The Native Cinema Renaissance: Films

21.3.1930-30.3.2016 Animator Butyrin

Blue and Red Symbolism in “The Prince of Egypt”

One of the cool overarching artistic themes in “The Prince of Egypt” is blue versus red. It doesn’t work 100% of the time - for instance, Zipporah’s clothing is blue, but she’s not associated with the Egyptians - but overall, blue and red have their own distinct, separate symbolism. Blue represents Egypt, while red is the color of Moses’ family, the Hebrews, and their God Elohim. 

Now I’m going to quickly rush from start to end of the film and point out the major blue and red moments I’ve noticed.

The opening shot is red, while the musical theme for God is playing in the background.

The Hebrew infants are being slaughtered, and the color of the streets is amazingly red. The Egyptian guards themselves, however, are carrying blue shields - the only blue in these frames.

Jochebed, Aaron, and Miriam are all wearing red. Even the baby Moses is wrapped in a red blanket. Jochebed is also wearing blue; she’s making a choice based upon the dangers of Egyptian society.

All the Egyptians are wearing blue. Rameses II even has a blue tie around his ponytail and a blue necklace. The entire tint of this moment is basically blue… blues and purples. It’s a huge visual contrast from the baked, bloody red from which baby Moses has escaped.

Blues, blues, blues everywhere. The headdress of the Pharaoh on the statue is blue. Later, painted murals of the Pharaoh will show the same blue.

The next shot, we see Moses and Rameses as young adults. Moses is still sticking with the red theme, which cues viewers subtly that he’s out of place in Egyptian society. Moses’ horses are decorated in red, so is his chariot, and so are accents of his clothing. Rameses, meanwhile, perfect little Egyptian boy that he is, has all that in blue and aqua.

Tuya wears blue around the collars, the Pharaoh Seti’s cane is aqua blue, and the priests are wearing the same bluish accents. Rameses II is, as I mentioned before, wearing the same color. In fact, everyone in this room has the same shade of blue on except for Moses.

If we really want to go crazy overanalyzing, even the punch bowl that Moses dumps on Hotep and Huy is red.

Egyptian magic is blue.

So is the ring that Rameses gives Moses. Now this ring is symbolic. While Moses wears it, he has a connection to his Egyptian family, his Egyptian brother. When he returns to Egypt to ask the Pharaoh to let the Hebrew slaves go, he returns the ring. He is revoking his kinship and connections with the Egyptians at this moment. He’s revoking the blue.

There is a deep blue tint during the night scene Moses meets Miriam and Aaron and first learns he’s actually Hebrew by birth. Moses’ mind is concerned with the fact he’s blue - an Egyptian - even though that’s not the truth. Oh, right, and all three siblings - Moses, Miriam, and Aaron - are wearing red.

While Moses struggles with the shocking news he’s actually a Hebrew, he runs into his Egyptian home. The places where he stands to comfort himself are blue, blue, blue everywhere. He wants to think that this is where he belongs - in this comforting Egyptian blue.

But then you get to Moses’ bedroom, and you realize it’s red. He’s a Hebrew at heart, deep beneath it all. He just doesn’t realize it yet.

After Moses enters Midian, Jethro gives him a red cloak. 

And it is to note that Jethro, while a Midianite rather than a Hebrew, is the one who speaks to Moses about looking at life through Heaven’s eyes. This helps pave the way for Moses to become acquainted and receptive to the Hebrew God Elohim. Jethro wears red. Even the tent he lives in is red. It’s all red.

When Moses sees the burning bush, at first the atmosphere is blue. His cloak and the bush are the only things with reddish tinges on them.

The colors which wrap around him, though, are a bit more red than blue.

Excited Moses tells the news he’s going to deliver the Hebrews in a red tent.

Rameses’ royal chambers in Egypt are very blue. Moses, wearing red, sticks out from the rest of the people and things in the room.

Hey, look, more blue Egyptian magic. There is some stark red in this scene, too. Blue generally predominates, and all the time conjurations happen, it’s with blue (or greens, at least) as the main color.

The biggest exception is the fact that the Egyptians pull out red snakes. It’s almost as though to hint those snakes are going to be eaten by Moses’.

I want to point out that, of the three siblings, only Miriam wears complete red. Moses also is wearing a greenish, tealish undershirt, while Aaron’s shorts are blue-green. It’s as if to point out that Moses has to struggle through both sides, while Aaron is someone whose mind isn’t deep on faith, and gets too caught up in the worries of current Egyptian society. Miriam, the great woman of endless faith, is the one who wears the complete red associated with God.

The ideal place to relax for the Pharaoh and his son is in a rather blue boat.

Moses drowns out that blue and replaces it with the red of blood, directly with God’s power.

However, the Pharaoh has not relented. He won’t let the Hebrews go. And before the plagues begin, the Egyptian world is still overall blue in tint.

Not so much once the plagues hit and turn the whole world red.

And if you still don’t believe in the red versus blue symbolism, check out this screenshot below. Moses and Rameses II are shown facing one another in opposition. Rameses, blue. Moses, red. The two figureheads for Egypt and Israel, coming in conflict, depicting these two thematic, symbolic colors. 

The doors are painted with the blood of lambs to protect Hebrews from the angel of death.

But there is death amongst the Egyptians, and a foreboding - depressing - blue ambience within that dark. Moses leaves Rameses II enshrouded in blue. It’s so blue you can’t even see the red on Moses’ cloak.

Rameses returns to attack the Hebrews in blue. It’s the most blue he’s ever worn, in fact.

But God returns. He comes as a pillar of flame - a bright, red, magnificent red pillar of flame. And when the Hebrews travel through the Red Sea, they light flames themselves, bringing some sparks of red into the blue passageway.

As I said before, the blue versus red symbolism isn’t perfect. There are times that it diverges, or that blue is simply blue and red is simply red. However, I think there is still a strong correlation between red associating with the Hebrews and blue with the Egyptians. The artwork is beautiful in and of itself, but the fact that the color pallet seems to be so symbolically intentional gives me a whole other level of respect for the creators of this movie.

Slides from an Alice in Wonderland Viewmaster series

Composers on Halloween!

Mathilde Kschessinska (31 Aug 1872 – 6 Deb 1971)

Mistress of: Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, among others. Tenure: 1890 - 1894. Royal Bastards: None (Disputed). Fall From Power: The tsar got married.

Mathilda-Marie Feliksovna Kschessinskaya, later Princess Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya, was a ballerina of Polish origins and the mistress of the future Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. She was born into a family of performers and made her debut in a pas de deux during a graduation performance in the spring of 1890, attended by the imperial family, including Emperor Alexander III and his heir Nicholas. She was a “small, vivacious” girl of seventeen with a “supple body, full bosom … dark curls and merry eyes” who immediately piqued the interest of the tsarevich, which Mathilde noticed. After that chance encounter, Mathilde made sure to put herself in Nicholas’ line of sight as frequently as possible, strolling past the Anitchkov Palace where Nicholas and his sister Xenia often stood at the balcony watching passers-by. By summer, she was conveniently selected to join a group that danced for offers at Krasnoe Selo, where Nicholas was on duty with the Guards. He came to watch her every day but it did not go beyond flirtations until late October, when they were finally able to be alone.

Both Nicholas and Mathilde kept detailed diaries, which record their growing affection for one another; Nicholas admitted that he “liked her very much” and that he was “under her spell” while Mathilde wrote that “he had such beautiful eyes, I’m just going crazy.” Nicholas began to give her gifts of bouquets of flowers and jewelry, including a gold bracelet with diamonds and a large sapphire, at her rehearsals. Mathilde made sure to wear stunning dresses when she expected a visit, in the hopes that he would remark upon their beauty (he usually did). The relationship continued until Nicholas’ betrothal to Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt; he made no secret in his interest in the princess and the hope that they would one day marry, much to the distress of Mathilde. She lamented in her diary that no one will love Nicholas as much as she did, and that he will probably forget her when he is married. Her jealously also emerges in her writings, envious of his bride-to-be. The pair said their final goodbyes in 1894 at a highway rendezvous, “she seated in a carriage, he astride a horse.” For months after, Mathilde went through “terrible boundless suffering” of losing Nicholas before being intimately consoled by the Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich. He bought her a cottage that overlooked the sea but she was not in love with Sergei, though she did enjoy his company, and pursued his cousin, Andrei Vladimirovich, as well. Their affair began in mid-1900 and she enjoyed a relationship with both men for the better part of two decades – Sergei and Andrei were cordial in public, but tried to avoid each other whenever possible. Matters were complicated further when Mathilde gave birth to a son, Vladimir, in 1902, and no one was quite sure who the father was.

Mathilde continued to use her connection to the tsar and the imperial family to amass valuable property and further her career on stage. Mathilde was extraordinarily gifted as a dancer and obtained the rank of Prima ballerina in 1896 and commanded top billing in theater programs and posters. After the Russian Revolution, Mathilde ended up in exile in Paris. She later married, in 1921, her former flame Andrei, who was devoted to both Mathilde and her child, despite the question of his paternity. The couple enjoyed gambling, though Mathilde squandered their reaming wealth – including her valuable jewelry collection – at the gambling tables of Monte Carlo. Mathilde opened up her own ballet school as a means to earn some much needed income. The school flourished, providing for a comfortable, yet modest lifestyle. Mathilde last performed at the age of 64, for a charity event at Covent Garden in London. She died in Paris, eight months shy of her 100th birthday, and was buried in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois Russian Cemetery, which she shares with her husband and son.

Rumors have persisted that Nicholas continued to meet Mathilde in secret after his marriage, though most historians agree that this is completely untrue. Some accounts do seem dispute this; however, and there are further claims that Mathilde even had a child with the Tsar in 1911, who was later adopted by her bother.

Sources

”Mathilde Kschessinska as Princess Aspicia from the ballet The Pharaoh’s Daughter”, photographic postcard from the book “The Great Russian Dancers” by Gennady Smakov, c. 1898 (left image).

”Mathilde Kschessinska in costume for a Spanish dance” by unknown, 1900 (right image).

Massie, Robert. Nicholas and Alexandra: The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty. Random House Trade Paperbacks (2000). ISBN: 9780345438317.

Hall, Coryne. Imperial Dancer: Mathilde Kschessinska and the Romanovs, Sutton Publishing (2005). ISBN: 9780750935579.

Sen noci svatojánské (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) (1959) dir. Jirí Trnka “In the past, just as today, the stars were shining in the sky. It was in 1594, and the poet William Shakespeare was writing a comedy about slumber on a summer night.”

If You Are Interested in GLOW

I highly, highly recommend checking out the documentary GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. I stumbled across it a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

It’s currently on Netflix, so if you’ve finished binging the new series inspired by the ladies of 80s wrestling, give the documentary a look and hear from the real women who hopped into the ring… including some of the in-ring personas that were clearly the source material for the characters that made it onscreen like Mountain Fiji (“Machu Picchu”), Colonel Ninotchka (“Zoya the Destroya”),  Americana (“Liberty Belle”), The Housewives (“The Beatdown Biddies”) and more.

Dear Gaiman, I'm not a huge fan of Sandman (I'm more into good omens and American gods and anansi boys) but my dad read it few years ago. He once told me that he was friends with cinamon,the girl who death was based off of. My dad says they met through being among with the other homeless kids in the area. Is cinamon a real person and if so, did you know her? P.S. my dad still has an autographed poster where you wrote "eat something" because he was so skinny at the time

Yes, her name was Cinamon Hadley, and she was a friend of Mike Dringenberg, the artist, who borrowed her face and look for Death.

I didn’t know her, although we sent messages to each other from time to time, but I wish I had. She died in 2016.

to-watch (ita)

Neorealismo e posteriori:

Luchino Visconti

Ossessione (1943)

La terra trema (1948)

Bellissima (1951)

Senso (1954)

Le notti bianche (1957)

Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960)

Il Gattopardo (1963)

La caduta degli dei (1969)

Morte a Venezia (1971)

Ludwig (1973)

Gruppo di famiglia in un interno (1974)

Roberto Rossellini

Roma città aperta (1945)

Paisà (1946)

Germania anno zero (1948)

Europa ‘51 (1952)

Viaggio in Italia (1953)

Vittorio de Sica

I bambini ci guardano (1943)

Sciuscià (1946)

Ladri di biciclette (1948)

Miracolo a Milano (1951)

Umberto D. (1952)

L'oro di Napoli (1954)

La ciociara (1960)

Ieri, oggi, domani (1963)

Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini (1970)

Giuseppe de Santis

Riso amaro (1949)

Commedia all’italiana:

Luigi Comencini

Pane, amore e fantasia (1953)

Pane, amore e gelosia (1954)

Tutti a casa (1960)

Incompreso (1966)

Lo scopone scientifico (1972)

L'ingorgo (1978)

Dino Risi

Pane amore e… (1955)

Poveri ma belli (1957)

Belle ma povere (1957)

Il sorpasso (1962)

I mostri (1963)

Profumo di donna (1974)

Ettore Scola

Riusciranno i nostri eroi a ritrovare l'amico misteriosamente scomparso in Africa? (1968)

Dramma della gelosia - Tutti i particolari in cronaca (1970)

C'eravamo tanto amati (1974)

Brutti, sporchi e cattivi (1976)

Una giornata particolare (1977)

La terrazza (1980)

Ballando ballando (1983)

Maccheroni (1985)

La famiglia (1987)

Today we bring to you perennial fan-favorite Terry Jeffords!

Terry Jeffords is one of the main characters of Brooklyn 99, a Mike Schur and Andy Samberg project which aired on Fox in 2013, which moved to NBC for its final seasons from 2019 - 2021. Portrayed by Terry Crews, Jeffords is first the sergeant then lieutenant of the eponymous 99th precinct, and has variable roles throughout the series’ tenure, most often filling the niche of mother hen adjacent to Captain Holt’s stern father figure.

Given of course that he is played by Terry Crews, we can be assured that this man is beefcake central. Although it is often hidden under tasteful pastel shirts and ties patterned en vogue, Jeffords’ physique is remarked upon at least once per episode, with the occasional episode centering around his stature. In one notable instance, he is unable to perform a undercover operation and must train Jake Peralta in his workout routine so that he may take his place – what actually takes place is a montage of Peralta desperately working to make up the lack in his physical prowess before giving up. This happens multiple times throughout the series. In another instance, Peralta takes a running leap at Terry, causing him to drop his coffee in favor of catching Peralta. When asked if it was any effort at all to hold up a grown man, Jeffords replies that it’s about the same as holding a couple of grapes. Indeed, the entire precinct knows what’s up with Sergeant Jeffords – and if it were not clear to the audience, we have regular reminders from Gina, for whom it is a running gag to attempt to get Terry to remove his shirt. Queen Gina speaking for all of us, as usual.

Now if you have been following this blog for a while, you will know that one thing that we value just as much as having the skill to make one’s pecs dance (which we see Terry do onscreen multiple times), it is a family man, and Terry’s a family man to a T. His introduction to the series and the first major character arc that he goes through has to do with the anxiety he feels as a new parent of twin baby girls - what would they and his lovely wife do if he were to fall in the line of duty? He overcomes this anxiety with the help of Gina and Captain Holt (and much departmental mandated therapy), but his love and respect for his wife and daughters shine through in every episode thereafter, and quite often carry over into all of his other relationships with the team. Terry could easily be played off as the stereotypical aggressive black man, but the show’s narrative emphasizes that Terry’s heart is as big as his muscles, and that he values his wife and all of the women in his life just as much as he does the yogurt in his fridge.

And it is clear that his comrades value him all the same. This author would hesitate to call a married and devoted man a slut (although we do learn that he and his wife conceived their children to Beyonce, so mad respect for that game), but we do know that Terry is a major Chad, having earned the respect of everyone in the 99 - indeed his team’s reliance on his opinion of them often leads to some comedic miscommunications, such as when Amy and Gina discover that Terry is writing a childrens’ book for his twins and that the two female leads are inspired by them. They bicker and argue over what this means until Terry delivers a rousing speech in the elevator about how they should come to trust and respect themselves a little bit more (which veers into charmingly awkward territory as the elevator ride only commences when Terry has finished). And Jake, main character that he is, has never had a bad thing to say about Terry that he hasn’t immediately corrected.

If Terry is to have a flaw in himbodom, impeccable specimen that he is, it is that he is too intelligent. It would be easy to write it off as simply detective-savvy - the man is the sergeant of a major precinct in the largest local police organization in the world, after all - but we see demonstrated time and again that not only is Terry a genuinely intelligent man with a lot to offer in many academic pursuits, he’s actually a huge-ass nerd. A notable instance is the case he insists on solving for the protection of a JRRT-GRRM-esque author that Terry has idolized since his childhood, using the book’s lore and the author’s own professional history to solve the case. Indeed, resident bookworm Amy indicates in one episode that if anyone in the precinct were to solve a particularly hard word-puzzle, it would be either her or Terry. Bold words from someone with more than a dozen organizational binders.

This author’s ambivalence cannot be overstated when we say with certainty: that man is not a himbo.

Total Himbo Score: 21