In The Handmaid's Tale, the title character and all of the other women in her position wear red. In the west, we have our own clear understanding of what the color red implies. Or do we?
One of my favorite instances of the color red is in Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993). The whole movie is a masterpiece, crystal clear cinematography, a beautiful score and a fantastic cast of a-listers.I can't seem to forget that image of Liam Neeson lounging around in that sharp suit, smoke obscuring his stern face. There is something so wonderfully old-Hollywood about those party scenes. It makes the reality of the film that much more chilling. To have to go from Casablanca in one shot to, well, Schindler's List in the next is shocking and unexpected. The black and white puts some much needed distance between the movie's horrific events and the audience. But the color red does appear, and not where you would expect.
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You might not, as she comes and she goes and she's never given a name. This little Jewish girl wears a brilliant red peacoat and in one scene, she wanders around amidst the dead and dying unnoticed by the Nazi officers. When I first watched this movie, with my mother, she told me that red was the color of the innocent. That blew my mind. Red was always a sexy, scandalous color. The Scarlet Letter, the Lady in Red, Jessica Rabbit were the kinds of objects that came to mind when discussing the color red. Red is the color of sex, passion, blood. Isn't