SYMBOLISM IN ‘LARS AND THE REAL GIRL’

SYMBOL / When does this symbol appear in the film? Examples… / Describe purpose and effect / Link this symbol and its meaning to an abstract noun*
Pink / Pink appears throughout the film, in the pink carnation he is given at the beginning of the film, in the bedroom where Bianca ‘sleeps’ (Lars’s mother’s bedroom), in the pink bowling ball that Lars uses when bowling with Margo, in the T-shirt he wears when Bianca is dying.. / Pink represents the theme of romance and / Femininity, motherhood, romantic love, warmth, inclusion
Winter/snow / The film begins in winter, and it is winter throughout most of the film. There are a lot of images of snow. / The snow and frozen ground are symbols of Lars’s frozen emotions. / Cold, numbness, isolation, death
Spring / The film ends in Spring, the icicles on the house are thawing and melting as Bianca is dying. / The spring and the thawing of the frozen ground coincide with Lars’s own emotional thawing. / Warmth, fertility, love, youth
Flowers / Lars helps MrsGruner with the flowers after church and she gives him a pink carnation to give to “someone nice”, which he throws away! She also gives artificial (fake) flowers to Bianca, which will “last forever”. Flowers are also brought when Bianca is ill. / Symbols of fertility and romance, flowers draw the viewers’ attention to these ideas / Love, romance, fertility, transience of life (we are like flowers because we grow, flower and then gradually decay)
Window and doors / In the opening scene, Lars is shown behind a window, looking out. Then when Karin comes to ask him for breakfast, he hides behind the door. Window and doors are shown throughout the film, with Lars often disappearing behind a door or using it as a barrier. / Windows and doors serve as barriers which show Lars as a prisoner, or distancing himself from others around him. / Solitude, emotional anxiety
Lars’s home, the garage
(think about how it contrasts with Karin & Gus’s home) / In the first scene we see inside Lars’s home, the garage. Much of the film is shot inside Karin and Gus’s house, where Bianca is ‘living’. Lars in the beginning refuses to leave the garage, and more and more, he spends time in house with his family, until finally he sleeps there. / Lars’s home is cold, dark, grey. It draws the viewers’ attention to how he is feeling. Karin and Gus’s home is warm, welcoming, colourful. / Lars’s home = loneliness, isolation, sadness
Karin and Gus’s home =
warmth, family, love, inclusiveness
Lars’s many layers of clothing / Lars explains to Dr. Dagmar that he wears layers of clothes to protect himself from people touching him. He gradually loosens his shirt and sheds his layers as he becomes more comfortable socially. After bowling with Margo, he discards his gloves and shakes hands with her. / The clothes symbolize the barriers he sets up between himself and others. / anxiety, physical and emotional distance
Karin’s pregnancy / Karin is pregnant throughout the film and will have her baby in the Spring after Bianca has died. / This symbolizes the futility (uselessness) of Lars’s relationship with Bianca, because Bianca is not real – she cannot have children. And creating new life is often an important goal for Christians. / Love, family, life
Bianca / Bianca arrives near the beginning of the film, when Lars is very isolated and lonely. By the time she dies, at the end of the film, Lars has changed a lot. / Bianca is a catalyst for Lars to experience emotions and love. (it is through his ‘relationship’ with her that Lars gains the confidence and desire to have a real girlfriend) / Love, romance, friendship, imagination
Bridge / Seen in the beginning of the film. / The bridge symbolizes the distance between Lars and other people, or between Lars and his emotions. The bridge can also symbolize Bianca, and how she helps Lars to experience love. / Making connections, love
Baby blanket / Lars uses this as a scarf and he is seen throughout the film with it. He is shown in the opening scene pulling it defensively around his face and then putting it around Karin’s shoulders so her baby doesn’t get cold. / The scarf is drawn to our attention by Karin who talks about Lars’s mother who made the scarf (who died when giving birth to Lars). Karin says “she must have loved you very much”. The audience then becomes aware that the scarf is a symbol of love – the love Lars’s mother had for him and he was deprived of (never received) because she died. / Protection, motherly love, comfort

*Abstract noun: can be concepts, feelings or qualities. For example: freedom, happiness, hope, despair.