symbolism

Barbarians and Animal Symbolism: What Did Wolves Mean in the Ancient World?

If you’ve seen the Netflix series Barbarians, you can’t have missed the many, many references to wolves on both sides of the central battle. The first episode is titled ‘Wolf and Eagle’, the three Germanic leads each wear a wolf’s tooth around their neck, their tribe tells stories about a wolf that will come to devour the world, while Roman characters tell their own myths about children suckled by a wolf, and wolves prowl the surrounding forests. Were the ancient Germanic tribes and the ancient Romans really that into wolves? Well, yes, though they meant something quite different to the…
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Agatha Christie: Easter Eggs and Symbolism in the BBC Adaptations

‘Everything is the story,’ says screenwriter Sarah Phelps. That’s why the stage directions in her scripts are so finely detailed. ‘The story isn’t just what comes out of people’s mouths, the story is what’s in the room.’ ‘How high are the ceilings? Are the windows large or small? What does the air smell of? Is it cold? Is everything always slightly damp? Is there enough food on the table? Is there a fly buzzing somewhere? What can you see out of the window? Can you hear traffic? Can you hear your next-door neighbours? Is there a dog that barks incessantly?’…
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