Who Died and Made You Symbol King?

     Symbols surround us. Almost everything we see, buy, read, and even taste are composed of some sort of symbol that is designed to make a person experience a specific emotion. But as the amount of symbols increase it is apparent to me that these symbols are all collective. Society agrees on the effects symbols will have on a person.

      For example, angel wings. From the appearance of them on the Victoria Secret perfume bottles to the swaying of wings on the rear view mirror of your grandmother’s Cadillac, angel wings have formed a stereotypical view. Society has given the connotations of heavenly, peaceful, innocent, and more to these angel wings. But why? Who designed these connotations? After all, in the Bible the Devil was a fallen angel, so couldn’t wings also be labeled as evil, malice, greed, or lust?

      Who had the authority in society to develop the, now, concrete connotations that all these symbols represent? Because even though each individual experiences symbols differently depending on their own personal experiences with the words and objects, in the end, there is still one basic and common meaning of the majority of symbols.

     It is not like there is a manual all toddlers are forced to memorize so that when symbols are presented to them they automatically evoke specific emotions.  But it seems that way doesn’t it? When we see green, we think nature, health, or jealousy. When we see red, we think energy, excitement, passion. But what worthy individual decided on these things? Because honestly, the only reason why I experience these emotions when I see these colors is because someone told me on Google search that I was supposed to feel this way. That when I see the colors of McDonalds, because yellow is overbearing in the icon, that I am mechanically designed to feel joyous.

      Symbolic meanings are just tricky.