Analyzing Colour: Red

I think none of us particularly liked what we found when we worked out the meaning of the colour red in the subtext of the show ‘Young Royals’. But there it was…

…something truly awful. Nothing we could do about it, but we couldn’t unsee it either.

And every costuming decision (every last red sock, shoe, t-shirt or baseball cap), every lighting decision (that horrible, yet subtextually important very, very red karaoke night with Marcus, for example), each prop (red handbags, ahoy!) and even the food (don’t remind me of that ketchup scene in episode one, I’m begging you), all of it was suddenly tainted. All of it was red. So much red. Red everywhere. All of it became a horror show, immediately, upon discovery.

One question I got, back when we briefly discussed the significance of the colour red in the addendum to the ‘food’ metaphor post, went something like this (I’m paraphrasing, obviously): “Tvmicroscope, does red always represent sexual abuse? Is that an art history thing? Can this colour mean other things, too?”

I’ve decided to write you a little something about that this week. We will discuss how yours truly cheated a bit and worked out what the colour red on this show means (because, unlike you guys, I actually took a bit of a semi-legitimate shortcut to get to this interpretation hypothesis). The ones amongst you who worked it out on their own actually did it the right way: You took one scene with the colour red in it, then went in search of other scenes on the show that featured the colour red, as well, and then tried to determine what the subtext of all those scenes had in common.

This is unequivocally the right way to do it. (What I did is a bit…more unorthodox, I suppose.)

The wrong way of analyzing colour

Here’s how you shouldn’t approach colour in any film or TV series (and yes, I know I’m repeating myself when I’m saying this): Do not just look up some info on colour symbolism in a book or on google, pick whatever meaning feels nice and decide that the colour in the movie or show you’re currently watching has to have the meaning you’ve just found in that book or on the internet.

This strategy will most likely lead you up the garden path. 

And you can probably see for yourself why that is the case: All colours typically have more than just one meaning traditionally assigned to them.

The colour red, for example, comes with many different connotations in art history, literature, mythology, cinematography, etc.:

Red can represent passion, sexuality, romantic love, fire, heat, power, danger, blood, sacrifice, violence, war…The fact that it’s reserved both for all sorts of warning signs and alerts and lips passionately sealed in a kiss speaks for itself. And what colour ink do teachers typically use when marking a Leaning-Tower-of-Pisa-shaped stack of term papers?...Exactly.

So, if you’ve just looked up the meaning of a colour on the internet, how do you pick the right one for the show or movie you’re analyzing from the two dozen or so different answers that are on offer?

What’s more, some filmmakers might associate a colour with an unconventional meaning for some personal reason or other and thus use it in a non-traditional way in their story. Nobody ever thinks of neon pink as a representation of grief and mourning, but perhaps the filmmaker in question just has some deeply personal memory that makes them want to use that colour in this specific and unorthodox way. In a case like this, none of your googling will get you anywhere.

As strange as this might sound, the best way of dealing with colour is usually to forget everything you’ve ever heard about traditional colour symbolism (about how white represents innocence or green represents hope or whatever it is that you’ve picked up somewhere) and just to look at that one show or movie, that one ‘text’ that you’re analyzing. Try to find out what the colour in question means in this one ‘text’ – nowhere else. In other words: Analyze in an intratextual way. Look at the subtext of each scene of your movie or show where the colour occurs; try to understand what the subtext (all those metaphors and mirror characters, etc.) is telling you in each of these scenes and then try to see what the scenes all have in common. Don’t go anywhere else, don’t look up anything else, stay away from outside sources…and do not under any circumstances trust what the filmmakers themselves have to say in their interviews, press releases or on their social media profiles (creators lie about their work all the time, and when they’re not straight up lying, they’re lying by omission). Just look at the ‘text’ itself, and it will tell you everything.

Do you want an example of an unconventional colour meaning? Okay, here we go:

The Colour Blue in the Film ‘Amélie’

Take the lovely, whimsical French film ‘Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain’ (English title: ‘Amélie’), the movie that made everyone (regardless of their sexual orientation) fall head over heels for the wonderful Audrey Tautou when it first came out in 2001: It is filmed largely in saturated shades of red and green and gradations of an orangey type of yellow. This complementary colour palette was clearly a deliberate artistic choice and is very, very noticeable. It was crafted so carefully, in fact, that it received all manner of praise from film critics and general audiences alike; clearly, a lot of thought went into the colours in ‘Amélie’ from costume and set design to lighting and post production.

There are a few rare instances, though, where the film suddenly breaks up its well-established, even omnipresent colour palette by flashing us some bright blue detail or other. The contrast is, of course, striking, as blue really stands out against that red-and-green backdrop, nearly bursting through the screen and burning itself into our retinas with its powerful intensity: a blue lamp here, a blue plastic bag there, a blue car speeding away…

I wish I could remember what book it was that tried to explain away those sudden flashes of blue in ‘Amélie’ by saying that they didn’t mean anything, but I forget. In any case…the author argued that blue was just used to add a different accent and provide a contrast to the surrounding sea of reds and greens in the frame. They claimed that the colour blue in ‘Amélie’ was used as a motif, but also that this motif didn’t hold any inherent meaning. (You can see tvmicroscope’s derisively arched eyebrow right now, right?)

While there are, of course, movies that use a colour for aesthetic reasons only, that’s not what usually happens, and it’s definitely not what’s going on in ‘Amélie’. (A notable example of a film that does this – or rather three films that do it – is the ‘Godfather’ trilogy: The infamous oranges were originally introduced as a simple visual contrast to the dark colours the set designers had picked for their sets; the fruit only became symbolically relevant as that legendary omen of death later on in the trilogy.)

Anyway…so, who wants to read my takedown of that silly author’s claim? (And yeah, I wish I could remember where on my many bookshelves that poor, unenlightened soul’s opus is hidden, but I simply forgot what book featured this idiotic idea.) Because clearly the colour blue in ‘Amélie’ is meaningful! And the fact that this author could not decipher its meaning proves they didn’t understand the film.

So, what does the colour blue mean in ‘Amélie’? (In my humble opinion, of course…)

Well, if you wanted to find out, here would be the wrong way of going about it: 

If you look up the colour blue, i.e. just google around or consult a few books on colour symbolism, you’ll most likely find answers such as, “The colour blue represents sadness, melancholy, depression, calm, tranquillity, cold, water, the ocean, the sky...It can denote royalty (royal blue) or represent the Virgin Mary (Marian Blue)...”

All of these pre-canned answers would, of course, miss the mark in the case of ‘Amélie’.

What I’d recommend instead of googling colour symbolism for hours on end is to examine the ‘text’ itself, i.e. the movie ‘Amélie’: When does the colour blue actually pop up on screen? What scenes exactly are we talking about? And what are all of those scenes about? Do they have something in common?

In other words, choose the intratextual approach: Stay away from google or any other outside source. Just look at what the ‘text’, i.e. the film itself, is telling you.

If you do that, you’ll discover something surprising: that the colour blue on ‘Amélie’ represents joy! More precisely: unexpected joy. Joy that happens by chance. The power that chance, this incredibly random, yet transformative force, wields in our lives. The power to generate sudden, unpredictable, unforeseen joy: the joy and surprise of suddenly falling in love, for example.

Blue represents a sudden burst of energy that courses through you as something completely unexpected and surprising happens and breaks through the same-old-same-old monotony of your daily routine. Blue is about that excitement and unexpected joy when you realize that you cannot control everything in life and have to allow chance to work its magic instead…

That’s a very unconventional way of using the colour blue in a work of art; it doesn’t fit any of the usual definitions (sadness, cold, calm, resignation etc.), but the creators of ‘Amélie’ apparently felt that this colour would make sense for their movie, and (spoiler alert) it does. It really, really does. It works so, so well! (I’ll show you a few scenes in a second, okay?)

‘Amélie’ (which a lot of people watch as just this quirky, enchanting little fairytale) actually turns out to be a surprisingly profound story with its own philosophical questions about life…once you really give it some thought: It’s more than just a film about a girl who’s introverted and shy, who grew up isolated and lonely, deprived of affection and without any contact with children her own age; it’s a film about someone who grew up to believe that in order to be in control of your own life, your destiny, your future, you have to rely on strict routines, that spontaneity is the enemy of security, that the best insurance against the vagaries of life is living the life of an indoor cat, a life where you never leave your comfort zone, one where chance doesn’t come into play. But (spoiler alert for the young readers of this little blog here) life just isn’t like that.

Throughout the movie, Amélie has to learn how to allow chance to become a part of her life. True happiness isn’t locking yourself in your Parisian apartment and trying to control everything around you. True happiness means spontaneity. It means letting go of what feels like a comforting routine because it might just hem you in. It means leaving your comfort zone. It means giving chance…a chance. A chance encounter, for example. Magical things can happen if you’re willing to put yourself out there: like love, for instance.

Because love is a force that can’t be controlled…nor predicted...nor planned for…or contained…or stopped.

Here, have this wonderful (and very brief) scene in which Amélie falls in love with Nino, the man who collects discarded photographs from public passport photo booths.

Note how omnipresent the colours red and green are in this scene, and how when the colour blue suddenly pops up, it immediately stands out. It’s like a breath of fresh air, isn’t it? And yes, of course, these flashes of blue all appear in connection with Nino, the man Amélie is falling for: Chance has entered Amélie’s life.

Did you notice the group of priests Nino has to fight his way through? That’s not just a fun, visual gimmick; religion is an important motif in this movie. It represents the negative forces we’ve just discussed above: living a life in which you try to control everything, a cloistered life where you never let chance and happy coincidence decide anything for you, where you don’t dare to risk anything ever. It’s the opposite of blue, so to speak.

Or here, take this wonderful (brief) scene. Did you notice the colour blue in it? The TV screen is blue. That isn’t to say that the news of Princess Diana’s death is good. Of course, not. But this moment triggers a chain reaction that leads to something surprising: It’s the cause of a sudden and unexpected discovery that will change Amélie’s life forever (and for the better). Amélie will decide to take on the role of Lady Fortune to help other people.

And here in this third and last (brief) scene I wanted to show you, we actually see Amélie play that part: She has become fate herself now. She forges a love letter and sends it to her concierge to make that poor, lonely woman happy. And that’s why that blue lamp can be seen so prominently in that wonderful little scene.

If we’d just googled the colour blue or looked it up in a book, we wouldn’t have found out what blue means in the ‘text’ itself, i.e. in the film ‘Amélie’. Not in a million years. But just engaging with the movie itself makes the whole thing self-evident. Unlike what some authors (ahem) seem to believe, this puzzle is actually eminently solvable (yeah, yeah, I know, I know…enough shade thrown; stop scoffing at the poor author of that book you can’t even remember properly, tvmicroscope…Okay, you’re right, I’ll shut up now).

And just in case you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing the movie ‘Amélie’ (but who am I kidding, you’re here because you’re on fire for all things cinematography, right? Of course, you’ve all seen it!), but just in case you somehow managed to miss that one, watch it. Really. You won’t regret it. I know I’ve recently chatted with one of you lovely folks about how I really don’t care if a love story has a same-sex or straight couple; I like both as long as they’re well-written and well-filmed. (I mean it!) Well, this is one of those straight love stories that is just too lovely for words. It’s quirky, it’s funny, it’s romantic. And then, there’s so much else to discover in this film: There’s a reason so, so many filmmakers are copying the cinematography of this one French movie that came out more than 20 years ago. And let’s not forget about the wonderful original score that everyone and their mother likes to steal for their film project the moment they’re showcasing something (ostensibly) French and specifically Parisian. That music is beyond lovely.

The film is visually compelling, and there’s so much you can learn about movies just by watching it: from shot sizes, to symmetry in shots, shot composition and, well…colour. ‘Amélie’ might be a movie about a Paris that doesn’t exist in reality; it might be filmed in carefully handpicked colours that just don’t occur in this way in the wild, but it’s a great work of art. No wonder it’s taught and screened in virtually every film class on planet earth.

And in case that’s something that’s important for your buy-in decision: ‘Amélie’ is proof that straight love stories don’t have to have that pre-canned feel to it, that they don’t have to look as though you’ve seen them a thousand times before, that they don’t have to be filmed in an exploitative manner when it comes to the female body and that they can come with a female central character who is just written as the completely natural focal point of the story. It’s a wonderful story, and you never even think, “Ooh, yeah, that’s a feminist story about a strong, powerful woman^TM.” (Let alone the opposite.) This film doesn’t feel like cheap activism. And it doesn’t feel like it’s cluelessly sexist either. It’s just a good story. (See, I really do like straight love stories just as much as the gay ones. They just have to be well-written and well-filmed – both of them.)

So, am I saying you’ll never get it right if you look up the traditional meanings of colours and try to apply them to whatever movie or show you’re currently watching? No, of course, not. Some directors and cinematographers really do like all things conventional; to them, grief really is black, and hope is green, and innocence is white, etc. So, yes, of course, you can sometimes get it (accidentally) right this way. Of course, looking up some good ol’ traditional colour symbolism can sometimes mean that you’ll hit the bull’s eye. No question.

I’m just saying: Be careful with this approach. It can go terribly wrong. (If you just look up the traditional ways in which blue is used on screen and then try to apply those to ‘Amélie’, you won’t work out what the colour blue is all about in this specific film.)

And even when you manage to find the right answer with this approach, you might still be missing important nuances which you’ll only figure out once you work your way through the whole ‘text’ in an intratextual way.

(Try it for yourself: Go watch ‘Amélie’, and try to work out what the colours red and green and orange mean in that film. No cheating. No googling anything. I promise that that’s an eminently solvable puzzle, as well. I’ve told you what blue means in this film; now try your hand at red, green and orange. If you watch the movie and really pay attention, the meaning of those three colours becomes clear pretty quickly. Just take the intratextual route instead of the extratextual one.)

Back to ‘Young Royals’

Well, as I said, I’m telling you nothing new here; we’ve been over this before. And most of you did exactly that: You looked at the colour red on ‘Young Royals’, threw out everything you’d ever heard or read about colour symbolism, didn’t google anything and didn’t look anything up and just concentrated on the ‘text’ that is the show ‘Young Royals’, which is how you worked out the meaning of this colour. And you were all spot on about it, too. Very, very well done!

I have to admit that, unlike you, I actually cheated a bit. (I’m allowed, okay? I cheat knowing the dangers of the whole outside-info approach. I know the intratextual approach is better, and yet sometimes I still cheat a little bit because I do know a few things about art history and mythology, so I’ll let that ‘outside’ knowledge influence me for a bit…And when I don’t get any suitable results in this way, I just discard all the stuff I came up with by cheating and go back to the intratextual approach. I know, I know…Why don’t I practise what I preach?!...Well, I’m really sorry, but just in this instance, it’s actually better if you do as I say, not as I do.)

Anyway…so, how did I cheat? What shortcut did I take to come up with the reading that red on ‘Young Royals’ represents sexual abuse? And is this symbolism common? Where does it come from, anyway?

In other words…What route did my brain take to arrive at the conclusion: The colour red on ‘Young Royals’ represents sexual abuse.

Follow me on my guided museum tour of sorts, and I’ll show you…

Warning: Reading about the meaning of the colour red on ‘Young Royals’ was probably already pretty difficult for some of you when we first discussed it in the addendum to the ‘food’ metaphor post. Now, please keep in mind that, unlike that addendum back then, the post below will contain images! A lot of people find it more difficult to look at an image (i.e. to confront themselves with visual content) than to read something expressed verbally in a text – however disturbing or distressing that text may be. Images are often more powerful than words. Please just keep that in mind before you venture any further.

If I’ve scared you right now, I can reassure you that these images won’t be super-graphic; we’re talking about paintings here that are literally hundreds of years old. They are accessible at public museums and galleries around the world, where they’re being exhibited without any trigger warnings, of course, so anyone can just stroll by and take a look at them. The fact that they’re hundreds of years old also adds a certain layer of theatricality to what is usually implied to be a violent scene, i.e. it seems more artificial and thus less disturbing than, say, a live-action movie. Still, there might be some among you who find this whole topic difficult, so I just wanted to let you know in advance what to expect. There’s enough horrible and heartbreaking real-world stuff we have to see on the news every day at the moment; no reason to add any more horrors to that list if you’re not up for it.