“What do ceiling fans symbolize?” I asked my wife. “Heat, futility, going around in circles” she answered. She’s smarter than me – I’m lucky. Ceiling fans and venetian blinds are staples of film noir. The blinds I understand – their shadows look like bars, so the viewer gets the idea that the characters are trapped, caged. I wasn’t sure what to make of the ceiling fans, but the idea of helplessness and futility fits. Groom’s GIF got me thinking about this. This guy looks like he sleeps with the fishes as well.
There are a lot of other noir staples. A good list of them was published several years ago. You’ll have to scroll down the page for it. One of them is “a hard-bitten dame named Velma,” which somehow says Scooby-Doo to me.
