In 1993 Steven Spielberg directed Schindler's List: the film he considers the most important of his career. The movie shows his
mastery of visual imagery. Perhaps the most famous symbol in this movie is the little girl in the red coat wandering aimlessly
during the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto. Spielberg said she symbolizes how obvious the Holocaust was, yet
nobody did anything to stop it.
It was almost as obvious as a little girl wearing a red coat walking down the street. When he talks about the scene,
he mentions the impact of having a color show up in the middle of a black-and-white movie, but he doesn't mention the color itself,
which begs the question:
why does red work so well in the scene? If all that matters is having color show up in black and white, the symbolism would
be the same if her coat was blue.
But blue
drastically changes the feeling of the scene, as would any other color. Each color is packed with its own symbolism.
Filmmakers may not know all the nuances of a colors history and meaning, but they understand each color's emotional payoff.
So what symbolism is unique to the color red? Why do some filmmakers make such pointed, careful use of red?
The color definitely has a very unusual
biological effect on humans. It evokes all sorts of passionate emotions: when we feel angry, embarrassed, or flirtatious,
we literally get red in the face. If two boxers of equal skill fight each other,
the one in red is actually more likely to win. Several studies suggest that it's the color people look most attractive wearing.
There's even an urban legend that red cars are more likely to get pulled over. Red stands out amongst other colors, and
filmmakers have always understood this phenomenon.
The screenwriters of The Wizard of Oz wanted to show off the beauty of Technicolor,
so they had to change the plain silver slippers from the novel. The sought-after and powerful slippers did not become
emerald green or bright yellow: one color suited them best.
If something is important, red gets the job done on its own. We use the color red to
indicate anything in the real world that has been tainted by the other world. And red is used specifically to connote
really
explosively emotional
moments and situations. It's no surprise that red is mankind's original color.
Not only was it the first color used in art and cave paintings,
but nearly every Western language has a name for it before any other color. Before Newton's rainbow, early philosophers
put red in the middle of the color spectrum directly in between black and white.
So it's no surprise that many filmmakers have an instinct to place black white and red together. It seems like reducing the color spectrum
exponentially enhances the symbolic weight of these three colors: Snow White, the Evil Queen dressed in Black, the Red Apple.
But I think to really get at the meaning of such a unique and important color, and why a scene like in Schindler's List would
use it, we have to look at its historical significance.
The perception of color is not just a biological phenomenon
but a cultural one, and it's symbolic power comes from two objects: fire and blood, two elements always associated with red and
universally encountered by every society throughout history. Even today whenever a dictionary defines red,
they typically use fire and blood in their explanation. The relationship between red and blood makes sense,
since all living vertebrates have red blood. But the association of red with fire is less clear, after all, fire isn't exactly red
but more of an orange or yellow, why do we culturally link red with the color of fire? Historians argue
it's because many Asian societies saw fire as a living being. It's domestication was the symbolic birth of
civilization and like the Sun, it is a source of life by providing light and heat. Blood and fire were always at the center of
early religious traditions. Animal blood sacrifices were thought to lead to good harvests and many believed fire was passed down from the gods,
like when Prometheus stole it in Greek mythology. A key
component of these two elements is their symbolism of both life and death. On one hand, fire keeps you warm, protects you from
predators and lights up your home, but once it's out of control, fire leads to death and destruction.
Similarly blood is a source of human life,
but the sight of blood indicates injury and too much means death. Christian stories clearly reflect our ancient contradictory
relationships with fire and blood. On one hand, God uses fire to communicate with Moses through a burning bush,
but fire also symbolizes the eternal tormenting of hell, explaining why hell is always red.
Blood does represent Jesus's gruesome crucifixion, but Cardinals
re-appropriated that meaning into something positive by wearing red as a symbol of Jesus's blood sacrifice. Red symbolism varies wildly
depending on the time and place, but it always ties back to these core elements. Red is a symbol of love and passion
but it also became a symbol of prostitution and illicit sex in the Middle Ages
showing the pitfalls of too much passion, of getting too close to the flame,
so to speak. Red was the symbol of the French Revolution, and from then on the color became a sign of extreme political
upheaval; oftentimes violent, always passionate, aggressive, and filled with life.
The point is if a critic looks at red through the lens of its origins in fire and blood, then the
symbolic power of red becomes much more obvious. Many movies use red to tap into these powerful historical roots. Red is heat,
it is a symbol of life and light in an otherwise
desolate and cold world. It adorns
energetic youthful characters. Wes Anderson loves it because it injects visual life into his scenes. Red often
sexualizes female characters, echoing its association with love and lust, but sometimes red goes too far. [Morpheus] Are you listening to me Neo?
Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress? [Neo] I was- [Morpheus] Look again.
As much as red indicates life, it just as easily signals death and horror. What was one's passion becomes obsession to the point of self-destruction.
No color better captures youth and sexuality, and the boys of a Clockwork Orange
represent this sexuality to a dangerous extreme.
Sometimes a red car is just an easy way to indicate speed, but it sometimes goes deeper than that. Cameron's dad loves his red car
to the extreme, more so than even his own son.
The car in Boyz n the Hood is a looming sign of death that appears out of nowhere
the idea that there is no escape for these characters gets
reinforced in the opening shot, an example of red as the colour of warning and danger. Movies also channel their religious significance
of the color. In Mean Streets, Charlie holds his hand over flames in a form of personal
penance, a nod to his fear of the flames of hell.
It's no coincidence that Tony's bar is bathed in red: an indication that the place contains sex, blood, and violence; a world Charlie wants
to escape. Perhaps the most powerful use of red is when filmmakers can
juxtapose its positive and negative symbolism, showing the two kinds of red side by side. The ending of Don't Look Now has a bizarre
montage revealing the true
identity of the girl in the red coat. Part of the horror of the finale is the contrast of different classic red images: the youthful
coat followed by his blood, then sex, and even flames in a church. All these images mixed together
disorients the viewer through the unusual pairings of red.
Schindler's List perfectly embodies all the symbolic uses of red: its origins in fire and blood, the religious significance
developed from pagan rituals all the way to
Christianity, and the harnessing of the color's dual meanings. The movie begins with the lighting of a flame as a Jewish family
celebrates the Sabbath. Color fades away when the fire goes out, and the story descends into Cracow Poland
during World War II. Right from the beginning the film establishes fire as a symbol of Jewish tradition and to the
extinguishing of the flame foreshadows the end of Jewish life in Poland. The recurring flames throughout the movie symbolize both
danger and life. In one scene, Spielberg
superimposes a burning flame onto Oscar Schindler's chest to symbolize his gradual transformation, from a greedy businessman to a benevolent savior.
The flames of his factory are a source of life as he saves Jewish people from extermination, in contrast to the flames
from the Płaszów labor camp burn bright and harsh in the foreground, as the Nazis walk into the factory in the background; a
reminder of the death and destruction they bring with them. At their most extreme flames are associated with horrific mass graves,
but when Schindler invites his Jewish workers to practice the Sabbath, the flames become color
once again. In Schindler's Factory
the Jewish tradition can continue: he provides light in a world surrounded by darkness.
Flames are at the same time a
symbol of the Jewish people surviving, and a symbol of their destruction. In this movie blood and death
also go hand in hand with numerous executions and murders. But one scene uses blood in a more subtle,
but equally disturbing way. When the Nazis want to separate the healthy from the sick, a group of women in the camp apply their own
blood as makeup. They're using blood to try to appear more alive.
It's such a cruel irony that they have to bleed to look more lively, so they can in turn avoid a bloody death,
self-harm is a form of self-preservation. In comparison to the rest of the movie this moment may seem benign,
but it perfectly captures the absurdity of the Holocaust, how life and death were so disturbingly
intertwined; blood is death and life all at once.
The red coat is an incredible summation of all these ideas: on one hand
the little girl is youth, life, and innocence. The red calls
attention to her fiery warmth and young blood, but once she hides under the bed,
her red coat loses its color and we see it later in a whole new deadly context.
The coat is now presumably red with blood, to be disposed of in flames.
Schindler's List and the girl in the coat are the story of the color red.
They are a story of death and life coexisting together.
The red of Oskar Shindler is the red of life surrounded by his red is the red of the Holocaust
"The list... is life.
All around its margins lies the gulf."
Not every instance of the color is as extreme as Schindler's List
but in overt uses of red the same symbolic principles apply.
It has a powerful and primal response for the viewer, coming from the human understanding of blood and fire.
Filmmakers don't necessarily have knowledge of the actual symbolic history of different colors, but the best ones definitely know how to use it.
Long before directing, artists understood the strengths of different colors.
If a Calvinist painter wanted to give prominence to someone in their painting all they had to do was add a red sash. Any artist
can benefit from knowing the various strengths and weaknesses of each color.
Olimpia Zagnoli is an incredible graphic designer who harnesses bold colors in her
illustrations. If you want to learn the secrets of using color in your graphic design, you can sign up for her class on Skillshare
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