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Allegories
Where have all of the shared allegories gone? The language of symbolism seems to have almost vanished from our culture (but which I mean American culture, I cannot comment on anyone else’s, as I am not part of that culture). While we still have icons and symbols, the rich visual language of the allegory seems to have vanished.
I mention this because behind the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia, where I walk almost every day on my way to work, are a set of sculptures that seem to be trying to tell me something. But I have no idea, no idea at all, what they are trying to say to me. I have no spiritual ear for their symbolic voice. They do not connect with me at all. That just seems like a terrible shame.
Up until fairly recently -when? 1950s?- there was a language of symbols and images were a deep part of our culture. It does survive in a truncated form today -with Uncle Sam standing in for the US or Britannia for the UK, for example- but what is a Victorian artist telling us when he surrounds his subject with roses? And the particular color of the roses will be important, as will if they are in bloom or not, but we have lost that language.
What can we do to resurrect the iconography of the allegory? To return the graceful allusion to our skies? To again speak in poetic similes and historic metaphors? I suspect using them in my LJ is hardly enough though it may be a good start.
An introduction of the concept of the Allegory can be found on Wikipedia (where I also learned about Synecdoches, Metonymy and the conceptual opposite of an allegory, the Catachresis today.)
I mention this because behind the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia, where I walk almost every day on my way to work, are a set of sculptures that seem to be trying to tell me something. But I have no idea, no idea at all, what they are trying to say to me. I have no spiritual ear for their symbolic voice. They do not connect with me at all. That just seems like a terrible shame.
Up until fairly recently -when? 1950s?- there was a language of symbols and images were a deep part of our culture. It does survive in a truncated form today -with Uncle Sam standing in for the US or Britannia for the UK, for example- but what is a Victorian artist telling us when he surrounds his subject with roses? And the particular color of the roses will be important, as will if they are in bloom or not, but we have lost that language.
What can we do to resurrect the iconography of the allegory? To return the graceful allusion to our skies? To again speak in poetic similes and historic metaphors? I suspect using them in my LJ is hardly enough though it may be a good start.
An introduction of the concept of the Allegory can be found on Wikipedia (where I also learned about Synecdoches, Metonymy and the conceptual opposite of an allegory, the Catachresis today.)
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.....