Visual Symbols and Motifs in Film

Examples of visual motifs are quite common in film. They are used, most often, as a subtle metaphor to suggest something about the protagonist, the situation or the location at the time.

In the Godfather, the presence of oranges signifies death or violence, and specifically heralds it. In this scene, as Vito Corleone buys oranges in a NYC street, he is the victim of an assassination attempt. As he falls, he knocks a basket of oranges to the ground. Later, when chasing a child around an orange grove, and after eating an orange, he falls to the ground and dies. The clip below is a compilation of the various uses of oranges in the trilogy, some a little more vague or abstract than death or violence, and very open to interpretation.

In the Sixth Sense, red is used to signify a bridging between the world of the living and the dead which only the young boy, Cole, can see. For example, this scene at night, in which he hides from the visions of the ghosts, in a bright red tent, as seen in the clip below. His jumper before the attic scene in which he is trapped with a ghost is also a distinct red colour. This is a much more subtle use than the one in Unbreakable, discussed below, as it is not associated with any particular character, and often appears as part of the background, as with the tent scene.

Sixth Sense Tent Scene (I apologise for the lack of embedded video, there are content claims on all relevant videos which prevent embedding)

Unbreakable is a realistic interpretation of the classic superhero myth. To include the typical costumes, but in a far subtler way, M. Night Shyamalan gave both David and Elijah, the superhero and villain respectively, their own characteristic colours. David's is green and notably his green poncho is worn during his first act as a hero, as seen in the clip below. Elijah's is purple and most of his clothings and his comic book have a purple or blue focussed colour scheme.

The visual motif in Blade Runner are the origami figurines left by Gaff. Each one; a chicken, a man and a unicorn has a specific meaning relevant to that part of the film. When Deckard is refusing his "call to action", Gaff makes the chicken, symbolising Deckard "chickening out". The other two are less clear due to the variety of differing cuts and versions of the film. The matchstick man origami could symbolise Gaff knowing of Deckard's attraction to Rachel, or Gaff telling Deckard to man up. The final, the unicorn is the most unclear, but a dream Deckard has of a running unicorn, only present in certain versions perhaps suggests that Gaff may know that Deckard is a replicant, by knowing his dreams. Whatever, the interpretation, the origami figures are used as these very vague symbols, open to interpretation, but suggesting ideas about the characters without stating them in dialogue. In the clip below, you can see Deckard finding the final origami figure.