Kripke and His Camera: Pastels, Flowers, and Symbolism in WIAWSNB
Warning: An extreme, image-heavy geek-out fest below the cut. Should I be held responsible for where my head runs off to?
Supernatural’s strengths are its continuity with characterization, themes, motifs, and plot as well as its visual richness and the attention to detail. Much of this can be attributed to the vision of the show’s creator, which is why it’s a treat when Kripke gets behind the wheel and directs and/or writes.
The following discusses some of the wardrobe and cinematographic choices (color, lighting, frame composition) Kripke might’ve made as director for “What is and What Should Never Be” (2x20) as well as some parallels between this episode, the pilot (1x01), “Wendigo” (1x02), and “Home” (1x09), the latter three written by Kripke, in terms of motifs, character/color associations, and their possible symbolic significance.
LIGHTING
"When you see the episode, it doesn't even look like 'Supernatural.' You think you're watching a 'Gilmore Girls' for crying out loud. It's a happy, lively looking show and putting in a character who is used to being in a dark, seedy environment really took me out of my environment." -Jensen on WiaWSNB (5/7/07 interview)
Due to its contrast with the show’s regular gritty, cool-toned light and shadowy ambiance, one of the most striking things about WiaWSNB is the lighting. Because the alternate reality in WaiWSNB is the manifestation of Dean’s ultimate wish, it’s not surprising that the lighting is brighter, warmer, and more diffuse; there are fewer shadows; and colors are more saturated. This helps promote the happy suburban and sunshine-and-daisies ideal that contrasts with Dean’s reality characterized by hard shadows, fog, and washed-out colors that tend toward grays and muted primary colors such as, dark blues, greens, browns, and deep reds and black (the notable exceptions are Sam’s light blue and pink-tinted shirts, the reoccurring women in white dresses and nightgowns, and the yellow sulfur and eyes of the YED).
We see the most exaggerated example of wishworld lighting at Mary’s birthday dinner, the apex of Dean’s happy fantasy. His whole family is assembled, his “hot” girlfriend understands his need to ditch the asparagus tower and gobble down a cheeseburger, Mary and Jess are alive, and Sam is getting married. Everything is draped in a gauzy, diffuse light, there are few shadows, and warm colors dominate the scene. The out-of-focus lights and candles in the background, which are not unlike twinkling stars, surround Sam, Jess, and Mary in nearly every frame. The total affect is a light, dreamlike quality, bordering on surreal.
Caps from Screencap Paradise, Pretty as a Picture, and justfreefallin.
As Dean begins to realize things are not as they appear, Kripke begins to transition to cooler-toned light, soft shadows begin to appear, and the pastels are gradually replaced with flatter, darker colors. Sam’s wardrobe changes from pastels and those with pastel accents (light grey, white, and yellows) to solids of darker grays and blues (an image of wish!Sam facing the djinn in a bright yellow happy face T-shirt just popped into my head … lol). Finally, when Dean and wish!Sam are in the car and in the warehouse to destroy “the dream world”, the harsh shadows, single-point light sources (headlights, flashlights, bare light bulbs), and scenes dominated by blacks, greys, dark blues, and reds we associate with the show’s reality return.
3.
Kripke uses red light to further help with the wishworld-reality transition and to inject tension visually. The first flash of red light comes through the rear window as Sam questionings Dean about what’s in the paper bag and holds up the cup of lamb’s blood. This red light (likely brake lights) continues to reflect off the boys’ faces and in Dean’s side view mirror as Dean tell wish!Sam about his plans and what is “real” as they drive closer to Illinois and closer to danger as Dean’s wishworld begins to implode.
4.
The use of red light becomes more pronounced in the warehouse (the girl and the djinn are backed by a more intense red light shining through a hanging drop cloth) as the tension increases, danger becomes more immediate, and Dean has his discovery moment (which is represented by a light bulb literally hanging over his head XD). Note the heavy use of harsh, single-source light that was never seen in the happy wishworld.
5 & 6.
Furthermore, as wish!Mary and Carmen try to persuade Dean to remain, red light fills almost the entire background (perhaps this is Kripke’s way of flailing around and yelling “dangerDeandon’tlistendanger!”).
7 & 8.
The only other red things in Dean’s wishworld are flowers. This is in stark contrast to WiaWSNB reality where Dean and Sam are staying in an all-red motel room. Perhaps this décor color choice is Kripke’s way creating a visual contrast, reinforceing the idea Dean is out of the pastel-colored wishworld. Or perhaps Kripke is trying to subliminally create tension in preparation for what is to come (“dangerSamandDeanthetwopartseasonfinaleisnextweekdangerdanger!” *grins*).
Another cinematographic technique that contrasts the two worlds employs the garish light fixture in the motel room. When Dean and Sam are talking about the wishworld, the lights are out-of-focus and behind Sam in his close-ups. They are reminiscent of the twinkling candles during the wishworld dinner surrounding wish!Sam (compare caps 2 & 10). Perhaps Kripke did this intentionally to evoke a what-if wistfulness to contrast Sam’s words. Or perhaps Kripke wanted to provide a strange and unsettling juxtaposition between the wishworld and reality. Perhaps neither. Perhaps both. Perhaps I’m over-interpreting and engaging in obnoxious wishful thinking.
9 & 10.
COLOR/WARDROBE
Kripke chose to saturate Dean’s wishworld with colors that aren’t regularly included in such abundance in the show’s normal color palate. Pastels such as pink and yellow are common; red, although not an unusual color for the show, appears at key moments; and white continues to play its traditional role in the series.
Furthermore, Kripke has consistently and repeatedly attached characters in both the wishworld and reality to specific colors throughout this episode and the series. Jess and Mary are associated with white and pink in both worlds (although their white and pink affinities operate in overdrive in the wishworld). Wish!Sam’s color is yellow, a color that isn’t attributed to either Winchester in reality. And red, as discussed in the previous section, reappears throughout the episode. All four of these colors are consistently repeated in the floral arrangements in wish!Mary’s home, suggesting to me that this peculiar color combination isn’t a coincidence.
Let’s start with Mary and Jess and pink and white. Pink is connected to love and marriage and represents romantic love. Pink has a soothing effect and denotes tenderness and compassion. White symbolizes purity and innocence, and in Asian cultures it’s associated with death and funerals. Angels are commonly depicted wearing white. Therefore, it’s not surprising that wish!Jess and Mary wear combinations of pink and white and both died in white nightgowns and reappear in reality wearing white.
When she first appears, wish!Mary is wearing a pink robe with tiny roses over the infamous white nightgown she wore in the pilot (which, consequently features a pale pink rose on the bodice). The next time we see Mary in the kitchen with Dean, she’s wearing a solid pink shirt layered over a V-neck lace camisole.
11 & 12.
In her first appearence, Wish!Jess wears a white jacket and a pink and white flowered shirt with lace trim underneath. It is the exact inverse of wish!Mary’s wardrobe when we first see her. Both Mary and Jess’s undergarments are V-necked and trimmed with white lace. The last time we see wish!Jess she's wearing a solid pink V-neck sweater, similar to wish!Mary's shirt in her second appearance. Both Mary and Jess wear dark, sleeveless dresses to dinner. Perhaps their clothes mimic each other because Jess and Mary are parallel characters. Both filled roughly the same role in John and Sam’s lives, and both their deaths were the catalysts that propelled John and then adult Sam into the hunting world. Also note that Jess wore pink shorts with the Smurf shirt in the pilot (see cap 24 below).
13 & 14.
Wish!Sam is associated with the color yellow. Yellow has a variety of meanings, the most familiar being: friendship, familiar love, domestic happiness, joy, and hope. Again, this is appropriate given that wish!Sam is engaged and has the life and the bright future that Sam originally wanted. Unfortunately for Dean, wish!Sam and he aren’t close, but that doesn’t negate Dean’s desire for “friendship” and “familiar love” and the symbolic meaning of yellow. More alarming yet is that yellow also stands for cowardice, deceit, and treachery (more on this later).
During this episode, rarely if at all do we see yellow not associated with happy wish!Sam. Just before he (and Jess) pull up in the car, Kripke gives us our first close-up shot of the yellow roses. Enter wish!Sam who is wearing a horrific pale yellow shirt under his gray preppy jacket. Wish!Sam wears a yellow tie to dinner. There are yellow (Sam) and pink (Jess and Mary) tulips in the vase on the dinner table (see cap 1). During the “unbrotherly” scene with Dean in the living room, wish!Sam is backed by a pale yellow wallpaper with white flowers and a plant with yellow flowers is featured in frame to his right (note that this plant was also featured in frame with Dean during the sandwich snarfing scene, but the yellow flower was, I believe, purposely not included in the shot (see cap 19)). When Sam discovers Dean pilfering the family silver, a painting of yellow tulips hovers next to his left shoulder while Dean is backed by a decidedly non-flowery and non-yellow painting of a waterscape and sail boat. After this there is virtually no more yellow in the episode because wish!Sam’s colors change to dark grays and muted blues as the wishworld begins to fall apart.
15, 16, & 17.
And I’m going to say it even though I’m sure everyone has thought this: the only vibrant yellow in Supernatural reality that strikes me is sulfur and the yellow-eyed demon (note yellow’s negative meanings: cowardice, deceit, treachery). If anyone else can think of a consistent and reoccurring yellow object or yellow-related person in supernatural reality, please let me know. I’m trying hard not to over interpret yellow, Sam, the YED, and wild speculations about a future evil!Sam. *pulls hands from the keyboard*.
Anyway…
The color red stands for love, passion, and desire. It also indicates danger, anger, and violence/warfare (blood). Cupid and the Devil both claim red as their color. In the series, I think Kripke uses red to convey both meanings. In WiaWSNB, it appears as backlighting used to indicate danger (previously discussed) and it appears in the flowers/roses surrounding Mary (see cap 11). The latter use of red may represent Dean’s feelings toward Mary (his love and long-standing desire for a mother) in a non-sexual way.
Interestingly enough, there are four sub-categories of red roses, each with different meanings:
1. Amaranth red: long-standing desire
2. Cardinal red: sublime desire
3. Carmine red: deceit (as it’s not its true color)
4. Fiery red: passion
FRAME COMPOSITION
As sadelyrate pointed out in her post, roses are a motif in Mary's home (if you haven't read her meta, you should). I'm going to expand her observations and point out that Kripke surrounds Mary with white, pink, yellow, and red flowers I think are symbolically significant.
The first time Dean sees wish!Mary, Kripke frames her head with the fan-shape stained-glass window of white blooms. It reminds me of a crude halo, which is interesting considering her name and the fact that she gave birth to Sam, the "special power kid", who is currently being persecuted by the YED and his army (please someone write a meta on "biblical!Mary, mother of Sam"). Now back to Mary and roses. Once inside the house, a vase of red and white roses flank Mary as the pink roses in the wallpaper close in around her (see cap 11).
18.
The next day, Mary is again surrounded by pink and white flowers on the center island and on top of the refrigerator (see cap 12). She holds a mug with a flower on it (*squints* is it orange or pink?). The first frame of Mary at her birthday dinner features pink and yellow tulips to her immediate right (see cap 1). Notice how the flowers are closest to her.
19.
The Mary-flower motif is also present outside of Dean’s wishworld. In the pilot, Mary shares frames with a lamp base that has pink and yellow flowers on it. The bedspread covering her has a pink rose motif and the bed sheets are rose pink. Above the bed are pictures of flowers: purple irises and red poppies. In Greco-Roman mythology red poppies symbolize death, eternal sleep (where they were placed on headstones which, to me, looks curiously like John and Mary's headboard), and interestingly resurrection after death (Mary's reappearance in "Home" anyone?). Also in the pilot, photographs of a groom and his bride holding roses (recall that marriage is one of pinks many meanings) are featured twice in-frame next to Mary: once when she taps the flickering light in the hall and again when she walks downstairs to find John sleeping in front of the TV (consequently, the second picture is gone when wish!Sam creeps down the stairs with his bat in WiaWSNB). In “Home” there is what looks to be a vase of long-stemmed roses behind Mary’s left shoulder as she materializes from flame (I couldn’t find a screen cap, but watch the episode). If that wasn't enough, the final shot of Mary's grave in CSPWDT (2x04) shows her pink granite tombstone with engraved roses along the base backed by red and white flowers.
20, 21, 22, & 23.
Because Jess and Mary are parallel characters, I was curious if the flower motif also applied to Jess. In the pilot when Jess finds Sam and Dean talking in the living room, red gerber daisies sit in-frame next to her. Sam placed a bouquet with a pink/red gerber daisy, what look to be un-opened lilies, and white and purple flowers at her grave. Sadelyrate observed in “Wendigo” (1x02), written by Kripke, a shot of Jess’s pink granite headstone showing that it’s engraved with roses (similar to Mary's) despite Sam saying Jess hated them. I find this incongruity interesting. Perhaps it has something to do with Jess’s death symbolically transforming her into a Mary-like figure despite the fact that she, in life, was her own person who perhaps was different than Mary (symbolized by her distaste for roses) . Or perhaps it was just a mistake by the prop department XD.
24, 25, & 26.
But regardless if any of these observations and interpretations are true or not, there’s much more to this show than prettiness, special effects, witty banter, and principle actor chemistry. Hopefully it and Kripke will be around for another season to keep our eyes sharp and our brains turning. Go show.
BTW, if you got to the end of this in one go without falling asleep, I’m totally amazed. Congratulations and thanks for reading. :)