As we keep unpacking great writing lessons from “The Queen’s Gambit,” let’s take a look at subtlety.
“The Queen’s Gambit” never hits you over the head with signals and symbols. Early on, her prized dress with her name Beth sewn into it was burned at the orphanage. She identified with that piece of clothing. It’s no wonder she grows up to love clothes and to identify with fashion. It was taken from her and she sought to take it back.
At one point, Beth Harmon wears these hideous shoes that are too big for her. All the popular girls at school are wearing what was popular at the time.
As Beth began to win money in chess tournaments, look at her feet: She’s wearing the shoes of the popular crowd. The show never zooms in. Characters don’t add commentary. It’s just …. there.
And so it is at the end, when she’s become world champion, that she’s walking the streets of Moscow. She’s dressed all in white with white winter cap with a pompom on top.
I remember thinking, “She’s a white chess piece. The one who leads, the one with the advantage.”
Turns out it was even more powerful than that: The designers made her the white QUEEN by shaping her outfit and coloring it a certain way.
They don’t tell you this … it’s laid out for you to interpret.
