We Need To Talk About Kevin colour representation analysis

Something that I found interesting when watching the production was its representation of colour. In particular, the colour red, in almost every scene this colour is either made obvious or kept in the background. For example, in one scene in the kitchen there is a is very bright  kettle on the counter and it is red. In my opinion I found Kevin himself to be the strong use of the colour red which is highly symbolic of the inevitable bloodshed. Red is seen continuously throughout the film haunting Eva as a constant reminder of her son’s actions. We also see red during the dinner table scene on Kevin’s t-shirt which has a motif much like splattered blood. We also see that the diner that Eva is sat in is completely red and then the final scene in my chosen sequence shows Celia holding a large red bowl and when Kevin walks by the red tips of Kevin’s arrows. The first scene and the latter scene mentioned are memories of Eva’s and in both these scenes, the colour red is only featured slightly. In these scenes, red is not only symbolic of bloodshed but arguably more so of danger; a warning sign that was never acknowledged by Francis. However, the diner scene is Eva now reliving her disturbing past. She is surrounded by the colour red in this scene which symbolizes the fact that Eva cannot escape her memories of bloodshed and danger; they follow her, tormenting her. 

The colour yellow also used during the scene with Eva and Celia. Eva is cleaning Celia’s eye and the yellow, gooey liquid can be seen clearly on the ear buds, Celia’s bedroom walls have also been painting yellow. The yellow in this scene is symbolic of the yellow bull’s-eye on Kevin’s archery board which indicates that Kevin’s real target is not to hit the bull’s-eyes on the archery board but Celia. This cinematic technique is particularly effective as it subconsciously affects the audience and builds up the tension ready for the final horrific incident. Another scene which focuses on the colour red would be the beginning scene in which Eva is dreaming. She is in a crowd of people; the faint sound of screaming can be heard this is to represent the Kevin’s victims, tomatoes are used to represent blood in the scene this is an odd choice but is very affective as the audience is aware of what the tomatoes are representing as using blood would make the scene too graphic. Eva appears to be content at the start of the dream being held up by the crowd. Soon after she is lowered down and victims start to throw the tomatoes over her, she is soon covered and struggling to get up this is a representation of the guilt and shame being thrown on her as she is Kevin’s mother and some may say responsible to an extent for his horrendous actions.