But first, let's talk about what symbolism is. At its most basic, symbolism requires a signifier and that which is signified (linked here is a website discussing Sassure's theory of signs to which I am referring). It is one thing pointing to another thing. Perhaps the simplest example of symbols in action is language - where letters and words are signifiers pointing to concepts which are signified. As the above article explains, even words that are translated as equal between languages might not have exactly the same meaning.
As an example, the English word "realize" can be used in at least 2 different contexts: 1) becoming aware of something - "I realized that he must be speaking from personal experience" and 2) accomplishing a goal or vision - "We realized our goal of raising $2000 for charity." Meanwhile, in French, these two signified concepts each have their own words, "se rendre compte" and "réaliser," respectively. Part of what makes languages fascinating to study is that they are not perfectly-matching codes...each language has evolved uniquely according to its history and the culture of its speakers.
Another interesting thing to note about symbolism is that it is usually a very visual concept. Even in literature, when we speak of symbolism, we are talking about elements that are described visually to us - what does Dr. Eckleburg (the billboard) in The Great Gatsby stand for, or what does the domestic servant in Camus's The Misunderstanding symbolize? The signifier is almost ALWAYS something we can see or imagine visually. This is not necessary for that which is signified.
As an example, take the recent Disney Pixar short film, Bao, about a woman who forms a mother-child bond with a dumpling that she has prepared. When the dumpling-child grows up and tries to move out, the woman eats it. Later, when the woman's actual son visits her and we observe a conciliatory moment where they are sitting on the bed together, the symbolism of the short starts to reveal itself. The visual element, the signifier, was the woman's act of eating the dumpling. What did it stand for, or in other words, what was the signified? It seems to stand for her relationship with her real son, which we never really see and we only get a hint of at the end of the film. Because of the totally unrelated experience she has with the dumpling, we are able to assume that she likely smothered her son with over-protectiveness and clinginess, preventing him from experiencing the world independently. The destructive act of eating the dumpling-child points to this.
Here is another question that I pondered: apart from language, which is a kind of necessary symbolism, why do we employ symbolism conceptually in art, writing, and film? What makes it worthwhile? Here are a few of my thoughts:
Symbols are condensed image-poems. What I mean by this is, when we see symbols in writing or film, they usually represent something bigger or more difficult to articulate in words, and if the writer/director does this skillfully, it tends to make the impact of that symbol really powerful emotionally. You can think of a symbol as a can of Coke that your mean sibling gave a good shake to before you opened it: There's a lot of meaning compressed in that can of Coke, and when you open it and realize what the connection to the signified is, the result can be quite explosive (literally in this example, but emotionally when it actually comes to symbols).
Symbols are intrinsically enjoyable to us as puzzles. We humans like our crosswords, Sudoku puzzles, and mystery films. In microcosm, a lot of us also enjoy the little pleasure of connecting a signifier with its signified. Another example I can think of from film is Frank the rabbit from Donnie Darko. We spend the whole movie wondering who the hell this guy is or what he stands for, and especially if you watch the Director's cut, we get rewarded twofold: we find out who he is concretely and also what he represents (or signifies) in the film's theory of parallel universes.
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Now, symbols don't always need to represent something hazy and undefined, or something of cosmic proportions, or something ineffable. They can represent very real things, but in a simplified, powerful way. Sometimes this is done for censorship purposes or simply because it is more emotionally powerful to hint at something without ever revealing it (good horror writers know this well). Occasionally, these symbols become so commonly understood that they are functionally interchangeable with the thing they represent - almost like a new word in a language.
One example of this that I can think of in film is the way that miscarriage and other pregnancy difficulties are routinely symbolized. It sounds like a very strange, specific example, but it is such a common signified concept in films as diverse as Up, Tale of Tales, and The Help that it is worth mentioning.
In Up, we are made to assume that Ellie has had a miscarriage or difficulties in conceiving due to a symbolic scene of her crying in a hospital shortly after the scene where she and Carl are looking up at baby-shaped clouds. Of course, as this is a children's movie, the main reason they relegate this moment to the symbolic is for censorship. Kids watching this scene likely struggle to understand what has happened, at least at first - it probably becomes clearer as the expected baby fails to appear onscreen. I think I even remember seeing this film in theaters and hearing a little boy nearby whisper to his mom, "Why is she crying?"
Meanwhile, the symbolic hospital shot does not reduce the emotional impact of the moment for the adults who do understand what is happening - if anything, it strengthens the emotional impact, because we have been taught to understand through an accumulation of associations what a woman crying in a hospital means (given other contextual clues), and that unspoken realization, the connection of that image with the concept of "miscarriage" makes our sympathy more powerful than if a doctor character had just said it outright to the camera.
When we watch a film for older audiences like The Help, usually the signifier for miscarriage is a woman on the floor, often in a bathroom, her lower body covered with blood. Even in these adult films, the actual miscarriage is very rarely shown. If we don't see the woman on the floor or in the hospital after the fact, sometimes we see her start to have pains after a stressful event and later when she is grieving in bed we assume that she has miscarried.
Because censorship is not as much of a concern in these films, the reason for symbolism is far less practical and more of an artistic choice. The director believes that our sympathy will be more powerful if we "realize" what has happened rather than being told, if we ourselves put together the pieces of the ugly puzzle.
Why is this concept of miscarriage so popularly treated with symbolism? I think that this method of portrayal allows us to get closer to the raw emotions behind the event of a miscarriage. While it is difficult for me, as someone who has never carried a child, to conceptually imagine that level of sadness, the evocative images of blood, weeping, and a woman bent with sorrow help us to empathize with (if not fully comprehend) the feelings of horror, bodily betrayal, and harrowing loss that are associated with this event.
