The art of baring emotions through metaphors: An analysis of love metaphors found in La La Land’s soundtrack

Abstract

We can express our thoughts and feelings through language in a more effective and powerful way thanks to metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson 1980). In other words, metaphors are not just used as a mere ornamental device but as a forceful cognitive tool to reason and comprehend our socio-physical experiences with the world (Evans and Green 2006, Kovecses 2002). In this line, musical romantic films may be said to transport the viewer to a world of music and dance in which emotions can be conveyed using metaphors by means of lyrics. The aim of this study is to disclose linguistic evidence of LOVE conceptual metaphors appearing in the soundtrack of the film La La Land (Berger and Chazelle 2016). In order to do so, a series of linguistic metaphors were identified in the lyrics. Then, the conceptual metaphors on which the metaphorical expressions were based were carefully analysed by unveiling the source and target domain (e.g. LOVE IS AN OBJECT, LOVE IS A FIRE, among others) and the type of metaphor (structural, ontological or orientational). Thereupon, the most relevant mappings were illustrated so as to elucidate the conceptual projections among domains that help us to conceptualise and comprehend the domain of LOVE. Overall, the results obtained contribute to a better understanding of how we construe and reason about the cognitive domain of LOVE in terms of other domains of experience, which, in turn, gives rise to metaphorical expressions.