Symbols and Story Threads
Every week I look at a story by breaking down a specific storytelling device it uses effectively.
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This week I’m looking at one of my very favorite stories (a task I’ve had way too much fun with). But I’m breaking this particular story down for a very specific reason.
I’m breaking it down in order to study the way it uses symbols and story threads for impact.
The story is Moonstruck. Cher and Nicholas Cage at their finest.
This is a romantic comedy about an unlucky in love woman who has decided to settle for good enough. Until her fiancee’s brother throws her world off its axis.
This movie is brimming with charm and uses many effective storytelling devices, but I was struck most recently by its use of symbols and story threads.
As you may be able to tell from the title, Moonstruck leans heavily into one particular symbol. It’s a thread that the story calls back to again and again, visually and through dialogue.
The moon.
I was tempted to go back and count the number of references to the moon, but honestly, laziness won that battle (and I try to beat that sucker most of the time).
So instead, I’d like to draw specific attention to a few of the scenes that highlight this story symbol and study how the symbol in these scenes elevates the quality of the overall story.
Spoilers ahead.
1
The story is grounded in the symbol of the moon from the very opening shot (a simple shot of the moon hanging in the night sky).
As a viewer, this use of the moon informs us instantly and instinctively that the moon is a relevant piece of the story we’re about to see. In addition, we know this symbol is connected with the idea of love as we listen to Dean Martin’s That’s Amore play behind it.
2
There are a few themes that stand out heavily in this movie: the idea of luck, the fact that love is out of our hands, and right vs. wrong. And the symbol of the moon plays into all of these.
The first time our attention is drawn purposefully to the moon is early on in the movie when the grandfather discusses it with his friends, recalling the beauty of the previous night’s bella luna.
He does this immediately after discussing the importance of duty and doing the right thing in regards to his son. This one scene solidifies one of the ideas/themes the moon is symbolizing in the context of this story: right.
3
This idea of “right” continues to play out in the next moon-heavy scene.
After a discussion at dinner between Loretta’s (the protagonist) parents and her aunt and uncle, we learn that her uncle had an experience one night long ago where he woke to the sight of a moon “as big as a house.” When he walked over to the window, he saw his future brother-in-law in the street and blamed him for bringing the moon over “because he was so in love.”
Now we have an additional layer to add to this symbol: love. Love and right.
The next shots are of couples gazing out at the moon - Loretta’s mother after she is unable to wake her sleeping father (at this point in the story he has fallen out of alignment with both love and right and therefore doesn’t get to see the moon), Loretta’s aunt and uncle, and Loretta and Ronny (her fiancee’s brother).
Couples we can assume the story is trying to tell us are “right” in love, in the sense that they are “meant to be.”
4
However, the next morning when Loretta’s uncle asks her about the moon, she denies seeing it. The same way she is denying her love for the “right” guy.
5
The moon also features when Loretta and her love interest Ronny attend the opera. She is fighting her feelings at this point, but crucially, we see her let her guard down as the two operatic lovers sing underneath the moon.
(In this case, the moon is a piece of the opera’s set, but is still a relevant and impactful symbol within the larger story.)
6
NOTE THE MOON SHINING ON LORETTA’S HAIR.
When Loretta and Ronny are having their big discussion underneath the moon, he grows distracted by her attempts to push him away and gazes out at the bright moon.
During his speech, he draws attention to the fact that they, as humans, are imperfect, but the snow and the stars are perfect. An idea of perfection only in nature that naturally extends to the moon.
He says, “We’re here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and to love the wrong people.” But although they fear they’re making a terrible mistake by being together, the moon is shining down on them brightly.
7
I love the use of the moon as a symbol because it is perfect. It shines steady and bright, illuminating for our benefit what is right, as the people below struggle to figure out how to live their lives.
They worry about the idea of luck and loving the wrong people and going about things the wrong way, but the moon is a constant. It symbolizes that through all of their mistakes and confusion, it is there, illuminating love and right.
The moon also illuminates the fact that it’s not a matter of luck—as Loretta believes at the beginning of the story.
It’s a matter of being brave enough to love the right person. No matter what. Before, this left her in pain. The last time she loved the right person, he died. In the present day, it also means the more difficult choice: choosing her fiancee’s brother.
For Loretta’s mother, we see her love the right person for her, even through his infidelity. This is wrong, but it’s wrong for him.
He doesn’t get access to love during this period (and the moon is never associated with him visually). He has lost sight of the love he felt as a young man who was so deeply in love that he dragged a moon over to his lover’s house.
A couple of notes to help you use symbols more effectively in your own stories:
The moon shows up again and again.
And each time it does, it solidifies its meaning within this story world. It becomes a brighter and bolder symbol for us to grasp in order to understand the story.
And it adds power and depth to the story’s themes.The moon is used explicitly (meaning there is exposition about the moon’s symbolism), as in the scene where the uncle tells us about the moon symbolizing the father’s love.
It is also used directly, as in the scene where the camera shows us the moon and then highlights each of the couples gazing out at it.
And it is used discreetly, as in the scene where Ronny looks at the moon when Loretta is talking about not choosing love. We don’t see the moon at all here, nor do we get a reference to it. We only see its light shining on his face. It’s a very subtle connection.
Okay, now that we’ve spent a little time on Moonstruck’s bigger symbols, let’s illustrate (briefly) its use of story threads (smaller symbols).
I’m certain there are more, but a few of the story threads (callbacks) I noticed most in my recent viewing were:
Animals
Youth
Fear
In a scene with an unnamed couple inside a liquor store, both the theme of animals (“How do I look at her? “Like a wolf.”) and of youth are highlighted. (“You know what I see in you? The girl I married.”)
Loretta draws inspiration from this encounter and later informs Ronny that he is a wolf. He calls back to this at their crucial decision point in the story, telling Loretta she “runs to the wolf” in him.
These scenes suggest we have to deal with the animalistic parts in ourselves. And we can use them to help us in love or to hurt us.
They’re smaller symbols that emphasize themes in the story. Themes that play into the larger ideas of right and love.
We also have attention drawn to the idea that love is associated with youth.
Loretta waited to get married, even though she was taught to marry young, and it led to bad luck. And now she has to settle.
The man in the liquor store sees the “girl he married,” (what we assume was her much younger). And when the uncle stands next to the window and looks out at the moon, his wife says he looks about 25-years-old. The movie explores this theme by asking the question of whether we can find love and hold onto it even as we age.
And finally, we have the story thread of fear. Loretta is afraid of bringing herself bad luck. Her father is afraid of dying. But when they let these fears take over, they lose out on love.
What smaller story threads/themes/symbols can you sprinkle throughout your story? Even a couple of mentions draws attention to a story thread/theme.
We hear talk of a wolf once, twice, and then three times, and whether consciously or subconsciously, as a viewer we are looking for why that theme is in the story and what the story is trying to say by using it.
You can do this:
using a specific image - like a wolf
highlighting the way similar characters (the two sets of older couples) view the theme (in this instance, the theme of youth)
exploring a specific idea in more than one character - like Loretta and her father both having to overcome their fear before they can fully accept and enjoy love.
Symbols can add great depth and power to stories if they’re used strategically. How are you going to use symbols in your story?
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In Outline Your Novel, you’ll learn exactly what these beats are, why they matter, and how to outline them effectively to make your story sing.
