Charlie Kaing

Amanda Tripp

Language and Analysis of Cinema

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Denotation and Connotation

This image exhibits several striking elements that may ferry the mind into a vivid journey to the depths of one’s imagination. In taking a denotative approach, the moon is shrouded by a mystical force in the night sky, and is unable to cast down its illumination to the surface. Moreover, the clouds take on a bleak and particularly dark color that is, oddly enough, darker than the sky itself. Likewise, the element of interest that is the monumental church also shares the somberness which resonates along with the other elements and ultimately enhances the overall gloominess of the image.

To further elucidate this image, a great number of implications may be drawn out from it when it is observed in a connotative perspective. Evidently, upon analyzing the image as a whole, an imposing threat which suggests that nobody is welcomed here can be identified. While a church inherently reflects light, cleansing and pureness, it is quite the contrary in this image as it reflects a sort of dire malevolence.

Bluntly speaking, this particular church may as well be recognized as the devil’s church. This is considered a paradigmatic connotation because it is usually shown in movies that dark activities happen in such locations.  In analyzing the three aforementioned elements of the image, the moon exhibits a clear sense of darkness and imposing threat. While the typical moon may be a metonymy for everything that is associated with purity or love, this particular moon represents the exact opposite, as its supposed purpose of radiating the area with passionate light is blocked by a mysterious force, and thus conveying the message of cursing anybody who may beam a glance at it. Also, the clouds in the night sky suggest a malicious intent.

It addresses the presence of demonic creatures with the purpose of bringing harm and swarming away an individual. Overall, it contributes to the resonance of fear exhibited by the image. Likewise, the church, as colossal and dark as it is, suggests that there is an ongoing dark and malicious activity inside the premise. From the perspective of the image, the church is standing tall and out of reach like a living being that is deliberately demonstrating its sheer superiority over the spectator. While the existence of minimal light is indeed perceived on the lower part of the church, this does not necessarily reflect a shred of hope within the dark whole, but rather a contribution to the already excessive darkness. It is something that also demands cautiousness as it is strange, or perhaps this strangeness comes from the blending of the light over the texture of the stones, and that is what reflects uncertainty.