VISUAL METAPHORS

In your studies of disaster movies (films) you will "read" many visual metaphors (VMs). A number of important VMs appear in "War of the Worlds" (2005) and "Cloverfield" (2007) and involve paper floating down from the sky. What does this represent and where do you think this idea has come from: that falling paper paper represents destruction and mayhem?

In "Superman Returns" (2006) Superman prevents a large passenger plane from crashing into a baseball park. Again, what is the VM here and what is it representing? Why baseball?

The dates of these films are all very important in developing your answers. In the 1980s and 1990s with a few exceptions, disaster movies as a genre fell into decline. However, following a real disaster, this genre has found a new lease of life, a new connection with audiences around the world.

Questions.

1. What event prompted the increase in disaster movie production?

2. What does this tell us about the attitudes of our present society?

3. What other VMs could you design and place in your own film to represent disaster/destruction and to tie it to the "real-life" disaster that affected the whole world?

Link to "War of the Worlds" trailer below