Spectacular metaphors - from theatre to cinema

Abstract

The use of metaphoric language has grown in prevalence in recent years. Frontline organizations have become 'magical kingdoms': ethereal places where image and substance rarely coincide, and where metaphors turn into powerful tools for consultants and change agents. At the same time, scholars explore the 'wonderful world of metaphors'. Once simple figures of speech, metaphors have been transformed into a respectable approach for organizational analysis. Although millenarian, the theatre metaphor constitutes an attractive system of ideas for studying organizational phenomena. In this paper, the theatre metaphor is used as a point of departure for the development of another dramaturgical metaphor: the cinema metaphor. It is suggested that the latter might provide a better perspective for studying con temporary organizations in the age of spectacle.