Light
LIGHT AS METAPHOR has become fairly overwrought. Poor poetry leans on such similes as a crutch, comparing one person’s smile to the sun, someone else’s eyes to the moon. Morality runs on a descriptive scale of light to dark, stopping off along the way to frolic in the shadows that add texture to the human experience. Light as a metaphor contains both stark contrast and swirling compromise, deity and mortality, substance and immaterial.
It’s quite droll.
And yet we cannot hope to escape light’s evocative power. Light creates a hierarchy for the eye to follow. Consider the potency of the spotlight or the power of the silhouette and how light draws out what is important in the moment.
Similarly, though at the risk of crafting another sophomoric metaphor, light represents knowledge; what can be seen, revealed, and consequently understood. The absence of light invokes the opposite effect as the infamous “bump in the night” echoes throughout humanity’s collective memory.
Light in art can become the crux of authenticity. Inconsistency in glare, shadows, and warmth of tone irritate the eye, which can be costly for even the best content. Lighting sketches, paintings, photographs, and, yes, video requires a great deal of time and informed thought. Movie magic can often come down to one guy, a few screens, and some really big light bulbs.
Continuing the strain of contradictions, light in film functions both as metaphor and the great cosmetic. It paints new lines along the actors and the set, molding mood out of the umber and flare.
Like all parts of the five senses, life is better with light. Art is better with light.
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