During the first scene of Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis) in their house after their death, the light appears to be an orange hue. Orange represents energy and adventure. Although the characters do not know it yet, they are about to embark on a long adventure alongside the living.
When in Saturn with the Sand Worms, the prominent color is yellow. While this color can represent happy things, it traditionally represents more negative images: disease, death, alienation, and madness. In the movie, Adam and Barbara are dead for most of it and are alienated from the world outside and other people. When Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) acts like a circus attraction towards the end, yellow is behind him. Madness at its best. Also, he kills Charles Deetz’s (Jeffrey Jones) boss and his boss’s wife.
After Adam and Barbara draw the door to get help, they enter the afterlife services office. The first color shown is green. Universally, green represents nature. It is natural for people to die; thus, this color makes sense in this setting. Also, I would argue it is natural for most people to ask for help, which also makes the color an appropriate choice.
The other major color that surrounds Betelgeuse is red. After he goes back to the model, he crashes a red truck. He wears a red shirt or vest throughout the entire movie. Also, when he goes to “Dante’s Inferno Room”, the building is glowing red. This color represents love, passion, anger, and sacrifice. Betelgeuse is passionate about scaring the living and gets angry when the couple stops him. Both Betelgeuse and Lydia (Winona Ryder) wear red at their wedding. Here, she is the sacrifice for Adam and Barbera’s souls.
When resurrecting the two ghosts, the color surrounding the living is blue. Blue has many, many meanings. It can mean cleansing, rebirth, strength, and trust. The people in the room trust Otho (Glenn Shadix). They are basically cleansing the house and the couple experiences a kind of rebirth.
The other site I pulled from for color representations was off of a teacher’s lesson on the internet. Have a look.
The costumes in this movie are wonderful. Here is an analysis of the different wardrobes and how they represent each character.
Here is an interpretation of one scene in this movie and how it shows you everything you need to know about the movie. Interesting idea.
Thanks for reading!