It seems that in ever scene where there is some sort of violence, the film goes into an orange tint. It is a very subtle motif that is hard to notice without re-watching some scenes over again.
A subtle orange tint seems to appear whenever there is a death scene or a scene of violence in the Godfather. The part with Michael is sitting at the table right after he got the gun. Before he shot Sollotzo in the face and the crooked police chief in the neck and then in the face the screen had taken on a orange tint. In the Godfather, orange seems to represent death. Again in the scene with the attempted assassination of Vito Corleone, right when the guys were coming down the street and drew their guns, the orange tint came on screen.
In another scene, the one where Sonny gets gunned down by seven people with machine guys, he had just payed the fare at the cause way. The fare man just closed the door on Sonny and then the orange tint came on as all of the guys came out and started shooting.
It is obvious through the examples above and other death scenes in the movie that the orange motif is used to simulate death in the Godfather. I would also speculate that it is used in the other movies of the Godfather.
Hello, AJ.
ReplyDeleteOrange certainly is a sinister colour in this film, as you have stated. I have not noticed the appearance of this orange tint, but rather had noticed the orange fruit, orange neon lights, and the word "orange" appear before and during basically all of the death-related scenes in "The Godfather".
Seconds before Vito Corleone was shot five times, he was purchasing oranges at a store. In the scene where Michael met with Sollozzo and McCluskey at the restaurant were orange neon lights shown brightly in the background. Although it may first appear as Sonny's death was not related to orange, according to Michael Oliver , an advertisement of Florida Oranges is shown beside the road immediately before his death.
Francis Ford Coppola has made an obvious relation between death and orange in this film, as you have said. Because I do not quite understand the reason behind utilising this sort of symbolism, I hope to pay attention to and notice the orange tint which appears upon death from now onward.