Editing Blue Velvet (film) (section)

===Symbolism===
Symbolism is used heavily in ''Blue Velvet''.<ref name="Atkinson"/> The most consistent symbolism in the film is an insect motif introduced at the end of the first scene, when the camera zooms in on a well-kept suburban lawn until it unearths a swarming underground nest of bugs. This is generally recognized as a metaphor for the seedy underworld that Jeffrey will soon discover under the surface of his own suburban paradise.<ref name="Atkinson"/> The severed ear he finds is being overrun by black [[ants]]. The bug motif is recurrent throughout the film, most notably in the bug-like [[Oxygen mask#Anesthesia oxygen masks|gas mask]] that Frank wears and Jeffrey's exterminator disguise.<ref name="Atkinson"/> One of Frank's accomplices is also consistently identified through the yellow jacket he wears, possibly referencing the name of a [[Yellowjacket|type of wasp]].<ref name="Atkinson"/> Finally, a [[American Robin|robin]] eating a bug on a fence becomes a topic of discussion in the last scene of the film.<ref name="Atkinson"/>

The severed ear that Jeffrey discovers is also a key symbolic element,<ref name="Atkinson"/> leading Jeffrey into danger. Indeed, just as Jeffrey's troubles begin, the audience is treated to a nightmarish sequence in which the camera zooms into the canal of the severed, decomposing ear. After the danger has subsided at the end the ear canal closeup is repeated, zooming out on a healthy and clean ear.<ref>{{Cite web|last=AnOther|date=June 27, 2011|title=Magnificent Film Obsession: The Ear in Blue Velvet|url=https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/1186/magnificent-film-obsession-the-ear-in-blue-velvet|access-date=January 9, 2022|website=AnOther|language=en}}</ref>