History Main / FauxSymbolism

* All of the homonuculi in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' are named after the seven deadly sins.
** It doesn't end there: The manga version's Greed is more or less a walking example of this. Like every homonculi he was born from a single parent, (Father) he was later [[spoiler: hunted down and ended up {{crucified|HeroShot}} on Father's orders. Father then killed him on the cross and absorbed his Philosopher's Stone back into his body. Then later on he is returned to life by Father.]] Sound similar to anything?
** Rather impressive for a world [[WordOfGod in which Christianity does not exist.]]

* A ConversedTrope in [[Creator/DanteAlighieri Dante]]'s ''Literature/VitaNuova''. After defending his use of personified emotions, Dante makes it clear that using such symbolic devices without any deeper meaning is a shameful thing and that his friends know plenty of poets who write in such a "stupid manner."

* The ''ComicBook/XMen'' went through a phase in UsefulNotes/{{the Dark Age|of Comic Books}} when a lot of new characters had Biblical or religious names, sometimes appropriately (Apocalypse and his Horsemen), vaguely appropriately (Babel spires), or for no particular reason at all (Bishop, Gideon[[note]]In both cases, it would turn out that these were the characters' real names[[/note]]). Ahab would count, except that he's an obvious reference to ''Literature/MobyDick.''

--->Second, I did not want to create a "plotted" mind game ... When I caught myself having a plan, I subverted it.

* The boar hunt in ''Creator/AkiraKurosawa's ''Film/{{Ran}}''.

*** Hector's ultimate weapon [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Armads/Almace]], wielded by Archbishop Durbans/Turpin, also come from the same legend, referring to a compatriot of Roland and his weapon.

* ''Film/SouthlandTales'' is absolutely notorious [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible for]] [[CrucifiedHeroShot pulling]] [[ArcWords just]] [[ReferenceOverdosed about]] [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory every]] [[AsTheGoodBookSays tactic]] [[RuleOfSymbolism imaginable]] to try to convince the viewer that it's ''so'' "deep and profound." Listing every single instance would probably more than double this page in length, but when a movie is trying to make [[{{Narm}} "Pimps Don't Commit Suicide"]] sound like a profound statement with ''utter sincerity,'' you know it's being hit with this trope.

* ''TabletopGame/DIE'' has environments and monsters that are all symbolic of things in the player characters' "real world" lives, and it encourages using this trope when designing a [[HybridMonster Chimera]] for confusion's sake. Why does that beast have one character's mother's face? No reason, but the player will try to figure it out anyway.

*** A rumor has it that Rob Zombie originally wanted Laurie to be the killer all along, having developed a second personality based on Micheal she would slip into.

* The final shootout of Creator/JohnWoo's ''Film/TheKiller'' has this in spades. [[BloodstainedGlassWindows The shootout itself takes place in a church]], the Killer's last place of peace and refuge, with [[DisturbedDoves doves flying everywhere]] at key points in the battle. At one point, the Killer gets shot, and his arms are outstretched in a CrucifiedHeroShot. And just to drive home the point that the church is no longer a sanctuary for him and his blinded love interest, one of the bad guys blows up the church's centerpiece, a statue of Mary, at which point the Handel's Messiah Overture starts playing.

* Creator/StephenieMeyer tries to insert Biblical symbolism into ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' with references to the ForbiddenFruit and the Lion and the Lamb, with little regard to what those references actually mean. [[note]] Eating the forbidden fruit is mimicked by Bella's pursuit of Edward despite his warnings about his dangerous nature. To point out just one way the comparison doesn't make sense, doing that's how Bella '''gets''', rather than '''loses''', her perfect life. That said, this might be a case of where Meyer's Mormonism influenced things, since the religion rejects the concept of original sin and views the expulsion from Eden in a positive light.[[/note]]

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'': [=SeeDs=] schools are called gardens and one of the [=GFs=] is called Eden. Also, Seifer longcoat has the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Saint_James Cross of Saint James]] on the sleeves.

[[folder:Fanfics]]

* ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'': Are all the [[{{sculptures statues]] of {{Art/Laocoon|AndHisSons}} in the manor house supposed to mean something? How about the Infected priest? How about the running horses? How about the "hell"/"hello" sign at the very end? Well, how about it?

* ''Manga/DeathNote'' contains several religious allusions. Some notable examples are [[SistineSteal Michaelangelo's ''Creation of Adam'' (Ryuk and Light)]] and [[PietaPlagiarism ''Pietá; '' (Ray Penbar and Naomi Misora)]] in the first opening credits, as well as the washing of Light's feet by L. And the symbolism of the apples Ryuk is always chomping on. This was actually the result of a mistake on the part of the manga artist, as it was a suggestion from the author who just thought it'd look cool.

* ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'': Are all the statues of Laocoon in the manor house supposed to mean something? How about the Infected priest? How about the running horses? How about the "hell"/"hello" sign at the very end? Well, how about it?

* In ''VideoGame/SNKVsCapcomSVCChaos'', you fight BonusBoss Athena in a FluffyCloudHeaven and, after defeating her, an unnamed character who is a clear CaptainErsatz of {{God}} appears to sends you back to Earth. [[spoiler:Akuma returns to challenge him, though.]]

* Being a parody of RPGs, ''VideoGame/SuperPressSpaceToWinActionRPG2009'' does this. The final boss has a OneWingedAngel form that changes his colors to pink and gives him [[PowerGivesYouWings angelic wings]], and the final fight occurs in what appears to be PuffyCloudHeaven. The game has no other religious themes whatsoever.

** One example is the pentagram Alucard sports. What's written inside changes all the time, sometimes with pop culture reference (Berserk, CSI Miami, etc). Only the Animated adaptations bothered to make it consistent, using what Hirano wrote once upon a time in the cover of volume 2.

** There's a part in the Sailor Moon S opening where all of the Guardians are arranged in a circle like the signs of the Zodiac with Sailor Moon in the middle. It's a cool image, but don't waste time trying to analyze it.

* ''ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman'' has an odd example. Some fan turned the cover of ''Batman and Robin'' #3 upside-down and noticed that it [[http://neilshyminsky.blogspot.com/2009/09/cover-to-batman-and-robin-3.html looks like a face]], and in particular, resembles a [[https://www.google.com/search?q=Joker+killing+joke+crazy&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiPgoyK6crxAhXuQUIHHTdyCI0Q2-cCegQIABAA&oq=Joker+killing+joke+crazy&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQA1D3A1jnEGCwEmgAcAB4AIABAIgBAJIBAJgBAKABAaoBC2d3cy13aXotaW1nwAEB&sclient=img&ei=BmbiYI_nB-6DieoPt-Sh6Ag&rlz=1CALKNW_enUS946#imgrc=L7iby-Rt33GObM famous image]] of Comicbook/TheJoker LaughingMad in ''Comicbook/TheKillingJoke.'' WordOfGod says that this was not intentional, but that it fit weirdly well, especially since the early issues were filled with little references to the Joker to make it feel like he was "haunting" the book.

* ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'''s backstory can be summed up as follows: there was a boy and girl living peacefully [[Literature/TheBible in a garden]] until...something...went wrong and they were thrust into a world of conflict.

* The guy with the cheese slices in the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E22Restless}} Restless]]". When asked about what he represented, Creator/JossWhedon said he was inserted specifically to be a meaningless element of a densely symbolic episode.

* An early episode of Series/{{House}} involved a nun with stigmata who claimed to have Jesus inside her. It turned out to be the result of metal allergy worsened by a faulty [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrauterine_device IUD implant]] -- [[{{Irony}} a copper cross]].

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' games generally name characters and weapons after people and weapons in mythologies from '''everywhere''' in Europe. The names don't go any deeper than being names. ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' has a character named Tethys (a Greek Goddess), the sacred spear Siegmund (named after a Norse Hero) and the sacred sword Sieglinde (named after Siegmund's [[BrotherSisterIncest sister/lover]] Ironically, they're wielded exclusively by Lords who are twin brother and sister ''and'' have quite the {{twincest}}uous vibes). They just sound cooler than boring names, nothing more.

* Officially, Music/{{Rush}}'s "The Trees" is just about trees. Honest. According to drummer and songwriter Neil Peart, one night he was watching a cartoon about trees that walked and talked, which inspired him to write the song.

Be wary though that this trope is often used not to point out use of fake symbolism, but to shut down discussion of what may actually be legitimate observation; remember, just because you may not personally understand or like a piece of symbolism doesn't change whether or not it ''is''. When this trait is exhibited in music, it may overlap with NotChristianRock.