Line #27 Main/Allegory


1	An allegory is a work that's designed to be a metaphor for something else. Just about every character is meant to be a [[AllegoricalCharacter representation of some group or concept]], and their interactions in the work are meant to convey ideas about how these groups/concepts affect each other in real life. The story may ''say'' "Alice and Bob had tea together", but in actuality, Alice represents Capitalism, Bob represents Communism, and the "tea" is actually a meeting of the UN. Expect RuleOfSymbolism to come into play in these stories.
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3	Perhaps the most famous example is ''Literature/PilgrimsProgress'', a Christian allegory in which the protagonist (named [[MeaningfulName Christian]]) leaves his old life to go on a journey to the [[{{Heaven}} Celestial City]], overcoming many obstacles along the way. Not all allegories are this [[{{Anvilicious}} heavy-handed]], however - some are very subtle, to the point where you don't even ''realize'' the story is an allegory until someone points it out to you. This is why so many readers get to thinking that EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory.
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5	Several {{art}}works are allegories, with most (or all) of the characters being {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of abstract concepts. They are known as allegorical {{paintings}}/{{sculptures}}.
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7	!! {{Sub Trope}}s:
8	* AllegoricalCharacter is the character-specific version, where the character represents something.
9	* AllegoryAdventure, in which the plot is an allegory for another work of fiction.
10	* BeastFable is another common form: just use various animals as an allegory for segments of human society.
11	* PhilosophicalParable: An ideology or philosophy is illustrated via a fictional work.
12	* WorldOfSymbolism, in which the Allegory ''only'' makes sense on the [[RuleOfSymbolism metaphorical level]] and not the [[MindScrew literal one]].
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14	Compare DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything. Contrast {{Applicability}}, which is when a story has meanings ''beyond'' what the author intended. Likewise, EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory is when the audience sees meanings that aren't really there, and DeathOfTheAuthor is for those who reject allegory within fiction altogether. See Also {{Metaphorgotten}}, when the story (or reader) loses track of what it was talking about.
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17	!!Examples
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21	[[folder:Art]]
22	* ''Art/TheKissHayez'': The colors of the couple's outfits (red, green, blue, white, and gold) are the colors of the French and Italian flags. The painting is a metaphor for the union of French and Italy during the ''risorgiomento''.
23	* '' Art/{{Primavera}}'' is generally agreed to be an allegorical retelling of spring, given the appearances of Flora (goddess of flowers), Venus (goddess of fertility), and Mercury (whose main festivity is in May).
24	* ''Art/RaphaelRooms'': The frescoes in the "Room of the Signatura" represent the four greatest human pursuits.
25	** "Disputation of the Holy Sacrament" represents the science of theology by showing the greatest Hebrew and Christian saints fondly regarding the clergy of the time debating around the Holy Eucharist.
26	** "The School of Athens" represents philosophy by putting Creator/{{Plato}}, Creator/{{Aristotle}}, and every other pagan philosopher in a huge dialogue in an imagined academy of wisdom.
27	** "The Parnassus" represents the pursuit of beauty with a concert by [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek god Apollo]] attended by the Nine Muses and every great poet from Creator/{{Homer}} to Raphael's contemporary, [[Literature/OrlandoFurioso Ludovico Ariosto]].
28	** "Cardinal and Theological Virtues" represents the pursuit of goodness with {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the four cardinal and three theological virtues resting above two great law-makers, [[UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire Emperor Justinian]] and UsefulNotes/ThePope Gregory IX.
29	* ''Art/TheSin'': As a whole, the painting is meant to symbolize the nature of sin. For that purpose, it presents us with two characters: a woman and a snake curled on her body. The woman's nude physique acts as a lure to the viewer while the snake is ready to strike, partially hidden in her hair and shadows. This is symbolic of the nature of sin; an attractive thing that tempts you into accepting it, only to corrupt and poison you. Additionally, the woman is Eve (the first person in the Abrahamic religions to accept sin) and the snake is {{Satan}} (who tempted her to commit it).
30	* ''Art/TheSevenDeadlySinsDix'': The {{painting\|s}} as a whole was made to be a {{Satire}} of interwar German society. Each of the SevenDeadlySins reflects a different, negative facet that has led to Fascism taking over. Greed, Gluttony, and Envy (who looks like Hitler) together mean that the fascists' ambition for a "better Germany" is jealousy over what other countries have. Sloth looks like the reaper because it signifies how complacency to tyranny leads to death and suffering. Lust represents both hunger for power and the ability to sell one's dignity to obtain riches. Wrath's demonic appearance represents how people lost their humanity when enraged. Along with Lust, it's the root of discrimination. Pride is a literal take on getting big-headed out of arrogance.
31	* ''Art/ThorsFightWithTheGiants'': Thor's battle against the giants, who are [[EmbodimentOfVice embodiments of depravity]], is a metaphorical mass-smiting of the evil that blights the world.
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34	[[folder:Comic Books]]
35	* ''Tales Of The Black Freighter'', the [[ShowWithinAShow Story Within A Story]] in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': a tragic little pirate story about a man who [[spoiler: gets so paranoid about pirates attacking his home town, that he goes crazy and ends up killing everyone himself]], interesting in its own right, and then you realize that [[spoiler: It's a metaphor for the [[WellIntentionedExtremist villain]]'s plan to "save the world" by murdering thousands, and further hints that his plan is totally in vain]].
36	* ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' is one big allegory for growing up, taking responsibility for your mistakes, and learning something from them instead of pretending they never happened.
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39	[[folder:Eastern Animation]]
40	* ''Animation/{{Igra}}'' uses two children drawing pictures that animate and fight each other as an allegory for an EscalatingWar that ends in nuclear holocaust. It ends with the boy drawing a missile that launches and detonates over the girl's drawing of a house, after which the boy accidentally knocks over an ink bottle. The ink spills over the drawings, symbolizing the end of the world.
41	* ''Animation/{{Ostrov}}'', an animated short film by Fyodor Khitruk, features a man stranded on a FarSideIsland who is at first ignored, and later exploited, by everyone who passes by, none of whom bother to help him out. When there's nothing left of the island but the cap of a tapped-out oil well, another castaway floating by on a branch offers to help the man get off the island. It represents how the underpriveleged and alienated often have no one to rely on but each other.
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44	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
45	* The 1954 film ''Film/Godzilla1954'' was made as an allegory about the horrors of the atomic bomb.
46	* Much of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' {{Prequel}} {{Trilogy}}, especially ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', is an allegory for the Nazi rise to power, [[spoiler:Chancellor Palpatine]] being Hitler and [[spoiler:Obi-Wan and Anakin]] the Goerring brothers, with the latter also representing all Germans. [[spoiler:Senator Amidala]] was representative of democracy[[spoiler:, and possibly the extermination of Jews, though [[Creator/NataliePortman the actress']] family history is probably a coincidence]]. There is also the Stormtroopers being, in both cases, first brought in by the Chancellor for the Republic and then used as his personal army. The Separatists may also be representative of the RealLife Spartacists. [[http://graphicsappreciation.tumblr.com/post/41364905844/palpatineishitlertheconvinvingargument This]] is one of many evidence articles on the internet for this.
47	** It's also been suggested that the entire ''Star Wars'' series is an allegorical history of the 20th century. The first three films represent the first half - Episode I represents the First World War, Episodes II and III the Second World War, and the Original Trilogy the Cold War. The Jedi and the Empire/Republic represent the Americans and Russians, though which way round they are depends on your point of view.
48	** Creator/GeorgeLucas has stated another influence is the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire under Augustus, which also occurred after a crisis and was very popular with the common people (however, in reality that change really wasn't so formal, and they never "officially" dissolved the Republic).
49	* ''Film/TheAscent1977'', about two Russian soldiers during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII who get captured by the Germans, turns into an allegory about Christ and Judas. One of the soldiers dies nobly, sacrificing himself on the gallows as a beatific light shines down on him. The other elects to join ThoseWackyNazis and ends the film a hollow wreck of a man. This is made overt when the collaborator is even called "Judas" by the villagers after he helped lead his old friend to execution.
50	* ''Film/{{Hypocrites}}'' is a film about, well, hypocrisy, and how easy it is to be a hypocrite and ignore the truth, as shown by a pastor attempting to lead his flock to Truth. The "narrow way" to Truth is an actual narrow way that leads up a very steep mountain, while the "broad road" that leads away from Truth is, yes, an actual broad road. One parishioner is too greedy to find the way to Truth, which is shown by him carrying a bag of gold coins that bursts open. After nobody makes it up to the mountain with the pastor, he liberates a figure called the Naked Truth--played by [[NudityEqualsHonesty a nude actress]]--to bring the Truth to them.
51	* Some ''Franchise/StarTrek'' movies are allegorical of contemporary sociopolitical issues:
52	** ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'' is about religion, specifically televangelism, which was a hot issue in the US at the time it was filmed.
53	** ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' begins with an ecological catastrophe that destabilizes the Klingon Empire, forcing them to make peace with the Federation in a manner reminiscent of the Chernobyl disaster and glasnost (it unintentionally also predicted the Cold War ending, which happened shortly after the film's release).
54	* ''Film/{{Parable}}'' is a short film in which the ministry and suffering of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} is symbolized by a clown arriving at a circus.
55	* ''Film/{{The Garage\|1980}}'': A Russian film in which a meeting of a parking garage co-operative dissolves into anger, backstabbing, and chaos after it's revealed that four of the members of the co-op will lose their parking spaces in the garage. The whole thing is an obvious satirical metaphor for the malaise of the Soviet Union in the late communist era. A high-handed and undemocratic government (the co-op board), corruption, nepotism, backstabbing, selfishness.
56	* The human to merman metamorphosis of Cody Griffin in ''Film/TheThirteenthYear'' could be a metaphor for pre-teen puberty.
57	* ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'': The giant red panda transformation is an allegory for female puberty.
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60	[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
61	* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' - Animals oust the human farmer and take over the running of the farm, as an allegory for the rise and corruption of Communism in the USSR. [[MediaNotes/SchoolStudyMedia The book is often used by high schools to teach students how allegory works]].
62	* ''Literature/BattleRoyale'' is considered an allegory about humans ([[TeensAreMonsters not just teens]]) and what they're willing to do in order to survive.
63	* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' is widely known as heavy-handed Christian allegory, but it's actually averted -- Aslan is not an allegory for UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, He literally ''is'' Jesus.
64	** ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' re-enacts the crucifixion story with Jadis the White Witch as Satan, Aslan as Jesus (of course), and Edmund as the unsaved sinner in need of redemption. Lucy and Susan also fill in for the Marys who attend Christ's death and burial.
65	** In ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', Eustace's transformation back from a dragon, and subsequent reform of character, is an allegory for the conversion of St. Paul.
66	** ''Literature/TheLastBattle'' is an almost 1:1 retelling of the Second Coming, complete with a false Aslan and his "prophet", a massive war, and [[spoiler: everyone going to heaven at the end]].
67	** The more proper allegory written by C. S. Lewis is ''Literature/ThePilgrimsRegress'', dramatizing his intellectual conversion to Christianity and an AuthorTract for his love for {{Romanticism}}. An obvious allusion to Bunyan in the title.
68	* Book XIII of Augustine's ''Literature/{{Confessions\|SaintAugustine}}'' rereads the Literature/BookOfGenesis as a figurative telling[[note]]not that Augustine denies Genesis's claim that God created the universe and man[[/note]] of how God saved man from the abyss of sin through His light.
69	* ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'''s trip through {{Hell}}, Purgatory, and {{Heaven}} is also a trip through a life of sin, repentance, and joy.
70	* Creator/EdmundSpenser's ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene'' is an allegory of virtues. It also has an interwoven political allegory.
71	* ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' for war and its causes, the island acting as a microcosm for the World at [[TheFifties the time]].
72	* ''Literature/HindsFeetOnHighPlaces'' - For the process of converting to Christianity
73	* ''Literature/PilgrimsProgress'' - For the process of converting to Christianity
74	* Creator/DrSeuss is on record for saying that his story "The Sneetches" is an allegory for antisemitism.
75	* In ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfCaterpillarJones'', C.J.'s quest to become a butterfly and the characters he encounters, particularly the Great Owl and E. Phil Snake, are meant as a religious allegory.
76	* [[WordOfGod According to]] Creator/TakashiYanase, his children's book ''Chirin no Suzu'' (''Literature/RingingBell'') is an allegory [[WarIsHell for the effects of war]] (notably UsefulNotes/WorldWarII) and the negative side effects for victims. [[SavageWolf Woe/Wor the wolf]] is a personification of War, and [[SweetSheep Chirin]] representing innocent victims and civilians of war (notably orphaned children who lost parents and family members). As a result, the book and animated film is sometimes labelled as an "Anti-War Film" without any references to warfare.
77	* There's a series of illustrated Cantonese children's books about sheep and wolves fighting each other, with the wolves representing the people of the Chinese mainland (or the ruling Chinese Communist Party regime), while the sheep represent the people of Hong Kong. When the Hong Kong authorities got word of this [[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/07/hong-kong-authors-of-childrens-books-sheep-wolves-convicted-of-sedition they seized the books,]] with with Senior Superintendent Steve Li [[https://hongkongfp.com/2021/07/22/hong-kong-national-security-police-explain-why-childrens-picture-books-about-sheep-are-seditious/ giving an interview briefly explaining]] the allegories to events in Hong Kong found in the books, thus leading to the books being [[BannedInChina banned in Hong Kong.]]
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80	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
81	* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' started the franchise's tradition of using its ScienceFiction setting to examine contentious real-world issues through allegory in a way other shows could not. One of the most famous (and obvious) examples is [[Recap/StarTrekS3E15LetThatBeYourLastBattlefield Let That Be Your Last Battlefield]], about the destructive FantasticRacism between two alien races, both alike apart from a superficial difference in skin pattern. As this episode came at a time when the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing, it's not hard to guess what viewpoint it is meant to censure.
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84	[[folder: Mythology & Religion]]
85	* [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} Christ]]'s parables in Literature/TheFourGospels often dealt with the relationship between God and man through mundane character conflicts. [[WordOfGod He himself]] even provides the literal interpretation of the Parable of the Sower.
86	* In UsefulNotes/TarotCards, the major arcana are said to represent the development of an unenlightened seeker (The Fool) through enlightenment until they reach fulfillment (The World).
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89	[[folder:Video Games]]
90	* ''[[VideoGame/{{Neptunia}} Hyperdimension Neptunia]]'' is an allegory for the MediaNotes/ConsoleWars, with the consoles personified as {{Moe Anthropomorphism}}s, and one of the villains representing DigitalPiracyIsEvil. [[spoiler: A non-canon bad ending of ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaMk2'' is a metaphor of the effects of a monopoly effects on the videogame industry and how it would eventually lead it to crumble, and the back-story of one of the characters in ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaVictory'' is an allegory for MediaNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983.]] Most of the time it can be taken as a comedy with loads of references and in jokes related to gaming.
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93	[[folder:Web Original]]
94	* In Season 2 of ''Podcast/WithinTheWires'', which deals with the analysis of fictional art, this is {{Discussed\|Trope}} InUniverse. Claudia Atieno's painting "Still Life with Orchid" was meant to communicate the unknowable, cyclical nature of existence through LifeDeathJuxtaposition: a living orchid with dead leaves and oranges with subtly rotting undersides. But much to her displeasure, most viewers read it as a [[YouCantFightFate fatalistic]] commentary on death's inevitability.
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97	[[folder:Web Video]]
98	* ''WebVideo/{{Economy Watch}}'': Several allegories are present throughout the series. The economy, for example, represents a variety of concepts - it represents the balance and structure of the universe, and David feels as though it's his responsibility to study and watch it. David's obsession with the economy can be seen as a metaphor for obsession with religion and the belief of a higher power, which causes him to question his existence in "It's An Economic Snowfall". His obsession with it could also be seen as a metaphor for depression and the need to find purpose in life.
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102	[[folder:Western Animation]]
103	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Balance}}'' is about five men precariously perched on a platform that is balanced precariously at the center. It's an obvious message about the need for cooperation and the danger of selfishness.
104	* ''WesternAnimation/BearStory'' is about a bear who is forcibly kidnapped from his family and enslaved to a circus. The whole cartoon is an allegory for how families were separated from each other by the kidnappings and disappearances perpetrated in Chile by the dictatorial regime of Augusto Pinochet. The bear is inspired by the story of the director's grandfather, who was snatched away from his family and eventually exiled.
105	* [[https://youtu.be/vLHn5bbOfIo?t=3m58s This video]] argues that Creator/BlueSkyStudios' ''WesternAnimation/{{Robots}}'' might be an allegory for the transition from traditional animation to computer animation in the late 90s-early 2000s, and how said transition affected many animators during the time period.
106	* The [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts SparkShort]] ''Float'' is about a father discovering that his son has the ability to fly and his struggle to accept it because of how different it makes his son from other children. Bobby Alcid Rubio created the short as a metaphor for his struggle to come to terms with his son's autism diagnosis.
107	* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': Season 2's MythArc as a whole serves as one, according to [[http://suspendersofdisbelief.tumblr.com/post/124634892706/on-the-subject-of-wandering-over-yonder an official blog post.]] The struggles the gang faces now that Lord Dominator has stepped up to the plate is a story about how cartoons have developed over the years, and how silly, comedic, and formulaic shows (represented by Wander and Hater's adventures and interactions) stack up against the more serious, story driven works cartoons have transformed into (represented by Dominator). And in the end, they're trying to show that, as much as those kinds of works deserve their merit, there ''is'' a place for the silliness somewhere.
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Context Main / Allegory