Visual Symbols Used in "Only Lovers Left Alive"
The film Only Lovers Left Alive is an aesthetically pleasing and highly symbolic movie. Straight from the beginning, we see the camera spiraling over our two main characters, Adam and Eve, in their respective environments. The spinning itself is a motif of the film, that to me appeared symbolic of the passage of time. Adam and Eve, being immortal vampires, have a very distorted idea of time compared to us humans. The characters appear calm and at peace with the spinning of the camera and the passage of time, while we, the human audience, might find it dizzying. Instead, they rest with a beautiful, unearthly stillness that also characterizes them as inhuman beings, to whom time has no meaning.
Though their opening scene mirrors each other and establishes their eternal connection, I also get a sense of the differences in the characters through their environment. Eve is surrounded by white and blue, and a great multitude of books. Her hands are outstretched and rest on piles of these books, emphasizing her love of knowledge and reading, but also lightly foreshadow her ability to touch objects and know their information, like their age and make. Adam sits in a dimly lit room that leaves dark shadows across over half the frame of his red room. His arms clutch a musical instrument, and countless others clutter the floor and table surfaces.
This red and blue dynamic sets the color scheme for the entire film, and presents a coexistence of red and blue, black and white, to symbolize the love and unity of the two characters. The color schemes of the two also help them look dead in their own way. While Adam seems grim as he is coated in black, with gaunt but sharp features, Eve's white colors make her seem as ghostly as a wight. Even at their reunion, a skunk appears; a creature of both black and white united. Together, their yin-yang dynamic presents them as two halves of a whole, a peaceful coexistence. This color symbolism becomes so powerful that when new colors were introduced, as with Eve's sister (with her bright copper hair and green dress) we find them gaudy, overwhelming, and at times annoying, which is very reminiscent of her character. Her oranges and greens disrupt their peace.
Other elements that drive the modern vampire theme further are Adam's violin and other instruments, which produce a high pitch batlike screeching noise when he plays. As well, Adam's guitars come in padded black cases that look eerily similar to coffins.
Though their opening scene mirrors each other and establishes their eternal connection, I also get a sense of the differences in the characters through their environment. Eve is surrounded by white and blue, and a great multitude of books. Her hands are outstretched and rest on piles of these books, emphasizing her love of knowledge and reading, but also lightly foreshadow her ability to touch objects and know their information, like their age and make. Adam sits in a dimly lit room that leaves dark shadows across over half the frame of his red room. His arms clutch a musical instrument, and countless others clutter the floor and table surfaces.
This red and blue dynamic sets the color scheme for the entire film, and presents a coexistence of red and blue, black and white, to symbolize the love and unity of the two characters. The color schemes of the two also help them look dead in their own way. While Adam seems grim as he is coated in black, with gaunt but sharp features, Eve's white colors make her seem as ghostly as a wight. Even at their reunion, a skunk appears; a creature of both black and white united. Together, their yin-yang dynamic presents them as two halves of a whole, a peaceful coexistence. This color symbolism becomes so powerful that when new colors were introduced, as with Eve's sister (with her bright copper hair and green dress) we find them gaudy, overwhelming, and at times annoying, which is very reminiscent of her character. Her oranges and greens disrupt their peace.
Other elements that drive the modern vampire theme further are Adam's violin and other instruments, which produce a high pitch batlike screeching noise when he plays. As well, Adam's guitars come in padded black cases that look eerily similar to coffins.
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