Symbolism flew over my head-Movies

[Itdoesthatsometimes]

I just watched insidious for the first time. I have never really caught on to symbolism in movies very well. I notice some stuff, but then still wonder what the hell it was suppose to mean.

Why does the son Dalton, wear pajamas like his mother? And then in the Further zone (I think that is what they called it), have pajamas that match his father's shirt? I noticed it, but can't figure out the symbolism. Can anyone explain this to me?

Spoiler: Space Condenser 3000

In exchange I will offer up interpretations to Prometheus and/or inception.


Does movie symbolism fly over anyone else's head?
Do you have questions on other movies use of symbolism?
Point out more movie symbolism, and make me feel more inferior.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think it's wise to keep close to Roger Ebert's Law of Symbolism: If you have to ask what something symbolized, it didn't.

 

[sanquin]

That's the thing with symbolism. If the author isn't clear about it, it's up to the viewer themselves to get from it what they want. Or you can be like me, whom watches the movie for the first time with an almost blank mind. As in, I just watch it to be entertained. Be that with action, adventure, comedy, interesting science, etc. I don't really care about symbolism and hidden meanings or allegories when it's too vague.

 

[the December King]

You know, I didn't even notice that!

If I had to guess, I'd suggest that the implication there was one of comfort and youth when in the presence of parents, of safety, but safety in the face of the dark, or of nightmares, which the realm beyond (Further) represented, or indeed might have been tied directly to.

 

[Itdoesthatsometimes]

Sometimes its symbolism, sometimes its not. As for Insidious, haven't watched, but I'm taking a guess that it could be the projection of the person in the movie seeing him dressed that way that the child is becoming like the father, which could be good or bad (probably bad), though it could also be about the father projecting himself onto the child if the father is viewing it. Thats very baseline, which matches how adept I am at analyzing film, but then again, most horror movies being released at this time seem very unintelligent. [sub]Or maybe they're so intelligent I couldn't possibly grasp it.[/sub]

Symbolism doesn't mean the same thing to everybody - and that includes the characters in the film. They may see something as symbolic in a way that the audience also sees as symbolic, but in a different way. Depends on how much the audience knows contrasted with how much the character knows.

I can some what buy that people (characters in the movie) may interpret different things visually, in the further zone. In another scene Dalton the son, who is having his words said through a secondary character (I forgot his name). The words are that, the man with fire on his face is going to find him. When it is clear to everyone (other characters and the audience), that the demon has a painted face (like Darth Maul). Maybe Dalton, does actually see fire from the demons face.

That would leave the father with the justification to project his shirt on to his son's pajama pattern. Symbolizing the extent of how lost Dalton (full pajama set) is verses how the father (just the shirt) has, "one foot in reality."

But as Johnny Novgorod said, Roger Ebert said, that I am paraphrasing, it is a long way to go to just get that explanation.

Hearing from this first round of answers I think I am leaning towards, no significant reason for the pajama patterns.

 

[Greg White]

I'm oblivious to most symbolism regardless of medium, though this is mostly because I don't buy the English major's view that everything in a story has some kind of hidden symbolism. Yes, those curtains could be blue because the writer had some kind of deep-seated depression stemming from abandonment and mother issues resulting in him being sad, but it's much more likely that the curtains are blue because that's just what the guy decided on.

Anything that's not very obvious I consider coincidental at best and made up by people over thinking things too much at worst.

 

[Weaver]

Sometimes things are just so deep in their own symbolism I don't get it. I'm looking at you, Jean Luc Godard.
Hell, you can watch the entirety of Week End if you want:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHweRWh5qcs

It gets really "good" at 1:22:00 if you want the insanity laden climax.