No proper discussion of awards season would be complete without a thorough investigation of that
ever-faithful bastion of ingress known as the red carpet.
What is it?
Where did it come from?
Can it survive the rise of celebrity selfies?
The answers to these questions may not be what you think. In fact, they may forever change how you look at both the color red and floor tapestries in general.
Or they may not.
Either way, what’s past is prologue. So let’s start with the former and work our way up to the latter, shall we...
So... some stuff happened in 458 BC.
A lot of stuff, actually. But none so important as history’s first recorded reference to a red carpet. It was in the play Agamemnon, or so the story goes. And it went something like this: King Agamemnon spearheads a Greek victory at Troy. The people rejoice and probably say things like “Yay, Agamemnon.” Upon his return, Agamemnon’s wife offers him a “crimson path” to walk over. Something about how his feet were too important to touch the ground. You know how the ancient Greeks were.
And apparently European royalty read Agamemnon.
Because eventually they all started rolling out red carpets that led directly to their thrones. Some referred to it as “the royal treatment.” Nobody referred to it as subtle.
Which brings us to the golden age of train travel. It was pretty fancy.
So fancy, in fact, that in the early 1900s, they began laying down a pristine crimson path (fine, a red carpet) for arriving passengers to use as they boarded the 20th Century Limited train. The early 1900s were all class.
Ah, yes, then there’s that red carpet.
The one that famous people walk on and pose for pictures on and tell us who they’re wearing on. That one just signifies luxury and celebrity. But you knew that.
And as for whether or not celebrity selfies are going to erode its mystique and degrade its ancient pedigree... well, we’ll know how the future turns out when we get to it.
What is it?
Where did it come from?
Can it survive the rise of celebrity selfies?
The answers to these questions may not be what you think. In fact, they may forever change how you look at both the color red and floor tapestries in general.
Or they may not.
Either way, what’s past is prologue. So let’s start with the former and work our way up to the latter, shall we...
So... some stuff happened in 458 BC.
A lot of stuff, actually. But none so important as history’s first recorded reference to a red carpet. It was in the play Agamemnon, or so the story goes. And it went something like this: King Agamemnon spearheads a Greek victory at Troy. The people rejoice and probably say things like “Yay, Agamemnon.” Upon his return, Agamemnon’s wife offers him a “crimson path” to walk over. Something about how his feet were too important to touch the ground. You know how the ancient Greeks were.
And apparently European royalty read Agamemnon.
Because eventually they all started rolling out red carpets that led directly to their thrones. Some referred to it as “the royal treatment.” Nobody referred to it as subtle.
Which brings us to the golden age of train travel. It was pretty fancy.
So fancy, in fact, that in the early 1900s, they began laying down a pristine crimson path (fine, a red carpet) for arriving passengers to use as they boarded the 20th Century Limited train. The early 1900s were all class.
Ah, yes, then there’s that red carpet.
The one that famous people walk on and pose for pictures on and tell us who they’re wearing on. That one just signifies luxury and celebrity. But you knew that.
And as for whether or not celebrity selfies are going to erode its mystique and degrade its ancient pedigree... well, we’ll know how the future turns out when we get to it.
