Throughout history, Red has served as a visual storyteller.
Red is one of the first colors used by artists—dating back to prehistory. Red signals excitement, vitality and heat. The color of life and the color of danger, the color of romance and the color of excitement, red elicits the strongest of emotions in every culture. Red is the highest arc of the rainbow, the longest wavelength of color and is believed to be the first color that human beings see when they’re born. For the next few weeks, I am going to explore the role of Red in multiple art forms.
FILM in Red | In film, the story is why the film is made. There are many elements in filmmaking that can support the telling of a story; the soundscore, the camera angles, the script, the lighting along with all stylistic choices. The following four films have an element of Red that is used metaphorically.
The Red Balloon, Director: Albert Lamorisse
Born in Paris in 1922, Albert Lamorisse began making films in the late 40s. He quickly achieved international recognition for the poetic quality of his short and medium-length films about children and the imagination.The Red Balloon, emulating this, received the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1956 and an Oscar the following year. As an adult watching The Red Balloon, we can all relate to those moments in our childhoods… the feelings of hope, goodness, friendship and love.
The countless simplities of youth that a basic round Red balloon can represent for all of us.
The Red Shoes, Director: Hans Christian Anderson
The 1948 film tells the story of a young ballerina who joins an established ballet company and becomes the lead dancer in a new ballet called The Red Shoes, based on the fairy tale of Hans Christian Anderson. Unlike the original story, in which her feet are amputated, eventually Vicky, under great emotional stress, must choose to pursue either her art or her romance, a decision that carries serious consequences.
The Red shoes symbolize being rich, or comfortable financially, since the color Red universally through history signifies lust, luck, passion and magic.
Schindler’s List, Director: Steven Spielberg
Roma Ligocka, the girl in the Red coat, was born into a Jewish family in Kracow in 1938 and was 10 months old when the Germans marched into Poland. When she was two, the Nazis rounded up her family and then locked them up in the ghetto. Ligocka was one of the "hidden children" of the ghetto who, unlike most other children, survived when the ghetto was emptied and its inhabitants shipped to the death camps. She remembered the Red coat that her grandmother had made her and which she wore during her life in the ghetto. It was as a survivor of the ghetto that the mayor of Kracow invited her, twenty seven years ago, to attend the world premiere of Steven Spielberg's film. Ligocka froze when she saw the little girl in the Red coat."Dear God, that's me," she thought, unable to speak.
The Red coat is the only color object, exemplifying Spielberg’s intent on the innocence of the genocide.
The Royal Tenenbaums, Director: Wes Anderson
Anderson’s third feature, 2001's The Royal Tenenbaums, in the context of the film, Chas is paranoid about the safety of his children. The stimulation of the bright Red color reflects Chas's overly heightened senses, and the matching Red suits that Ari and Usi wear emphasize Chas's influence on his children. Anderson chose to color the suits Red to not only unify the family together but to show his paranoia for his kid’s safety and for the future. It expresses the weight from Chas’s past that is still being carried on his shoulders.
The Red colored jumpsuits act as a symbol of bitterness and denial of Chas’s childhood.
Tune in next Sunday to continue to [ SEE, HEAR, FEEL, THINK ] the enhancement of Red in art.