I was just wondering, I noticed that many cool colors were used in this movie, especially the color purple, like the flowers, what Robin was wearing, and including the person who played his wife. We saw this movie in my senior lit class after finishing Dante's Inferno and both the teacher and I noticed this, though neither of us could think of an answer, I was hoping someone on here could help us out, Thanx Very Much!
My Karma Ran Over My Dogma
what is the question?
shareIs there any meaning to the colors that are used in the movie?
My Karma Ran Over My Dogma
Chris (Robin Williams) wears predominantly blue; Annie (Annabella Sciorra) wears primarily red. Their children wear affiliated colors - Marie in blue, Ian in red. At times, the colors are blended into shades or tints of purple (a mixture of red and blue) to show the blending of their spirits (they are soul-mates). Notice that their "soul-mate" tree has purple blossoms. When Annie goes to the mental hospital, she wears green - the opposite of red on the color wheel - to show that she is in an unnatural, unbalanced state. After Chris dies, Annie wears black, sometimes with white. When she arrives in "heaven," she wears blue at first, I think because she got Chris back there, but she borrowed his strength to do it. At that moment she is spiritually more like him than herself. Later, she again wears a very vibrant red. At the end when they go back to life as children, the boy (Chris) wears blue and the girl (Annie) is in pale pinky-lavender.
Notice also the variations in color that complement the mood or spiritual state of the characters. In scenes showing Chris and Annie as happy, the colors are vibrant and saturated; when they are sad or upset, the colors are muted or desaturated.
The environments also show the effect of the colors associated with certain characters, and the saturation of colors responds to the mood of the scene. You'll see lots of reds and bright blues in the house when the family is together; these colors are then muted after the deaths of the children and then of Chris. You still see red and blue, it's just not as bright. The colors in "heaven" are warm - Chris's environment has lots of reds and blues, Marie's is full of golden light. You'll notice that Marie's alter-ego wears blue with a purple sash. The colors of "hell," of course are black and gray. The sky is a gold color, but not the warm gold of Marie's "heaven" -- it's a lurid, nasty color.
So, yes, the colors selected for most movies mean something, and this one particularly uses color in a meaningful way.
OMG!! Thank you so much!!!...SWEET!! Extra Credit!! for English!!...lol
My Karma Ran Over My Dogma
You're welcome! I teach a high school film studies class. We just did a chapter on color, and used WDMC as our example film. I took a lot of notes on the use of color in the film. I'm glad you asked, so I could make extra use of my notes!
shareReally cool post, makes me want to watch this movie again
Hero is another really good movie that uses color symbolic-ly
Holy Crap! This was my second time watching it and when I really started to pick up on how purple, blue, and red kept coming back, and the green at the hospital felt important too. I knew there was something; but you nailed it, I totally understand it now...well not totally; but heck that was amazing!
shareMany thanks for the post Getemjan.
Helped me to greater appreciate an already great film :)
Eat this baguette! EAT IT!
Chris (Robin Williams) wears predominantly blue; Annie (Annabella Sciorra) wears primarily red. Their children wear affiliated colors - Marie in blue, Ian in red. At times, the colors are blended into shades or tints of purple (a mixture of red and blue) to show the blending of their spirits (they are soul-mates). Notice that their "soul-mate" tree has purple blossoms. When Annie goes to the mental hospital, she wears green - the opposite of red on the color wheel - to show that she is in an unnatural, unbalanced state. After Chris dies, Annie wears black, sometimes with white. When she arrives in "heaven," she wears blue at first, I think because she got Chris back there, but she borrowed his strength to do it. At that moment she is spiritually more like him than herself. Later, she again wears a very vibrant red. At the end when they go back to life as children, the boy (Chris) wears blue and the girl (Annie) is in pale pinky-lavender.
Notice also the variations in color that complement the mood or spiritual state of the characters. In scenes showing Chris and Annie as happy, the colors are vibrant and saturated; when they are sad or upset, the colors are muted or desaturated.
The environments also show the effect of the colors associated with certain characters, and the saturation of colors responds to the mood of the scene. You'll see lots of reds and bright blues in the house when the family is together; these colors are then muted after the deaths of the children and then of Chris. You still see red and blue, it's just not as bright. The colors in "heaven" are warm - Chris's environment has lots of reds and blues, Marie's is full of golden light. You'll notice that Marie's alter-ego wears blue with a purple sash. The colors of "hell," of course are black and gray. The sky is a gold color, but not the warm gold of Marie's "heaven" -- it's a lurid, nasty color.
So, yes, the colors selected for most movies mean something, and this one particularly uses color in a meaningful way.
I second that comment. It was a very cerebral explanation and I too want to watch it again to see the color links.
ZuZu Petal's
Very cerebral explanation. Absolutely wonderful. Thanks so much. Never thought of what the color might mean only that it was flooded with beautiful imagery. Did notice Annie and the red but not much further.
Great explanation and as soon as I get my movie back from the person I loaned it to a few months ago I will have to watch again just to see the colors line up.
ZuZu Petal's
Roses are red, Violets are blue, the love poem ehrm ?
shareThe Annie character also wears clothes that match an exact color in the backround. Such as, the green robe in the mental hospital matches the trees and grass, the black matching the ruined, burned out house in purgatory.
To my "mole"-I have saved the URL to this message and I report every one that is erased.
wonderfully said and i love this movie sooo much!
shareI remember reading your post years ago when I was going to rewatch the movie. I wish certain posts like this would be treated as a sticky or something and not have the threat of being deleted by IMDb in the future. I'd completely forgotten about the color theory here.
shareI hope people will keep replying -- maybe it will keep the post alive!
Thanks to everyone for your kind comments.
I watched WDMC once or twice years ago, and it didn't leave me with the best impressions. The story and settings were ambitious but it didn't deliver, something was lost in between. I remember reading threads back then and some said it had to do with the producers messing with the final cut.
I'm in a particular mood while I write this. It's a sad thing Robin's death is bringing me back to all his films I have ever seen or not and trying them again one by one. Just finished watching Good Will Hunting, now hopping to WDMC and reading this thread about colors. Years have passed by but it's still alive!
I will watch it again and hope your clever insight will make it better this time. Thank you for this!
I know you posted this a long time ago but thank you. It is really amazing to watch this film after reading your post.
I'm just a soul whose intentions are good...
This is my favorite Robin Williams film.
I just watched it again and am so glad I found
these posts about the use of color. Amazing!
I loved the story and the rainbow colors.
[deleted]
Watching it in bluray 1080p it was an interesting experience, even if the story kind of fell a bit flat for me.
For me it was just technically interesting how they rendered this on pentium 2's at best, if that, it came out in oct 1998, same year as the p2 which was jan 1998, so probably it was rendered on 200~mhz pentium 1's!
I know this is very late, but great post! Now im just helping to keep this alive!
shareIt's also a little irrelevant at this point, but it's cool to note that this film was shot in Fujifilm Velvia, which is known for it's vibrant color saturation.
shareIts colour not color. This is a New Zealand film, not an American one.
shareIMDB lists this film as USA/New Zealand. The director is from NZ, but it was filmed in the US. I don't see any reason to belittle the original poster, a high school student from the US, with such a nit-picky detail. S/he was asking an honest question that had nothing to do with spelling.
Be generous and kind in your responses, and others will be kind in return.