Analysing The Ponds #3: Colours And Costumes- Amy, River and supporting characters

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Second part of Colours and Costumes!

Amy

One part of Amy’s costume I really like is the ‘A’ necklace-

A for Amy. She wears it in almost every episode- it’s absent in A Good Man Goes To War, which makes me sad- her captors took her identity from her. But by Let’s Kill Hitler, it’s back. It’s prominently on display in TDTWATW too. Amy is Amy, no matter where she goes.

Now, little Amelia wears red, as she always has done:

And plaid, of course. Blue plaid…even as a little girl she was all red and blue. This shirt is very similar to Rory’s favoured plaid, too:

When Amy is lost in the woods, she’s wearing red. Just like the fairytale girl lost in the woods. Amy is Little Red Riding Hood(ie), trying to get away from the monsters hiding in the trees. And of course Flesh And Stone is where Amy is most confused about what she wants (the Doctor? Rory? Marriage?) – she’s lost-

Ah, and red is the colour of Lust:

Then, of course, there’s all this other colour stuff going on too!

River

River’s character is quite opened up by means of costume, I sometimes feel.

Melody is of course all wrapped in up white as a baby. As Mels, she starts off wearing white and then graduates to dark colours:

When we first meet Mels, she’s still in black, mostly:

And then River purposefully changes into black and dark colours (With costumes borrowed, ur, from Nazis, if I remember correctly). She still has a hint of that pinky-beige colour she wore as Mels, though:

Ah, but the Doctor got changed to match her, he’s in black too:

But at the end, when River’s overcome her brainwashing and reconnected with those who love her, she’s wearing white, the usual colour of the Good Guy. (Why this has to be the usual colour of the Good Guy I don’t know) and a sign that her slate has been wiped clean.

It’s dark colours from here on in, though. As River goes to study archelogy, she’s wearing dark red (Red being the colour of her parents. Also, interestingly, the colour of her school tie. Melody + schooling seems to = that colour):

In Closing Time, she’s in black and the same colour red-

And in The Wedding Of River Song, she’s all in black. Not the colour you’d usually choose for a wedding, her life and marriage will be tinged with sadness:

Now that she’s married to the Doctor, River starts dressing like the TARDIS, all blue. (Her Victorian dress is quite reminisent of Idris’s dress…)

And lots of green, the colour of life.

Ah, here’s an interesting thing. Amy’s prayer leaf is entirely in River’s colours- the greyish-green of her dress, and gold. A clue that seems obvious in hindsight…

To The Pandorica Opens! As befits a woman who has many identities (Melody, Mels, River), River has tremendous fun dressing up in different costumes:

Not unlike her mother:

Throughout the rest of The Pandorica Opens, River’s wearing white again. Interestingly, this is an episode where she connects with her parents a lot, returning to Amy’s old house even- the white seems to bind her to her parents and past…

At the end of The Big Bang, at her parent’s wedding, River’s wearing black. Again, odd colour to wear for a wedding. Maybe she knows that shortly her parent’s lives will be tinged with sadness… (although she’s not exactly dressed for a funeral either)

Black again in Time Of Angels. Every time (before Let’s Kill Hitler) when River shows her mysterious side, she’s wearing black. And at this point the Doctor doesn’t know if he can trust her or not-

(Course, she has a bit of dark red in there, for her parents and her profession…)

But she’s soon back to a lighter colour:

Similar to her Doctor…

And her mother.

And finally, at the end of River’s life, she’s wearing white, the eternal Good Guy. (I’m quite sure the white dress at the end of Forest Of The Dead was meant to bring to mind a bride):

One more note on River’s costume: here’s the first time we see her…

…an astronaut…

We should have seen it coming.

Supporting characters

When we first meet Ambrose Northover, she’s wearing almost exactly what Amy was wearing in Amy’s Choice, (same long shirt, same sort of top, same hair, even!) but with the colours reversed. Both are mothers, one created, one destroyed. Ambrose is the reverse of Amy. But in some ways they are similar- both kill a woman because of what that woman did to their child.

After the Ponds have become parents, the Doctor encounters another couple of parents. Both families have a child that they love, but don’t understand. Their costumes bind the two seperate stories together-

The Doctor was right to fear for Amy and Rory in The God Complex. The two dead girls are wearing their clothes:

Howie is dressed like Rory, too (which I like, since Howie is the one Rory builds a connection with):

Ah, this- this is bloody sad. Must’ve been done on purpose, too. You’ve got a young couple- a man in a blue shirt, a woman all in beiges and light colours. But one couple has a baby to raise, and the other one…

That’s it for now. Next up is River Song herself!