Often associated with fire and blood, red is a color that is often associated with intensity, energy, power, determination, strength, passion, love and d e s i r e.



In Japanese culture, it is the color of the hero, and in Russia, the color of beauty.
Images that are romantic, sexual or erotic in nature often include vibrant reds- red lips, red nails, red clothing.
Even the bars identifying NC-17 movies are red. Like the blood running through our bodies, red is the color of life force, the color of determination and will to survive. It’s a lively color, bright and vibrant and bold. The warmest color in existence, there’s a reason for phrases like “red hot.”
It provokes intense, quick reactions, grabbing the attention of all around.

Red is the color of our hearts, of love and desire. It’s shades of reds- crimson, magenta, pink- that represent the holiday of love, Saint Valentine’s Day. It’s the color of kisses and erotica, romance and passion. It’s the color of heat and attraction, the color that rises to one’s cheeks when aroused.
Red is the color used to draw attention to something, to force a quick decision and to illicit a reaction, to push someone out of their comfort zone. It’s the color of opportunity, of chance, of life and love. A fitting color for Brooke and Lucas, don’t you think?

As Lucas pulls his car up to Brooke’s house, the first thing we see, before the car even comes into view, is her front door.
The crimson stands out against the white around it, light illuminating the door while the rest of the house fades into the background, a focal point.
The uncomfortable silence in the car as they pull up is overwhelming, and even as the car pulls to a stop in front of the house, the red door is still visible in the background, a beacon of hope in a depressing moment. When Lucas tells Brooke not to go, it’s like he’s unable to keep it in- the prospect of losing Brooke is too much for him to handle.

There’s nothing she can say in that moment, nothing either of them can say, to fully measure the loss both would feel if Brooke were to move, if they were torn apart right as they finally become friends again. Brooke’s “I really liked being the girl behind the red door” is so much deeper than it first appears-it isn’t really about the door, but it’s about Brooke, her life in Tree Hill.

The red door signifies her unique position in the town, and her position behind the door is something no one can ever fill, especially not in Lucas’ eyes. The girl behind the red door represents so much to both of them in that moment- it encompasses everything about the girl Lucas fell in love with´, from her quirky smile to the way she looks at him, to the way she feels in his arms and the way they can have full conversations without ever opening their mouths. The red door, in that moment, is Brooke- it’s the personification of everything Lucas has come to love about her, faults and all.

As their eyes meet, there’s nothing left to say for either of them- the prospect of losing the girl behind that door is too much for either to handle. Brooke seems aware that if she leaves Tree Hill, she’ll lose that girl as well, that she won’t be the same person if the things that make her who she is- mainly Lucas- are gone.

Both are h e a r t b r o k e n and teary eyed, unable to find the words they both need to say.

It’s almost impossible for Lucas to think of just one thing he’ll miss about Brooke. It’s hard to explain to her how he’ll miss everything- he’ll miss the way she laughs when she shouldn’t, the way she glances at him out of the corner of her eyes, the way she’s hesitant to let anyone in, even her insecurities. She’s his Brooke, and there’s nothing about her he could imagine not loving. It’s fitting, really, that he doesn’t have to answer until they’ve stopped on the porch outside his room, and you can see the door painted red in the background. When he says “I’ll miss the girl behind the red door,” there’s no doubting the significance of the moment.

The way their eyes c o n n e c t, the way he remembered what she said word for word, and of course the effort it took to paint the door red and move all of Brooke’s things into his room without her knowing, it’s clear he loves her. And for a split second, she can see it, she knows it, but then they’re back in the moment, and her surprise at everything he’s done for her in that moment leaves her breathless . It’s a gesture even greater than any love- he’s letting her fully into his life, his world, his home, his room, his family. And when he tells her that he wasn’t ready to lose her, there’s no doubting the truth behind his words.

The emotions that flicker between them are deep and varied, but overall, it’s clear in their eyes that they’re so in love, that it goes deeper than the youthful, sexual love others their age display, that they’d do anything for one another and they both know it.

No words can fit the j o y and commitment they’ve just made to one another without even realizing how serious it is, and as they hug, it’s clear by Brooke’s “I wasn’t ready to be lost” that she’s talking about far more than moving away from home- her life is with Lucas, and she’d be lost on a thousand different levels if they were torn apart.

While we don’t know when Lucas plucked the red feather from Brooke’s costume or why he did it, it was clear how he felt about its owner in the brief scene where we saw him studying the feather. Cinematically, it was a powerful moment- almost everything on the screen aside from the feather, including Lucas’ outfit and makeup, was shades of blacks and browns and tans, a dull contrast to the vibrant red of the feather.

While the feather is clearly symbolic of Brooke as it comes from her costume, it’s worth noting that in the context of the scene, the symbolism runs much deeper. Lucas’s dark, depressing wardrobe was representative of his mood, his confusion about where he stood with Brooke and his fears about his heart condition. Brooke, like the feather, is the beacon of light, the vibrant centerpiece in an otherwise dull world. She adds color to Lucas’ life, livens up an otherwise dull background

The placement of the feather in the box alongside Lucas’ heart medication and the money he stole from the café to pay for it recalls Nathan’s line in season two, where he told Lucas that regardless of the physical condition of his heart, it would never be healthy until he told the girl he loved how he felt. Placing the feather alongside his heart medication illustrates this beyond a doubt- that box contains everything needed to keep Lucas’ heart operating well, everything important to Lucas’ life.

“One Tree Hill” often throws subtle hints into the characters’ mood, mindset, and feelings through their attire. The most obvious examples of this would be Lucas’ gray hoodie that was such a common article of clothing in the first season, but gradually became seen less and less often, as well as Haley’s transformation from the awkward poncho wearing teenager to the sophisticated musician and wife.
Brooke is often dressed in red, and while there’s the obvious reason- Sophia looks amazing in red- there’s certainly more to it than that. It’s always a bright, eye-catching red- rarely do we see her in burgundies or dull reds.

There’s something undeniably brave and confidentabout the color, something sexy and bold.

Lucas gravitates toward red as well; there’s many occasions where we’ve seen him wearing a red shirt, in particular a paler red T-shirt that appears in the first season episode “How Can You Be Sure?” when Brooke and Lucas fear she’s pregnant. In fact, Lucas’ red is always paler than Brooke’s, a testament to the characters’ personalities. Brooke herself is more outgoing, bolder, and more carefree than Lucas. Like his shirt, when Lucas takes chances, he usually goes about it in a much more muted, toned down fashion than Brooke.

This character analysis through color came to a climax in “Prom Night At Hater High” when Lucas saw Peyton holding Brooke’s red prom gown in one hand and her own white one in the other. Instinctively, Lucas gravitated toward Brooke’s, choosing Brooke over Peyton in such an obvious way that even Peyton commented on it. However, on a more powerful level, Lucas choosing behind the two dresses demonstrated what’s happened to Brooke over the course of the fourth season. Red represents confidence and p a s s i o n, which are two things that Peyton took from Brooke this season, and the dress is a clear representation of that.

So, if Lucas wanted to give Brooke her dress back, it stands to reason that he wants to give her that confidence, that passion, that spirit back as well.

Text by: Summer