Yellow in Horror – M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village

Chapter 5

Ivy takes a small gift from Noah. She cannot see it for she is blind, but she moves it around with her fingers. “Careful,” Lucious says to her, “you are holding the bad color.” In her hand, a small branch with red berries. Ivy covers the berries with her other hand, hiding them from whatever might be watching. Better safe than sorry.

One of my favorite scenes from M. Night Shyamalan’s 2004 film The Village which owns some special real estate in my heart. While the film was derided upon its release because of the trademark Shyamalan twist, I find the play on color within the film to be its greatest success and it was overlooked because of that twist. I happen to think it’s a brilliant piece of slow burn art with horror elements mainly because of the use of color.

Red is the bad color in this story as it is in many horror films. A color to be avoided for it attracts the terrifying creatures who live in the woods. The color of blood. Jealousy. Rage. All things present as the story progresses are the very reason that the founders of that village originally left “The Towns” to begin with. You can run from the worst parts of humanity, but you can never escape it.

On the other end of the color spectrum is yellow. In this case, more a shade of light ochre than sunlight. This story uses the color as a safe space. Yellow flags at the border to keep danger at bay. Yellow cloaks to wear whilst traveling. The color is more a state of mind in this film than anything. Safety. Kindness. A warm hug in pastel fabric.

If you’re unfamiliar, The Village follows Ivy, a blind woman who is in love with Lucious, a man of few words. In this village, life is simple. No electricity. No phones. Just people living their lives as if the woods are not populated by terrifying creatures. Ivy’s simple minded friend Noah loves her with all his heart, but grows jealous when Lucious and Ivy make their love for each other known. He stabs Lucious and Ivy is sent out of the woods to get medicine.

Why send the blind girl, though? I know you’re asking. The twist of this film is that the founders of this village were originally living in a modern city and each lost someone they loved due to violence or greed or some other modern tragedy. They sent Ivy to get medicine because she could not see, not in spite of it, and because the founders knew that creatures in the woods were not real. It was all farce to keep the villagers from ever leaving.

Noah found one of the creature’s costumes, a menacing beast with a red robe, and followed Ivy into the woods dressed as the creature. She knew the creatures weren’t real when she left but began to believe otherwise when she heard Noah following her. Whether he truly meant her harm or just wanted to scare her is left up to interpretation since she ticks him into falling into a deep hole. Whatever his intentions, he made the creatures a reality for Ivy who could not see Noah under the mask.

In what I believe to be one of the scariest scenes of any Shyamalan film, this blind woman in a muddy yellow cloak finds a way to save herself from a horrific death. Not from an actual creature, but from her friend who was overtaken by jealousy. He in a red cloak and her in her yellow represented the best and worst of us. Both driven by love that took them very different paces. In this instance, the good overcomes.

Ivy was always meant to be the best of us. The reason why the founders established their village to begin with. Her spirit, her willingness to go to whatever lengths to save Lucious, exemplify all that is right in our world. She is the safe color. She leads with kindness and love.

This is my favorite Shyamalan film for he used color in such a thoughtful way. Everything else about the colors in the film is beige and grey. Wood and wool. Stone and brick. Bare trees in the autumn breeze. It is yellow juxtaposed with red that stands out. Makes the viewer take notice. Makes us think about the meaning behind the color. And isn’t that what art is all about?