Colour Symbolism in Cabaret

To help understand the film and script a little more I have looked at the colour symbolism in the film Cabaret. Green and purple are the colours that come to mind when I first think about Cabaret- from Sally Bowles' green nail polish to her purple dress in her final performance.

"It's brilliantly ironic to have Sally dressed in purple for the final scene. The world is about to collapse around her and she invites us to follow her. Don't underestimate the role purple subliminally plays in this scenario. It is the colour that supplies the irony to all of this phony enthusiasm. It's the colour of mourning. "Come to the Cabaret... Come with me and play." Sally beckons. Come with me and die."

Bellatoni, P. (2005). Fantastic Purples- Cabaret. In: Actipis, E and Anderson, C If it's Purple, Someone's Gonna Die. Oxford: Elsevier/Focal Press. 197.

The purple is used to enhance a pretence that all is fun and games, when in fact there is a very dark situation brewing, and the end is soon to come.

Sally shows off her green nails in the film and the script, and it is one of her  most constant accessories along with her cigarette holder.

"The green fingernails are an archetypal cliché. Green as mold. Green as decay. It's brilliant in its minimalism. There is nothing alive about this green. It is dark and ominous"

Bellatoni, P. (2005). Fantastic Purples- Cabaret. In: Actipis, E and Anderson, C If it's Purple, Someone's Gonna Die. Oxford: Elsevier/Focal Press. 198.

I will definitely look into the colour symbolism for my historical character designs.