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Role of the Metaphors Despite the fact that cinematographic properties of Kevin Costner's movie Postman can be described as mediocre at best, it nevertheless represents a great ideological value, as this movie allows viewers to realize what the concept of civilization stands for, without having to study history, on their part. This is because of highly metaphorical essence of Postman. It will not be an exaggeration to say that this movie helped me more then any other in understanding the mechanics of metaphorical referral. Movies main character, the postman, embarks on the mission of rebuilding civil society in former U.
S. , by assuming an identity of real mail carrier, which has been dead for a long time, and by beginning to deliver mail. This allows him to substantiate his claims that countrys government has been restored in Minneapolis, which in its turn, results in many people beginning to associate postman with figure of authority. Thus, we can say that Costner characters relationship with objective circumstances is nothing but a metaphor of the process of law and order being restored in the country that was once plunged into the state of social chaos. Although, at the beginning of the movie, postman appears as such that does not have a chance, in his confrontation with General Bethlehem, he manages to prevail in the end, because fighting social entropy, on his part, corresponds to the laws of nature. The reason why young plant is able to grow through the thick layer of asphalt is that highly organized organic life is metaphysically superior to the dead matter, which represents entropy.
We can also say that that postman's social stance, as whole, is a metaphor of the way political authority originates in the first place. Apparently, it has nothing to do with rational considerations, as foundation for such authority. Someone simply declares, I am in charge and announces his intention to oppose anyone who will doubt his right to lead people to the bright future. In this respect, postman is no much different from his greatest nemesis General Bethlehem. His willingness to promote the notion of order, despite seemingly impossible odds, has elevated him from being a nameless drifter to the figure of historical importance. This again, serves as metaphor of cultural and scientific progress as such that is being pushed forward by peoples voluntarism combined with their ability to operate with highly abstract matters.
Very often in history, the consequences of political deeds do not seem to relate to the original causes that prompted people in favor of political activism. The birth of the greatest nation on Earth was caused by utterly banal reasons Americans thought that taxes on tea, imposed by British Crown, were little too high. This directly led to American War for Independence, as we know it. The reason why people in Costner's movie follow postman is not that they need to do it to survive physically, but simply that they suffer from the absence of little things that their ancestors used to take for granted. They associate postman with prospects of gaining back their existential comfort and with nothing else. Nevertheless, movies ideological sentiment points out to the fact Costner viewed the life of his character within a context of new great civilization being established.
Thus, movie confirms the idea that geopolitical greatness often derives out of existential mediocrity. As we have mentioned earlier, it does it in highly metaphorical and therefore memorable manner. I was able to learn a lot about the nature of metaphors, as the method of delivering semantic message in movies, during the course of watching Postman. The foremost conclusion, I came to, in regards to cinematographic metaphors, is that they significantly increase movies dramatic effect. At the same time, in order for the viewers to understand the meaning of metaphors, the rate of their IQ needs to be higher then average. Given the fact that American society undergoes the process of racial marginalization, it is highly unlikely that the presence of metaphors in movies will continue to benefit producers, in commercial sense of this word, as time goes by.
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Research essay sample on Associate Postman Highly Metaphorical Movie
