A visual metaphor is a metaphor the medium of which is visual. Like in any other metaphor, one part of it, usually named "source", applies to another part, usually named "target", and reconstructs it. The point is that the metaphorical application or reconstruction in visual metaphor is made by means of visual tools, forms and compositions. Shimon Levi's and Arieh Cohen Ship Building (known also as Boat House) is an example of visual metaphor: its source is a ship, its target is a building, and the building is ship shaped.[1] The visual metaphors philosopher Michalle Gal defines metaphor as made of three parts: source, target, and emergent properties which are gained by the combination of the source and target in a new composition, and reconstructs the target anew. According to Gal, and contrary to theories of conceptual metaphor, emergent properties cannot be pre-conceptualized and can be possessed only by the specific metaphor: a ship made of cement applies only to the Ship Building. Gal claims that the emergence is gained thanks to the power of compositions, that supply a context to the elements of metaphor that proffers significance thanks to their organization, mutual relations and influences. For Gal, since the power of metaphorical composition is best embodied by the visual media, visual metaphors are the paradigmatic metaphors and every kind of metaphors, conceptual or linguistic, are based on visuality. [2]
There are claims that visual metaphor is pictorial analogy. It illustrates a comparison between what is in the visual, including its connotations and denotations with another thing and its meanings figuratively.[3] For some visual metaphors the link between the images and what they are being compared to is the physical similarity while others it is the conceptual similarity.[4] There are similar interpretations of the visual metaphors but each person can comprehend them a bit differently.[5] There are different types which include: spatial and stylistic. They are also commonly used in advertising because of its ability to persuade.
^Gal, Michalle (2020). "The visuality of metaphors: A formalist ontology of metaphors". Cognitive Linguistic Studies. 7 (1): 58–77. doi:10.1075/cogls.00049.gal. S2CID 225353949.
^Gal, Michalle (2022). Visual Metaphors and Aesthetics. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781350127715.
^Kogan, Nathan; Connor, Kathleen; Gross, Augusta; Fava, Donald (1980). "Understanding Visual Metaphor: Developmental and Individual Differences". Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. 45 (1): 1–78. doi:10.2307/1165832. JSTOR 1165832. PMID 6993920.
^Kogan, Nathan; Connor, Kathleen; Gross, Augusta; Fava, Donald (1980). "Understanding Visual Metaphor: Developmental and Individual Differences". Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. 45 (1): 1–78. doi:10.2307/1165832. JSTOR 1165832. PMID 6993920.
^Jeong, Se‐Hoon (Feb 2008). "Visual Metaphor in Advertising: Is the Persuasive Effect Attributable to Visual Argumentation or Metaphorical Rhetoric?". Journal of Marketing Communications. 14 (1): 59–73. doi:10.1080/14697010701717488. ISSN 1352-7266. S2CID 62797510.
A visualmetaphor is a metaphor the medium of which is visual. Like in any other metaphor, one part of it, usually named "source", applies to another...
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or...
Internet metaphors provide users and researchers of the Internet a structure for understanding and communicating its various functions, uses, and experiences...
in visual art. With all exaggerated features, Sembiyan Mahadevi bronze is not meant to be taken literally. Sembiyan Mahadevi is a visualmetaphor yet...
"Doll on a Music Box" is a song originally from the 1968 musical film, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It was subsequently performed in the 2002/2005 stage musical...
Barbara J.; McQuarrie, Edward F. (June 2004). "Beyond VisualMetaphor: A New Typology of Visual Rhetoric in Advertising". Marketing Theory. 4 (1–2): 113–136...
Fincher as "more hyper-real in a torn-down, deconstructed sense—a visualmetaphor of what [the Narrator is] heading into". The filmmakers used heavily...
Spoon theory is a metaphor describing the amount of physical or mental energy that a person has available for daily activities and tasks, and how it can...
codenamed Cider, was introduced with Visual Studio 2008. Like the Windows Forms designer it supports the drag and drop metaphor. It is used to author user interfaces...
this principle can also produce a pleasing effect. Ramachandran defines a metaphor as a mental tunnel between two concepts that appear grossly dissimilar...
power movement indicated that a horseshoe is not quite right as a visualmetaphor for the relationship of the far-left and the far-right; that, in fact...
things. The main expression of its essence is given through a non-visualmetaphor or, according to another Epshtein's term, a "metabola" (rather than...
in tone, commonly using irony or satire. The art usually acts as a visualmetaphor to illustrate a point of view on current social or political topics...
American exceptionalism. […] [Ishida's] sharp use of The Matrix as a visualmetaphor for the ways in which people are blinded has proven particularly poignant...
witnessing this, Kaminski knew it had to be incorporated, calling it a visual "metaphor of the entire movie: [Sammy] can have the image in his hand and shape...
talking flora did not work in the context of the film, and instead a visualmetaphor of two realistic leaves falling to the ground was used instead. Disney...
human being". The cover art for Room Under The Stairs serves as a visualmetaphor for a new beginning for Zayn, featuring his silhouette superimposed...
city of beauty in the wilderness" and planned his city as an iconic visualmetaphor for British dominance, "styled and located with the objective of reinforcing...
feminine entity that is paired with the masculine Chinese dragon, as a visualmetaphor of a balanced and blissful relationship, symbolic of both a happy marriage...