Is prostitution of the body worse than prostitution of your mind and soul?

Why or why not?

Watchmen

Human beings, dressed in costumes, running the streets as vigilantes helping our country.

One superhero being manipulated by our country.

What’s the difference?

This story “packages” the truth and slices them into main characters, the watchmen.

Though they perform stellar acts and perform mythic acts, the story reminds us that we put our faith in other people.

Other people, who are still human.

The story’s metaphor slumbers and is sedated by the irony of truth.

Two questions:

Can peace be found by honest means?

Is peace built on a lie worse than peace built on honesty?

The incredible meaning of this film is “packaged” in the only person who is superhuman – Dr. Manhattan.

So the authors thrust the theme into his character and he is reduced to sub-human status because of his alienation.

How can you maintain intimate human relationships when you are no longer human?

How can you find peace when you view the universe (as a small piece of everything) and other humans view their country as everything?

Is it better to sacrifice and leave humanity so they may find peace without knowing you are in their midst?

Twilight

I know, I know.

What’s the big deal anyway?

A girl, a vampire, they fall in love.

A trite concept, maybe.

An explosive package, YES YES YES!

This is a prime example of taking an idea (metaphor) and packaging it in entertainment.

Young girls in the world today are filled with many feelings, but the one overriding theme in their lives burdens their psyche.

How can I get my desires when I’m told they’re bad for me, or worse, may even kill me?

Now, here’s the idea in pure raw form.

You take that idea and find the metaphor.

A young girl and an attractive vampire.

Now we take the metaphor and package it.

A young girl and an attractive vampire fall in love though he is constantly tempted by the angelic aroma of her blood.

With the keys put into place, it’s easy to see why this book and movie was a hit for female teens!

Smelling the Metaphor

Dreams are the raw unprocessed emotional footage of our experiences, both spiritual and material.

in this footage lies the turbulent turnbuckles of our 3 synergistic energies (spiritual, emotional, physical).

for those smart people, why is the mental part missing and not included here?

Because the mental part comes later, the mental part is the “editing” of this film.

The mental part is how we receive and translate the raw footage into coherence and thus, make sense of what happened.

And in this sense, this is how the art of creativity occurs.

We take raw footage, creativity and events, and we thrust them into the art form.

From there, we go until we are finished and then, we absorb ourselves into this world, into what happened.

With the right equipment, it’s very easy to go into an artform, extract the meaning and purpose, and then to abstractly (mental) weigh and judge the moral DNA of the story.

This is an amazing discovery, an amazing discovery.

This goes off in several areas:

• it makes me wonder now, in judgement day in the bible, with this being a vision (which really means dream), how do we take this dream and absorb the meaning to find out what this dream says to us?
• Is it possible to use dreamwork and retrace the book of judgement/revelation and possibly look into where it came from, based on the 3 items of choice – dialogue, events, locations.
• Or another choice – people, events, locations?

And then to go further, we must ask, from these 3 clay things, how do we build a ranking system to understand the metaphor of the book?

• What is the metaphor of the human body?
• Of the brain?
• Of our systems in our body? 
• Are there 9 systems, why not 12 systems?
• Are there 12 planets or not?
• Are there 12 spiritual bodies?
• This number 12, where does it go off and explain to us? 
• Not only is it 3, it is also the second 3, which is the First Adam (Christ). 
• Is there a connection?
• Can we use the number 12 to decipher the bible? 
• Why is 12 the number associated with the bible and not the quran? 
• What is the number associated with the Quran?

Conclusion

As you see above, the Metaphor is a lightning bolt that “jolsters” the Imagination and Creative Faculties of your Mind.

Look for it, savor it, and seek it out.

Your Heroic Journeys will be justly rewarded with Original Content that sparks the imagination of your readers.

Good Luck finding better Metaphors!