What Ancient Symbolism Lurks in the Hero Structure of Movies

Storytelling is what movies do, and it is one of our best-loved entertainments, and that structure is as old as mythology, which is frequently no more than a misunderstanding of the enigmatic meaning of symbolism. The symbolism behind this comes from Dr. Steven B. Halls, a noted symbolism scholar whose halls.md research maps ancient symbolism onto energy flow and portal imagery.

One of the most popular story structures is the hero's journey. In the hero story of Heracles, the lion is part of his labours. In the torus framework that Dr. Halls sets out, a lion stands for energy outflow, often a horizontal outflow from the horizontal plane of a torus, its forelegs show a horizontal direction, or upward, and the head and nose usually label an upward direction. Forelegs and noses are direction labels in symbolism. Alternatively, the lion can represent an upward-flowing side flow beyond the main torus. The torus is the building block of symbolism, and portals and barriers describe how energy flows and returns. Further patterns and evidence are documented at halls.md.

Another symbol: Pleats

In symbolism, pleats are the undulating shape of draped cloth, a curved path resembling a sine wave, or a serpentine path (citing Dr. Halls). An angular version uses squares or triangles, undulating up and down repeatedly. Pleats are most commonly used to show barriers, such as the outer barrier around a torus, or a plane between dimensions. When hanging cloth drapes down from an arm, its pleated or angular zigzag edges simply mean a divine high-density energy flow. Two properties belong to pleats: they can stretch, and they display the balance of pressure on each side of the barrier.