I strikes me that we don't even look for them the way we once did - unless we are concerned with fields such as film or literature. Specialists alone seem interested in allegory.
Perhaps allegory has been abandoned because of a shift in morality? Do we no longer need the little comments and hints, the parables and plays to tell how to behave? No one shows the salacious babe with a spaniel napping at her feet to let us viewers know that she looks lose, but she is faithful to us and us alone. Nowadays, the nearly naked chick is just a nearly naked chick, or a slut, a slag, a woman for the taking - whether she is or not. If she has a dog, it's for protection, not an indicator of monogamy.
Perhaps that is why when we watch children's shows these days the seem dumbed down, and the writers appear to be compelled to explain everything to the viewers? And here, I thought they just thought children were stupid. (Boy have they got another thing coming, if that's the case.)
I still have a copious catalog of metaphor, maxims, myths, and allegory to draw upon. I am amazed when my friends, just a few years younger, do not always "get" the references I use. (NO BTiLT quotes, please.)Oh, they get the big ones - pearls before swine- but have trouble with the little ones - green eyed monster - that to me are commonplace.
Perhaps it is due to the rise of the Icon and the Logo. The carnation in the buttonhole is replaced by the swoosh. A dollar sign means the same as cold hard cash, and everyone can spot a Coke product at a hundred yards. It has become a one to one ratio of symbolism a sort of cause and effect of image and object. Now if only we could use the icon for the item, I could print enough $$$$$$s to pay my bills!
Allegories
Perhaps allegory has been abandoned because of a shift in morality? Do we no longer need the little comments and hints, the parables and plays to tell how to behave? No one shows the salacious babe with a spaniel napping at her feet to let us viewers know that she looks lose, but she is faithful to us and us alone. Nowadays, the nearly naked chick is just a nearly naked chick, or a slut, a slag, a woman for the taking - whether she is or not. If she has a dog, it's for protection, not an indicator of monogamy.
Perhaps that is why when we watch children's shows these days the seem dumbed down, and the writers appear to be compelled to explain everything to the viewers? And here, I thought they just thought children were stupid. (Boy have they got another thing coming, if that's the case.)
I still have a copious catalog of metaphor, maxims, myths, and allegory to draw upon. I am amazed when my friends, just a few years younger, do not always "get" the references I use. (NO BTiLT quotes, please.)Oh, they get the big ones - pearls before swine- but have trouble with the little ones - green eyed monster - that to me are commonplace.
Perhaps it is due to the rise of the Icon and the Logo. The carnation in the buttonhole is replaced by the swoosh. A dollar sign means the same as cold hard cash, and everyone can spot a Coke product at a hundred yards. It has become a one to one ratio of symbolism a sort of cause and effect of image and object. Now if only we could use the icon for the item, I could print enough $$$$$$s to pay my bills!
This bears thinking about.....