The Language of Colours. A Semiotic Analysis of Colours and Symbolic Imagery in Francis Ford Coppola’s "Bram Stoker’s Dracula" (1992)

Abstract

Reviews referring to Francis Ford Coppola’s Columbia Pictures Bram Stoker’s Dracula classic of 1992 recurrently mention the images owing to the camera work of Michael Ballhaus as the striking feature of the movie and highly praise them for their thematically coherent effect.. The colours, if mentioned at all, leave reviewers undecided to sceptical when it comes to evaluating their contribution to the overall composition of the film, though. By providing a semiotic analysis of colours and symbolic imagery the below article will show how colours and imagery in their inter-relatedness create coherence and cohesion with Coppola’s interpretation of Stoker’s Dracula as a religiously inspired morality play set in the context of Victorian cultural values and self-perception.