Human Writes: Gone Fishing
Waiter, waiter, there’s a David Lynch analogy in my soup! | Non-Fiction | Fresh Soup
Almost two months ago, one of the most original, enthralling storytellers passed away. David Lynch might be the only filmmaker whose scenes have invaded my dreams, and today he turned up in my soup, too.
“As fast as lightning”
“As fast as a deer”
“As fast as a bullet”
Think about these three similes, which signify speed. All of them are essentially saying the same thing: that someone, or something, is very fast. But beyond that semantic core, they each have a different feel: the lightning and the deer put us in the natural world, the bullet evokes a violent civilization. A deer is fast when it’s fleeing a predator; a bullet is fast when it’s about to kill or maim; lightning can be dangerous but it has no intent to harm. And so while we understand what the images are trying to tell us on a conscious level, there are other forces at work on our unconscious, which affect the way we make meaning of the similes.