时间：2022-10-28 05:13:37
Abstract： In cognitive linguistics， metaphor is the tool for people to understand the objective world. It is everywhere in people's life. The paper attempts to explain how the conceptual metaphor is applied in films' titles， language and themes. The application of conceptual metaphor in film art provides people with new ideas and imagination to appreciate and understand films.
Key words： film art；conceptual metaphor；source domain；target domain
中图分类号：G648文献标识码：B文章编号：1672-1578（2013）04-0011-02
1. Introduction
In western countries， metaphor is traditionally viewed as a figure of speech which mainly appears in literal works. In 1980， Lakoff and Johnson published a book Metaphors We Live By which views metaphor from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. The book gives rise to the theory of conceptual metaphor which moved metaphor out of language into people's conceptual organization. It could guide people's thought and activities. And it is also applied in film art. In order to cast a good film， the director could conduct films with the mechanism of conceptual metaphor in various aspects， such as titles， language and themes. Thus， the analysis of films from the perspective of conceptual metaphor could help audiences comprehend the films better， which in turn help them understand life better.
2. The Theory of Conceptual Metaphor
Metaphor is considered as a fundamental cognitive process， as a basic schema by which people conceptualize their experience and the external world （Gibbs， 1994， cited in Rakova， 2004）. The main point of conceptual metaphor is explaining the mapping between conceptual domains and exploring how metaphors could restrict people's thought and action. Therefore， through the mapping process， the abstract concept life is easier to understand.
According to Lakoff and Johnson （1980）， metaphor is understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another. That is to say， it offered a different approach to the analysis of metaphor by dividing two different cognitive domains， which are source domain and target domain. The source domain refers to literal meaning of language and the target domain refers to metaphorically meaning of language. Each cognitive domain contains some conceptual schemes based on experience； and metaphor is gained by mapping the source domain onto the target domain （苏立昌， 2007）.
Conceptual metaphor also shows certain features. These features could be discussed under the headings of conventionality， systematicity， asymmetry and abstraction （Saeed， 2009）. When metaphors are conventionalized， they have become fossilized or dead metaphors. Systematicity refers to the way that a metaphor does not just set up a single point of comparison： features of the source and target domains are joined so that the metaphor may be extended， or have its own internal logic （Saeed， 2009）. Asymmetry refers that the mapping of conceptual metaphor is directional， which is from the source domain to the target domain. Abstraction refers that a typical metaphor usually use concrete source to describe abstract target.
3. The Application of Conceptual Metaphor in Films
As an important way for people to think and talk about the world， metaphor is everywhere in people's life. And metaphors could also be found in various aspects of films， such as titles， language， themes， main color and so on.
3.1Conceptual Metaphors in Film Titles
As a special discourse， film titles possess four functions， which are informative， expressive， aesthetic and vocative function （ 贺莺，2001）. If used properly， conceptual metaphor can do great help to achieve these functions.
For example， the film金陵十三钗tells a story of a group of people hide in a church and face the extreme cruel Nanjing Massacre bravely. First， the word "金陵" refers to the city of Nanjing where the shocking massacre happened during the second world war. Therefore， the cruel of the war and the Chinese bloody fight against the Japanese could be mapped through the source domain "金陵". Second， the phrase "金陵十二钗" could be mapped through the source domain "金陵十三钗". And "金陵十二钗" is another name of the famous novel The Dream of the Red Mansion. It refers to twelve classic women who have their own characteristics but mostly have tragic fate. Thus， only learning about the title， audiences could guess that the film tells the story of some classic women who fight against the Japanese bravely in the Nanjing Massacre.
3.2Conceptual Metaphor in Film Language
Film language is different from written language. When listening to the words of the actors in the films， audiences also pay attention to the activities of the actors and the plots of films. Audiences only have limited time to comprehend the utterance of actors with no explanation. Thus， film language should be popular sentences which audiences can understand easily. Metaphors could do much help to simplify the language.
For example， in the famous film "Forrest Gump"， Forrest Gump's mother uses a classic metaphor to express the true essence of life "Life was like a box of chocolates，you never know what you're gonna get." This sentence is widely cited by people of different nationalities and ages. Using boxes of chocolate to imply the impermanence of life is popular and easy to understand for Forrest Gump who has deficiency in intelligence. He often uses this sentence to sum his life， so do the audiences.
3.3Conceptual Metaphor in Film Themes
Every film has a theme the director wanted to transmit to audiences. It is the theme that guides the development of plot. And directors often use conceptual metaphors to reflect the themes.
For example， the famous Italian movie "Nuovo cinema Paradiso" uses the change of films and the cinema to mapping the change of society and the growth of people. At first， films are the only entertainment for the people in the town， and the projectionist is the leader of people's life. The cinema records the life of so many people there. Then， televisions appear， which have some influence on the cinema. At last， the cinema is going to be bombed to build a park. The change of the cinema reflects the change of the society. However， the end of the film shows that even though some things will change with time goes on， certain things will never change， such as love， which is mapped through the last scene of film.
4. Conclusion
Metaphor is an important way for people to think and talk about the world. The study of metaphor can help people better understand the way they possess the meaning of abstract things and concepts. The paper applies the theory of conceptual metaphor to analyze film titles， language， the themes， and the color used in films. In order to manifest the theme and portray the characters， metaphors work together to form a whole metaphor of the film. Studying metaphors in film art provides people with a new idea to understand the ideological content of the work and appreciate the work behind the cultural implication.
References
[1]Lakoff， G，Johnson， M. 1980. Metaphors We Live By.Chicago： University of Chicago Press.
[2]Rakova， M. 2004. The Extent of the Literal： Metaphor， Polysemy and Theories of Concepts. Beijing： Beijing University Press.
[3]Saeed， J. I. 2009. Semantics （Third Edition）. Oxford， UK： Blackwell Publishers Inc.
[4]苏立昌，2007，认知语言学与意义理论--隐喻与意义理论研究（英文版）。 天津：南开大学出版社。
[5]贺莺，2001，电影片名的翻译理论和方法。外语教学， （ 02）。
作者简介：
陶琴（1988-），女，四川省资中县人，西南大学外国语学院2011级研究生，主要研究方向：翻译理论与实践