About The Yellow House

[Viivi]

One of the many things I love about Millennium is that you can always find something new and exciting in it, depending on the way you happen to look at it. Lately I’ve been watching S1 again and I was just wondering if this thing has been discussed here before:

Some people say that a house in a dream, for example, can be interpreted as a symbol of a person, meaning that if you have a dream about a house, the building (and everything in it) represents yourself, constructed and decorated by your subconscious mind.

Could the beautiful yellow house be seen as a representation of Frank himself? As a symbol of his soul, if you like, when everything is under control and he feels content and safe? Just think of all the things that happen in there as the show goes on, Frank getting more and more unhappy at the same time.

I hadn’t thought of this aspect before, but it struck me when I watched Lamentation again a couple of days ago, during the scene where Frank interrogates Lucy. He says: ”You were in my house” and Lucy answers in her annoying way: ” When was that, Frank?” :devil2:

Based on this particular idea, Frank’s line could be turned into something like ”You’ve been trying to get inside my soul” or ”Don’t try to f*** with my mind”, even. (Sorry about the language.)

Does this make any sense? I’ll try to get deeper into this later and I’d love to hear about your thoughts on this.

[Guest Frank L.]

I'm not sure if Chris Carter had this in mind when he invented the Yellow House, but it's a good point. I also watched Lamentation a few days ago, and started thinking how brilliant the whole Yellow House idea really is.

I think Chris Carter made the Yellow House a safe haven for Frank and his family, a place to start again and feel safe. When the tragic events of Lamentation occur, they don't feel that anymore. There's a wonderful conversation between Frank and Catherine towards to end of that episode, where they say they were foolish to think they could escape evil. Rather depressing, but I think it's true.

[Viivi]

I'm not sure if Chris Carter had this in mind when he invented the Yellow House, but it's a good point. I also watched Lamentation a few days ago, and started thinking how brilliant the whole Yellow House idea really is.

I think Chris Carter made the Yellow House a safe haven for Frank and his family, a place to start again and feel safe. When the tragic events of Lamentation occur, they don't feel that anymore. There's a wonderful conversation between Frank and Catherine towards to end of that episode, where they say they were foolish to think they could escape evil. Rather depressing, but I think it's true.

I agree with you, and I don't really think that CC himself would've had this idea of the "subconscious house of Frank" in mind. IMO, it's just fun to look at things from various points of views. Millennium can give you so much inspiration!

[Libby]

This is the description of the house from the original script:

"Catherine is moving up the walk of a house right out of a Sherwin-Williams paint commercial. A charming, sunny yellow clapboard, two-story dollhouse with sweet dormer windows."

I have no idea what a Sherwin-Williams paint commercial is like, so I don't get the reference to that. Maybe someone who has seen those commercials could comment on that.

Interestingly, while the board was unavailable yesterday, I started going through the transcripts to pick up any interesting trivia, etc. The Season 1 transcripts were originally done by Maria Vitale and in editing them I just really focussed on the dialogue and the formatting; I did very little with the scene descriptions as they are so good. But only when reading through them did I pick up a couple of points that Maria had included. I haven't checked these with the DVDs, but I'd trust Maria to have got them right - she is very good at transcripts.

When Frank visits the area (where he sees the Frenchman), this is Maria's description: "Frank drives to the same area as in the newspaper photo and finds the overpass with the graffiti. It is written in yellow paint."

Later, Frank is giving the briefing to the detectives, and again Maria's description is: "Frank turns toward the chalkboard, picks up a yellow chalk and writes the worth 'PESTE' above the word 'PLAGUE'."

Neither of these two uses of yellow are in the original script. I struck me that the same colour is used to represent the perfect, but also is used for the opposite. Given 1013's attention to detail, and this is the pilot episode so there would have been more time and money to produce this episode as compared with the rest, I could well believe that these were deliberate decisions - a little hint that Frank's attempt to create a perfect home for his family wouldn't entirely work because, as Catherine says: "The real world starts to seep in. You can't stop it."

I like dark's thoughts about what the house represents for Frank - the painting of the house was much more than just making it look nice. The DVD commentary by Chris Carter includes: "The idea of the yellow house was that you can try to paint away the darkness, that you can create an environment where you can try to deny that which you know to be real and true and frightening about the world." I do think that the house meant more than a simple attempt to provide a nice home for his family, that it was a symbol of Frank's hopes and fears about himself as a person.

[Guest Frank L.]

Yes. I think this really comes forward in the conversation between Frank and Catherine in Lamentation. They're both desperate, reminded that they can't escape evil, whatever you do.

Frank: "You know I love you more than anything in the

world." (pause) "I don't know what to do."

Catherine: "I love you too. But it's not about that.

It's about things that happen to us that don't happen

to other people."

I think Frank also feels guilty. In Powers, Principalities, Thrones and Dominions, Frank is close to another breakdown. The end of Lamentation, where Frank takes Jordan up the mountain, isn't just Frank doing with Jordan what he did with Bletcher, but reminding himself that it isn't only about him, but about his family and all the others too. Reminding himself why he should go on with what he does.

[The Old Man]

Great post Libby! Reminds me that Robert McLachlan was very keen to show the scenes at the Yellow House in glorious warm colour and yet as Frank moved further away from home, the colour drained and the film got more grainy - one of those little touches that aside from creating work for the crew made Millennium so good to behold.

[Viivi]

It’s really wonderful to see so many great and highly interesting replies here, thank you all! I’d like to add a couple of tiny details onto this subject..

Frank’s study is in the basement of the yellow house as if he would like to hide it from Jordan and Catherine and protect them from the horrible things he has to deal with while doing his job. In other words, his ability, his gift and curse, is an essential part of him but he doesn’t want it to be ”all around the house”. It’s safer to keep it in down there in the basement where he can control it. Isn’t there a dark side in all of us, things and thoughts that we’d rather keep to ourselves so that we wouldn’t scare other people off or make them unhappy?

From The Judge; Catherine has come down the basement to talk with Frank:

CATHERINE: I just always feel like a trespasser down here.

FRANK: Neither of us should feel at home with what I do.

Another fragment of a dialogue that could be seen as related to this topic, from Kingdom Come:

FRANK: Mommy said you had some questions for me.

JORDAN: The bird died.

[He takes her hands in his and plays with them.]

FRANK: Yes?

[Her voice breaks as she speaks.]

JORDAN: What happens to it?

FRANK: Lots of different ideas. No one knows exactly. Some people think the soul goes to another

house.

JORDAN: Another yellow house?

FRANK: Yeah, kind of.

Quotes are from the transcripts here at TIWWA; thank you, Libby!