This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)
The color Red. simply put as that. what does it mean to you personally and what has it meant for you in Utena. specifically the backrounds in the movie.
not just the obvious, (Touga) but the actual psychological, philosophical points of it, because it says a lot.
and don't just talk about how much a jerk touga was, or how you liked him or whatever, just how the color stood out and what it meant.
to me?
to me it meant blood, it meant shock, it meant lust, passion, roses, thorns, the 'oh crap' feeling, cheating, anger, frustration, and the feeling of wanting so bad you would do anything to get it.
to me it meant passion, explosion, blood rushing to the brain, mockery, depression, sadness, gaudiness, haughtiness, showoff like resemblance.
so in other words, Touga, but i also see it as something the runs underneath the surface of everything, its just prominent most in a certain character, but Akio had some of these qualities as well.
Utena had some red, anthy wore it..so what does it really mean?
Anthy's hidden malice, utena's hidden (or not so hidden) passion, Touga's power lust, Akio's underlaying evil.
but as a inner color what would it stand for? the virgin mary is sometimes depicted with red.
it is said that Venus was always drawn with white roses, but when mankind first showed bloodshed they all fell into red.
this is said the same about Eve, and she is normally depicted with red hair. the Nazi swastika was backed with red on banners.
is it sin?
but it is also a color of love. Saints gave red roses, the Cardinal priests wear red, the wine (blood) of christ is deep red.
the vatican is depicted with red a lot.
in the movie, the back rounds, (especially the Chairman's room, (drawing scene) were drenched in red.
but, during the dance scene, a scene of love, the water was scattered with red roses.
is it just human? containing all of these things because they are inside all of us?
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Well, red's a very sensual color, so it makes sense that Touga's hair and Akio's shirt would be red to me. As for Anthy's dress, warm colors naturally stand out more to human beings so the animators probably chose it to say that there's more to her then meets the eye.
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Red is also an important color to the Japanese.
You've heard of the term, the red thread of fate, yes?
Normally that's what I think of when I see so much red in anime, especially those roses in the dance sequence. That dance tied Utena and Anthy together.
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