Patricia Ohanian Blog- Colors in Movies 4/26/2020

Over the Coronavirus "Vacation", I had the pleasure of viewing the movie The Black Swan.  
The Black Swan is about a ballerina who is competing to star in a new version of Swan Lake that includes both a white swan and a black swan.   The White Swan is the good version of her, she is happy, hardworking, enthusiastic.  But, as the movie progresses and the competition between the two ballerina's becomes more fierce, she starts to wear darker clothes, harsher makeup, the backdrop becomes more gray and black.  She begins to fall down the hole of terror and becomes more like the black swan.  This film provides a, literally, black and white stark difference between the meaning of color in this film.  White=good, happy, Black=evil, sad.
This use of color reminds me of Clem's hair color in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  She even says, "She applies her personality in a paste".
Her hair colors include blue, green, red and orange.
Her hair is green when they meet, representing a fruitfulness, a beginning.
Her hair is red when they love each other deepest, love=red.
Her hair is orange when their relationship starts to fade like a burning flame.
Her hair is blue when they are apart, eliciting sadness and loneliness.

These two movies are not really similar, but the use of color is.  In both, color is a direct correlation between how a character feels and what color they are.

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