Kay Adams, Michael Corleone’s girlfriend, is characterized throughout the film by always appearing in a red dress; this was identified in the class discussion as the archetype of the “Lady in Red” or “the Scarlet Woman”, and defined as “the Great Mother or the Mother of Abominations, sometimes referred to as the whore of Babalon, her consort is chaos”. I found this last line particularly interesting because it appeared (in the film) just a few scenes before Michael takes the leadership role of the Corleone family after his father is shot. His radical decision to kill the chief of police and sell the story to the reporters is an interesting reference to this and really stuck with me. I like how something so obvious as a woman always wearing a bright red dress (two times is a coincidence, three times is a pattern) can hold such cryptic meanings and even be used as foreshadowing.
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