Cognitive semiotics in animation film: The fantastic flying books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Conceptual Metaphor Theory has long studied only verbal manifestations of conceptual metaphor, while metaphor is not a figure of speech but a mode of thought. The visual modality is the most important of the various modes that the medium of film can recruit, including visuals, music, sound, and language. Furthermore, metonymy plays an important role in the formation of metaphorical conceptualizations. This study analyzed The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore based on Cognitive Semiotics. All the scenes were evaluated in terms of metaphors and metonymies related to the animation’s main theme, i.e., reading books enhances public awareness. This animation has several mega-metaphors, micro-metaphors as well as metonymies. The mega-metaphor GOOD IS LIGHT/ BAD IS DARK leads to KNOWLEDGE IS LIGHT/ IGNORANCE IS DARK micro-metaphor. Additionally, the Great Chain of Being and the Event Structure mega-metaphors are represented according to which HUMAN BEING IS BOOK and CHANGE IS MOVEMENT are their micro-metaphors, respectively. The last mega-metaphor pair is GOOD IS UP/ BAD IS DOWN, with HAPPINESS IS UP/ SADNESS IS DOWN, besides KNOWLEDGE IS UP/ IGNORANCE IS DOWN as its multimodal micro-metaphors, according to a combination of visuals, music, and written language. Finally, EFFECT FOR CAUSE, along with POSSESSED FOR POSSESSOR, are attributed to metonymy. Thus, it can be concluded that metaphor and metonymy are not emanated from the human cognitive system but are eminently usable in films.