Warning: Spoilers ahead for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice!
Beetlejuice 2 honored a key moment from Tim Burton’s 1988 movie by putting Lydia Deetz in another red wedding dress with a deeper meaning than one might think. As part of the original Beetlejuice’s ending, Winona Ryder’s Lydia reluctantly agreed to marry Betelgeuse to save Adam and Barbara. Michael Keaton’s sleazy bio-exorcist jumped at the chance without hesitation, transforming his soon-to-be teenage bride and changing her outfit into wedding attire. Seeing as Beetlejuice’s characters had never been concerned with traditional norms, it felt right for someone like Lydia to wear blood-red dress.
Beetlejuice 2 makes plenty of references to the original movie, including clever nods to the 1988 movie’s memorable wedding sequence. In the sequel, Betelgeuse attempts to marry Lydia a second time before his plan is thwarted once again by tricky Neitherworld rules. Still, when he forces Lydia up to the altar as part of Beetlejuice 2’s “MacArthur Park” sequence, she’s wearing another bright red wedding dress. Though it’s fitting, especially alongside the return of Betelgeuse’s maroon suit, the red color has a clever connection to the characters.
Lydia’s Red Wedding Dresses Are Based On An Old Saying About Death & Marriages
Death Is Always A Factor In Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Movies
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Lydia’s red wedding dresses in both Beetlejuice movies can be linked to an old wedding superstition that states, “Married in red, you’ll wish yourself dead.” The line is part of a traditional marital rhyme, offering future predictions surrounding a couple’s fate depending on the color of a wedding dress. Here’s the full rhyme and what the different colors of wedding dresses signify in some cultures:
“Married in white, you will have chosen all right. Married in grey, you will go far away. Married in black, you will wish yourself back. Married in red, you’ll wish yourself dead. Married in blue, you will always be true. Married in pearl, you’ll live in a whirl. Married in green, ashamed to be seen. Married in yellow, ashamed of the fellow. Married in brown, you’ll live out of town. Married in pink, your spirits will sink.”
Lydia wearing red wedding dresses in both Beetlejuice movies perfectly represents the old saying. “Wish yourself dead” is a hope for death, implying that the red color predicts the husband will die first, and the wife will wish for death to reunite the couple in the afterlife. In Lydia’s case, Betelgeuse was already dead and tied to the afterlife in both movies but marriage was somewhat of a death sentence for Lydia. Whether the couple was in the realm of the living or the Neitherworld, marrying Betelgeuse was probably considered worse than death for Lydia.
Beetlejuice’s Original Costume Designer Wanted Lydia & Barbara’s Wedding Dresses To Be “Outrageous”
Costumes Have Become A Big Part Of Beetlejuice’s Lasting Legacy
Considering Lydia’s red wedding dress has become an iconic look to come out of Burton’s 1988 movie, it’s no surprise to see an updated version appear in the sequel. The original movie’s costume designer, Aggie Guerard Rodgers, has spoken out (via Elle) about the wedding dresses featured in the ’80s film, which included the memorable red dress and a more traditional white gown worn by Geena Davis’ Barbara in Beetlejuice. Rodgers admitted that she sought out “outrageous and stupid” dresses to fit the movie’s offbeat vibe.
Related Beetlejuice 2 Finally Solves The Original Movie’s Biggest Deetz Family Mystery After 36 Years One of the biggest unanswered questions about the Deetz family from Tim Burton’s 1988 Beetlejuice movie is finally addressed in the 2024 sequel.
With samplings from a local bridal shop and input from Tim Burton, the color red was chosen over the traditional white, which signifies purity and innocence. The circumstances surrounding the wedding certainly assisted in checking off the “outrageous” label in connection to the chosen outfit. In doing so, Rodgers ended up helping to propel Lydia, and Ryder for that matter, into becoming a young style icon. The goth aesthetic became synonymous with Lydia and carried on when Beetlejuice 2 came along 36 years later.
Source: Elle