Now Showing: Color Stereotypes

Mariella Jasmin P. Marasigan

Ms. Louyzza Maria Victoria H. Vasquez

English 10 WFU3

20 April 2015

Now Showing: Color Stereotypes

        Back in the 1920s, most kids around the world would seat on the living room sofa to tune-in on their favorite animated shows or cartoons in monochrome televisions or black-and-white televisions. With the innovation of colored television in the 1950s, it enabled people to enjoy programs rather than black white and greys. The kids were introduced to animated shows shown in every possible color that they could have imagine. There emerged colorful animation series such as Mickey Mouse, The Flintstones and Scooby Doo. Jumpstart to the 21st century, we have The Simpsons, Phineas and Ferb and Adventure Time. With the innovation of color televisions comes the hunger for creativity and art in the programs that it broadcasts. Throughout the years, media incorporated colors into animated shows strategically to appeal to viewers.  Eventually, it somehow resulted into color stereotypes.

Color stereotypes happen in the event wherein a certain color becomes a signifier for a character in terms of personality, gender, and morality. When an animation creator decides to create an animation, they always think of ways on how to make the characters memorable to the audience. This is where the colors of the characters play its role.  When the creator decides to color the character in a specific color, surely there is a reasoning behind it. Colors does not simply put aesthetics to the character, it is also a tool in which the audience can infer hints on the characteristics of the characters.

        Notice the characters of Mickey Mouse, Blossom in Power Puff Girls, Alvin from Alvin and the Chipmunks, Elmo from the Sesame Street and Lightning McQueen from the Cars Movie. What are their similarities? Yes, it is their color. These characters were portrayed in the color of red. What does this imply to us? According to Leatrice Eiseman, an American color specialist, red shouts excitement and passion and is often called “the dynamo” for its capabilities to create emotional impact. These impacts originate from the physical effect of red on our bodies. At the sight of color red, the pituitary gland starts to work releasing epinephrine that causes the flow of Adrenaline that makes a person active and alert.

        Now, analyze how the color green connects Phineas from the Phineas and Ferb, , Piccolo from the Dragon Ball, Samantha from Totally Spies and Mike Wazowski from Monters Incorporated. These characters somehow share the intellectual and composed personalities. They tend to be calm in their actions and speech. Aside from this, these characters prefer discipline in what they do such as they follow the given rules or they try their best to stick to the initial plans they made. When conflicts arise, these characters holds the team together since they are the critical thinkers that will plan and strategize on how to overcome the conflict. There is a reason behind this as Logan-Clarke and Appleby described Green as the color of harmony and stability and can help alleviate stress and heal.

        According to Max Luscher, a psychotherapist, Yellow is the color of spontaneity, activeness, aspiring, and exhilaration. Sponebob Squarepants is a free-spirited and fun-loving character with a strong passion for krabby patties and jelly fishing. Pikachu is a supportive companion of Ash throughout their journey across the regions to become the best Pokemon Master. Meanwhile, Minions from the Despicable Me are impulsive and hyperactive yet loyal in helping Gru with his evil schemes. The yellow skinned family of The Simpsons portrays a dysfunctional family of diverse personalities living in a oddball neighborhood called Springfield.

If a character walks in on the scene dressed fully in black, the audience automatically predict that the character is evil. On the other hand if a character fully dressed in white enters the picture, the audience predict that the character is good. Black is evil while white is good. This is the most conventional and noticeable color stereotype for morality. Angels, the symbol of pure intentions and goodness, are often portrayed in white clothes while Demons, the symbol for evil intentions and misery, are often portrayed in black clothes.

Star War’s Darth Vader is a Sith Lord and led the Empire’s eradication of the Jedi Order.  His appearance of all black is a signifier that he belongs to the “Dark side of the Force”. This color stereotype is visible in the anime Pokémon. Jessie and James from the team rocket are dressed in their white Team Rocket uniform while the rest of the Team Rocket Members are wearing black uniforms. Although Jessie and James are still considered evil for their intention of stealing Pokémon from powerful trainers, they are often comical on their actions and usually fail at their conquest unlike the rest of Team Rocket who exploit Pokémon’s through illegal methods to gain profit.  In the movie Meet the Robinsons, black was used in the character design of Michael "Goob" Yagoobian to hint on his evil schemes to destroy Lewis Robinson. In the same movie, the manipulative bowler hat was of color black to signify his intent of revenge to Lewis Robinson when he was labelled as a “failed experiment”. Similarly, Maleficent, dressed in an overall black robe with purple linings is the evil character that cursed Princess Aurora to "prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die".

Meanwhile, heroes and villains in cartoons and movies hint on their morality through the color of their costume. According to Leong Tim, the author of Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe, superheroes has long been designed in primary colors of red, yellow and blue. Since these three are the purest among colors, it serves as a visual cue for the characters pure and heroic nature. Example of superheroes in primary colors are Superman (R-Y-B), Spiderman (R-B), Ironman (R-Y), and Captain America (R-B). On the other hand, villain costumes rely on secondary colors such as green, purple, and orange that symbolize evil and polluted intentions. Example of famous villains with a color theme of secondary colors include Joker (G-P-O), Green Goblin (G-V)

Observe how the colors are used on these sets of characters, Finn and Princess Bubble Gum from Adventure Time, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck, Sasuke and Sakura from Naruto including Shark boy and Lava girl. Males are created under the blue color motif while females were designed in pink color. How come creators tend to have the similar choice of color when portraying characters of opposing genders in the color of blue versus pink? The answer lies in the psychology of color behind blue and pink. On the words of American Counselling Association, boys wear blue and girls wear pink not because it suits them aesthetically but because it is a way to signify their gender position. The origin of this convention is from parents that usually dress their baby boys in blue and pink for baby girls. In a study conducted by Shakin and Strenglanz called  “Infant clothing: Sex labeling for strangers” , results show that when parents and their baby were in shopping malls, 75% of the baby girls wore pink clothes and 79% of infant boys wore blue clothes. However, do little boys and little girls actually prefer the color assigned to them by social norms? A common perception is that since the pink and blue convention was so used in infancy, infants eventually grasped these color associations as they grow. On the contrary, the study of Lobue and DeLoache on gender-stereotyped color preferences showed that girls actually have an attraction to pink and this resulted to boys developing an avoidance to the color.