Stanley Kubrick loved to use the color red. If you never noticed it before, filmmaker Rishi Kaneria’s new supercut will make you well aware of his penchant for using bright reds at key moments in his films.
What does the color symbolize? It seems to depend on the film, but often it’s associated with the feeling of alarm, as in The Shining (the elevator of blood, “Redrum”) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (HAL). Kaneria is not the first to notice Kubrick’s fondness for the color: In Stanley Kubrick, Director: A Visual Analysis, authors Ulrich Ruchti, Alexander Walker, and Sybil Taylor argue that while his keynote use of red in Eyes Wide Shut “runs the risk of obviousness,” it’s used to accentuate intertwining feelings of lust and danger (they note, for instance, the red-wrapped gifts in the prostitute’s home and the red marble of the condo lobby, “which makes it look like the film’s hero is entering a furnace that will consume him”). Whatever the precise nature of all these uses, when you put them all together the result is pretty striking.
Previously
The Simpsons Pays Tribute to Stanley Kubrick
The Beauty, Violence, and Sheer Skill of Stanley Kubrick
Tunnel Vision Kubrick’s Favorite Composition Gets Its Own Supercut
