Hello, just here to share my thoughts on the film since an untimely
illness prevented such participation in class. On a side note, it
was near immpossible to track this movie down. Movie gallery didn't
have it and both Blockbusters has their copies checked out. Luckily,
someone returned the library's copy this weekend. My discussion
somewhat follows the essay question presented in the syllabus, so if
i choose that one I may end up repeating some of what I say here,
however it was what i was thinking about while I was watching. I
hope you won't mind the redundancy.

Anyways, it was hard to think citically about this movie since it
was so aestically pleasing I would forget about thinking and just
gawk. Luckily, the symbolism was pretty blantant. There was a lot of
emphasis on light and dark and color to convey mood and Elizabeth's
transformation (and state of mind).
In the beginning of the film her clothes, hair, and demeanor was
much more free and loose. These elements become more restrained and
tighter as the movie progresses reflecting her maturation into the
role of Queen. Her clothes were also more earth toned intially, with
greens, browns, and oranges. As she progressed, the colors were the
inbetween shades of gold and light blue and greens. After a time,
she alternates between bright white, red, and black. Red is usually
worn during times of turmoil or action, such as when her lady in
waiting dies and when she is forced to make a desicion about the
war. White is used to make her stand out in certain scenes and
reenforce her dominance, such as when she is passing out judgement
to the traitors. Black and dark red are most notablly used during
turning points in the film when she increases her indenpendence,
such as when she rejects all suitors (including Robert) and after
the excutions have been made. Once again this makes her stand out
from the rest of the characters to further illustrate her growing
power and isolation. Black is also used for more foreboding
characters such as the assassin priest and the spanish ambassador,(
a traditionally "evil" color).
Since the movie is about Elizabeth's transformation into the
virgin queen, the film relects this progression through her clothes.
I mentioned this before, but returning to that point, when Elizabeth
is unsure and passionate, this is reflected in her clothes and also,
almost more importantly, her hair. During the first half of the film
her hair is usually down, long, flowing and wild. Her clothing also
share these attributes. (In fact, although her clothing becomes more
restrained and monochromatic, there is one scene where her clothing
is reminscent of early times. the scene where she is in the boat
with Robert, falunting their relationship and a very un-queen like
manner.)Her hair becomes tighter and tighter until the pivotal
scenes where she hacks it off. The camera lingers on the shorn hair
over hands, parallel to blood or sin on her hands. She then sweeps
it off and becomes the statue-like virgin queen. In fact, I think
the scene with her before the virgin mary statue was extremely
important for establishing this link. She becomes the statue, not
only throught the use of white make-up, but through the stoic manner
in which she presented. Also, although her garb was becoming
increasingly more simplistic until this point, we see a much more
elaborate dress at the end of the film. And although this is becasue
she is famous for the elaborate dresses worn in her portrait, I
think it also illusrated how much more grander and untouchable she
becomes by the end of the film.