ART OF VEILED DESIRE: METAPHORS AS THE LANGUAGE OF THE FORBIDDEN

HOW THE MASTERS OF INFLUENCE SPOKE IN CODE

THROUGHOUT HISTORY, THOSE WHO WIELDED POWER UNDERSTOOD SOMETHING FUNDAMENTAL ABOUT HUMAN NATURE - THAT WHICH IS FORBIDDEN BECOMES IRRESISTIBLE. THE GREATEST MINDS IN POLITICS AND ENTERTAINMENT MASTERED THE ART OF SPEAKING IN CODE, USING METAPHORS AS THEIR SECRET LANGUAGE TO DISCUSS THAT WHICH COULD NOT BE OPENLY ADDRESSED.

MACHIAVELLI, THAT CUNNING ARCHITECT OF POLITICAL STRATEGY, RARELY SPOKE DIRECTLY ABOUT CARNAL MATTERS IN “THE PRINCE.” INSTEAD, HE CLOTHED HIS UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN DESIRE IN METAPHORS OF CONQUEST AND SURRENDER. WHEN HE WROTE OF “SEIZING OPPORTUNITY” AND “PENETRATING NEW TERRITORIES,” THE DOUBLE MEANING WAS CLEAR TO THOSE WHO COULD READ BETWEEN THE LINES. HIS DESCRIPTIONS OF “MOUNTING AN OFFENSE” OR “SUBDUING RESISTANCE” CARRIED UNDERCURRENTS THAT RESONATED WITH THE POWERFUL MEN WHO STUDIED HIS WORKS.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF HOLLYWOOD ELEVATED THIS METAPHORICAL DANCE TO AN ART FORM. UNDER THE STRICT HAYES CODE FROM THE 1930S TO THE 1950S, FILMMAKERS COULDN’T SHOW OR DIRECTLY REFERENCE SEXUAL CONTENT. YET THE SILVER SCREEN BURNED WITH INNUENDO. WHEN ALFRED HITCHCOCK FILMED TRAINS RUSHING INTO TUNNELS OR HUMPHREY BOGART LIT LAUREN BACALL’S CIGARETTE IN “TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT,” AUDIENCES UNDERSTOOD THE UNSPOKEN LANGUAGE.

CONSIDER THE CLASSIC LINE WHEN BACALL PURRS: “YOU KNOW HOW TO WHISTLE, DON’T YOU, STEVE? YOU JUST PUT YOUR LIPS TOGETHER AND… BLOW.” THE CENSORS COULD FIND NOTHING EXPLICITLY OBJECTIONABLE, YET THE THEATER TEMPERATURE ROSE TEN DEGREES.

POLITICAL FIGURES BEFORE THE MODERN ERA MASTERED THIS SAME TECHNIQUE. THEODORE ROOSEVELT’S “SPEAK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG STICK” POLICY WAS OSTENSIBLY ABOUT FOREIGN RELATIONS, BUT THE PHALLIC METAPHOR WASN’T LOST ON HIS CONTEMPORARIES. IT COMMUNICATED MASCULINE POWER IN A WAY THAT PROPER SOCIETY COULD OPENLY DISCUSS WHILE UNDERSTANDING THE UNDERTONES.

HATERS: FUEL FOR THE CREATIVE FIRE

THESE MASTERS OF METAPHOR DIDN’T CREATE IN ISOLATION - THEY THRIVED PRECISELY BECAUSE OF THOSE WHO SOUGHT TO RESTRICT THEM. THE CENSORS, THE CRITICS, THE MORAL GUARDIANS WHO CLUTCHED THEIR PEARLS AT THE SLIGHTEST HINT OF IMPROPRIETY - THESE WEREN’T OBSTACLES BUT CATALYSTS.

WHEN MAE WEST DELIVERED HER FAMOUS DOUBLE ENTENDRES LIKE “IS THAT A PISTOL IN YOUR POCKET, OR ARE YOU JUST HAPPY TO SEE ME?”, SHE WASN’T SUCCEEDING DESPITE THE CENSORS - SHE WAS SUCCEEDING BECAUSE OF THEM. THE VERY EXISTENCE OF THOSE WHO SOUGHT TO SILENCE HER CREATED THE PERFECT ENVIRONMENT FOR HER METAPHORICAL BRILLIANCE TO SHINE.

MACHIAVELLI HIMSELF WROTE “THE PRINCE” AFTER BEING EXILED FROM FLORENCE BY HIS POLITICAL ENEMIES. THOSE WHO SOUGHT TO DESTROY HIM INSTEAD CREATED THE CONDITIONS FOR HIS IMMORTALITY. HIS HATERS BECAME HIS GREATEST MOTIVATORS, PUSHING HIM TO ARTICULATE IDEAS THAT WOULD ENDURE FOR CENTURIES.

THIS PATTERN REPEATS THROUGHOUT HISTORY: SHAKESPEARE’S SUGGESTIVE WORDPLAY FLOURISHED UNDER ELIZABETHAN RESTRICTIONS. JAZZ MUSICIANS TRANSFORMED LIMITATION INTO INNOVATION, CREATING “DIRTY” LYRICS THAT PASSED CENSORSHIP WHILE COMMUNICATING EXACTLY WHAT THEY INTENDED TO AUDIENCES “IN THE KNOW.”

METAPHORICAL ADVANTAGE

WHY DID THESE FIGURES RELY SO HEAVILY ON METAPHOR RATHER THAN DIRECTNESS? BECAUSE THEY UNDERSTOOD A PROFOUND TRUTH ABOUT HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY: THE MIND CRAVES THE PLEASURE OF DECODING. WHEN WE SOLVE THE RIDDLE OF A METAPHOR, WE BECOME CONSPIRATORS IN ITS MEANING. WE FEEL CLEVER, INCLUDED, PART OF AN ENLIGHTENED GROUP WHO “GETS IT.”

COLE PORTER’S LYRICS IN “LET’S DO IT (LET’S FALL IN LOVE)” LIST VARIOUS ANIMALS MATING - “BIRDS DO IT, BEES DO IT” - AS A METAPHOR FOR HUMAN SEXUALITY. THE GENIUS LIES NOT JUST IN AVOIDING CENSORSHIP BUT IN MAKING THE AUDIENCE ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS IN CONSTRUCTING THE MEANING.

TODAY’S CREATORS FACE DIFFERENT CHALLENGES BUT THE SAME FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH APPLIES: THOSE WHO CRITICIZE, WHO ATTEMPT TO RESTRICT AND CONTAIN YOUR EXPRESSION, ARE PROVIDING THE VERY RESISTANCE AGAINST WHICH YOUR CREATIVITY CAN PUSH. EVERY VOICE THAT SAYS “YOU CAN’T SAY THAT” CREATES THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO FIND A BRILLIANT NEW WAY TO SAY EXACTLY THAT.

EMBRACING THE OPPOSITION

THE NEXT TIME YOU ENCOUNTER RESISTANCE, REMEMBER THE MASTERS WHO CAME BEFORE YOU. SEE YOUR CRITICS NOT AS OBSTACLES BUT AS UNWITTING COLLABORATORS IN YOUR GREATNESS. THEY ARE THE WIND AGAINST WHICH YOUR CREATIVE SAILS CAN CATCH AND PROPEL YOU FORWARD.

MACHIAVELLI’S ENEMIES CREATED MACHIAVELLI THE IMMORTAL PHILOSOPHER. THE HAYES CODE CREATED THE GOLDEN AGE OF INNUENDO. YOUR HATERS ARE NOT DESTROYING YOUR CHANCES OF SUCCESS - THEY ARE CREATING THE PRECISE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH YOUR GENIUS CAN EMERGE.

LIKE THOSE BRILLIANT MINDS OF THE PAST, TRANSFORM RESTRICTION INTO METAPHOR, LIMITATION INTO IMPLICATION, AND CRITICISM INTO FUEL. THE ART OF INDIRECT COMMUNICATION DOESN’T WEAKEN YOUR MESSAGE - IT GIVES IT WINGS.

IN THE GRAND TRADITION OF THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE, LET YOUR METAPHORS BE THE VELVET GLOVE THAT DELIVERS THE IRON FIST OF YOUR IDEAS. LET YOUR CRITICS BE THE DARKNESS AGAINST WHICH YOUR LIGHT SHINES ALL THE BRIGHTER.

AFTER ALL, AS MACHIAVELLI MIGHT HAVE OBSERVED, IT’S NOT THE ABSENCE OF ENEMIES THAT MAKES A PRINCE GREAT, BUT HOW MASTERFULLY HE TURNS THEIR OPPOSITION TO HIS ADVANTAGE.

-B+R