A cognitive exploration of the visual metonymy of hands in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “Three Colours: White” (1994)

Inga Dale

doi:10.15584/slowo.2025.16.25

Authors

Inga Dale Uniwersytet Radomski im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6227-8153

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15584/slowo.2025.16.25

Keywords:

visual metonymy, CONTAINER image schema, close-up, inner states

Abstract

This study examines the cognitive function of visual hand metonymy in revealing the characters’ inner states, intentions and actions in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “Three Colours: White” (1994). The study examines film frames through the CONTAINER image schema (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), which views the frame as a bounded space of meaning. Drawing on the concept of “dynamic patterns of containment” (Dewell, 2005; Coëgnarts, 2020), it investigates how metonymic representations emerge through extreme and close-ups of body parts based on Forceville’s (2009/2023) analytical framework. An analysis of long sequences of close-ups shows that dominant hands serve as metonymic vehicles for power and control, highlighting the metonymy PART FOR WHOLE (Radden & Kövecses, 1998/2007). These findings support Forceville’s (2009) model of metonymy as a strategic communicative choice informed by relevance theory and joint attention. The study contributes to multimodal discourse analysis and suggests avenues for future research on visual metonymy in different cinematic genres and cultural contexts.

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