Effective Use Of Color In Revolutionary Road

Another crucial aspect concerning the cinematic depiction of the male American antihero and his surroundings represents the effective use of colour. Although the colour red is most notably prominent in American Beauty, shades of blue in Shame, and nuances of white and beige in Revolutionary Road, there are similarities in meaning of the use of these colours to be noted in all the films. In general, one can conclude the following: white, beige and greyish colours stand either for purity and innocence or blankness and lack of personality. While red, on the one hand, indicates longing, activity, force, and passion of any kind (no matter if positively or negatively motivated), blue, on the other hand, points to enforced idleness, passivity, isolation,
On the one hand, it illustrates how characters such as Lester and Jane spend too much time focusing on their body image and dedicating too much time on themselves, particularly in times of dissatisfaction and crisis, instead of figuring out the actual root of their unhappiness and strengthening their relationships to others. On the other hand, the mirror represents a tool that does not only contribute to a negative but also a positive change of the self. At a certain stage of one’s life one just has to hold a mirror up to oneself and reflect on the following: Who am I? Have I denied myself? Have I changed? What do I want? What have I got? Which responsibilities are connected to that? What do I need? However, this personal process of reflecting how to reach this ultimate goal of inner harmony and a meaningful life can be hard in today’s Western culture. Ball further argues that “[l]ife is so fast and hectic and filled with distraction, you have to sort of teach yourself to be still and be quiet and allow yourself to look for what I call beauty” (ibid.) referring not only to character traits but also the beauty of life. In conclusion, one can sum up that both outer and inner beauty (or lies in the eye of the beholder and that not every flower in a colourful garden needs the same amount of water and sunlight to live and