RAGE – Primal Rage
ORDER – Court room drama
JUSTICE – Lady Justice
EVIL – Skeletor
PEACE - Hippies
GOD - Thor
HISTORY – WWII/101st Airborne
PAIN - Knees
SMART – Smart car
Next, I was asked to provide a pair of images for each. My first image is one that I believe is a denotation of the image, the second image would be my connotation of the image.
RAGE – when most of us think of “rage” – likely we might think or road rage or perhaps yelling at telemarketers like the denotation image of this raging woman?
Though my first connotation was of an old video game that feature fighting dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts called “Primal Rage.” Although if you want to see some hard core raging by a little German kid – check out this youtube classic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbcctWbC8Q0
ORDER – I think a picture to represent order is an image from the TV show Law and Order:
Do you want the truth of what connotes ORDER to me? YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!! (Sorry – couldn’t help it). Yes… it’s courtroom marine/naval drama, “A Few Good Men.”
JUSTICE is usually depicted by police or other anti-criminal action – or perhaps, like Order, in another courtroom drama.
When I think of justice – I always imagine lady justice, complete with blindfold, scales and sword.
EVIL – like the other words so far, Evil is an ideal – and not something easily to picture as a denotation. Though I think we can readily agree that satanic images such as this devil picture often denote evil:
The image my mind immediately came up with was Skeletor from the comic and cartoon franchise, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. The original cartoon was a little cheesy, but I always felt that Skelotor, with his grim reaperesque appearance made for a great evil villain.
PEACE – there are some uniform symbols for peace – such as doves and the V symbol made with a hand – and of course – what most of us just refer to as the peace symbol:
My first connotation of peace is hippies. And when I thought of hippies, I thought about how Eric Cartman from South Park hates hippies…
GOD - I feel the general denotation for God (in American culture) is an old, bearded, wizened-looking fellow. Such as from Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam:”
Personally, I have often wondered what daily life would be like if we still worshiped a pantheon of gods, such as the Greeks, Romans and the Celts. I’ve always been enamored with the Norse gods, and immediately thought of Thor, Norse god of thunder and lightning, when given the word, “god.” (Bit of news: they are making a big budget Thor movie (based on the Marvel Comics character) due out next year).
HISTORY is such a symbolist word, it’s hard to conjure just one image that be a denotation of it. I think collages of historical figures or timelines might best represent the word. Here’s a collage that indicates US history:
I think due to my personal history, I immediately thought of the 101st Airborne in WWII (ala Band of Brothers). I served nearly 3 years with the 101st Airborne and they were some great years indeed. Band of Brothers remains my favorite of any wartime TV or movie drama. Another connection I have is that Richard Winters, one of the real-life people that were reenacted, lives in Hershey, PA – which is where I was born and spent most of my childhood and adolescence.
PAIN is another tough word to denote. I think this image representing back pain does a good job though:
I have some ongoing pains in my knees which started (and was misdiagnosed) with childhood arthritis. It gets a little worse every year. Last consult I had, the docs wanted to cut me open… so I until it really changes my standard of living, I will just keep with stretching and anti-inflammatory meds...
SMART or brainpower or IQ and the like are typically portrayed by brainy looking images such as this:
When I think of SMART – I think of the Smart, a small car made by Mercedes Benz. I like the car’s size, but wish they did better on gas (they get about 30mpg, where as one of my two Mini’s gets nearly 40mpg). One thing I don’t like, is that now that Smarts are sold in the USA, my Minis are not the smallest, most endearing things on the road. (Well, Mini's are still more endearing (and faster!)).
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