Symbols And Motifs In Cast Away

In the film Cast Away, Robert Zemeckis creates a collection of recurrent symbols and motifs that reoccur throughout the film and portray a sense of theme. Motif is an idea, object, or symbol that could be physically represented as objects, images, or sound that is repeated and also shows a meaning or importance of a theme or idea, throughout the story. For example, in Cast Away a repeated motif which represents a theme of time is the repeated use of clocks, watches, and the egg timer. Symbols, which are objects that represent an idea, are similar to motifs, but are not repeated in a meaningful pattern. Using these concepts Zemeckis creates these complex motifs and symbols that can represent ideas and themes in the film. In this passage these ideas will be examined and shown how they are presented. …show more content…
The clocks, which suggest a major theme of time are shown throughout the film. While Chuck Noland, the protagonist, is giving his speech he shows the egg timer. The egg timer represents a sort of "digital time" a time which man is the ruler over time. Digital time is represented by clocks, timers, and watches. When chuck is on the island there is a show of "biological time" which is represented through, "Kelly time", the time of nature. Biological time which is the time or cycle of nature. This time is represented as the pocket watch as well as the nature of the island. Both of these times are represented as motifs and can be seen as symbols, and heard in patterns through the film as the story progresses. Some other motifs and symbols throughout the film are represented through physical objects like frogs, packages, wings, the ocean, and