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Apr.29,2011In her book Symbols * Images * Codes: The Secret Language of Meaning in Film, TV, Games, and Visual Media, author Pamela Jaye Smith discusses the symbolism of Color.
She writes:
Humans perceive only a small portion of the light in the universe. Our visible spectrum is limited to the rainbow of colors but does not include ultraviolet, infrared, and the myriad of other wavelengths. Different wavelengths affect our brains in different ways, a fact that is no doubt the basis for the ritual and subliminal use of color by most cultures throughout time.
The day-night quality of our earthly existence may be the reason we often assign goodness (sunshine, visibility, comfort) to white and evil (darkness, secrecy, danger) to black. Vampires reverse this, and sci fi stories speculate how a two-sun system or other arrangement might affect psychology, sociology and religion.
Colors describe emotions: She’s blue, he’s green with envy, they saw red, a black mood, purple with rage.
Whether by psychological affinity or astonishingly strong coincidence, colors have taken on character…
…Yellow symbolizes sunlight, warmth, awareness, lassitude, bright intelligence and cowardice.
In media, colors can be used to signal specific moods for characters, elicit certain reactions from the audience, emphasize a shift in emotions or situations, or to show contrast between characters and/or situations. In the Sixth Sense, for example, red often meant “undead nearby, beware!”
According to Pamela Jaye Smith, we can use colors to add depth to our own writing. We can do this by including emotionally descriptive words (grim gray, bouncy yellow, monkish brown), or by linking colors with other senses (piercing yellow, screaming orange).
Factmonster.com lists down several interesting facts about the color yellow.
In Egypt and Burma, yellow signifies mourning.
In Spain, executioners once wore yellow.
In India, yellow is the symbol for a merchant or farmer.
In tenth-century France, the doors of traitors and criminals were painted yellow.
Hindus in India wear yellow to celebrate the festival of spring.
If someone is said to have a “yellow streak,” that person is considered a coward.
In Japan during the War of Dynasty in 1357, each warrior wore a yellow chrysanthemum as a pledge of courage.
A yellow ribbon is a sign of support for soldiers at the front.
Yellow is a symbol of jealousy and deceit.
In the Middle Ages, actors portraying the dead in a play wore yellow.
To holistic healers, yellow is the color of peace.
Yellow has good visibility and is often used as a color of warning. It is also a symbol for quarantine, an area marked off because of danger.
“Yellow journalism” refers to irresponsible and alarmist reporting.
What other things/themes might the color yellow symbolize? Do you see how the color yellow might be used as a symbol in your own writing?
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Colours can be pretty powerful things as you rightly pointed out they can have affects on the mind. It’s a reason why certain colours are used for certain things, to make people think in a certain way.
Great post, Nutschell. You touched on it in the end, but yellow and black has been proven to be the most easily readable sign from any distance.
I like the play of colors when I write paranormal angel/dark angel stories, and have used a change in the color of their wings from white to grey and then black as they fall from grace.
And I’ve been known to buy a painting or photograph just because of the colors, and not necessarily because of the content. It just makes me feel good.
It’s very interesting to learn about the many meanings of the color yellow and how yellow influences us in different respects. On the metaphysical point of view, concerning auras, yellow is:
Joy, freedom, non-attachment, freeing or releasing vital forces. People who glow yellow are full of inner joy, very generous and not attached to anything. Yellow halo around the head: high spiritual development. A signature of a spiritual teacher. Do not accept spiritual teachings from anyone who does not have such a yellow halo. Buddha and Christ had yellow halos extending to their arms. Today it is rare on Earth to find a person with a halo larger than 1 inch. Yellow halo appears as a result of a highly active brow chakra . Highly spiritual people stimulate the brow chakra continuously for many years, because they always have intensive spiritual thoughts in their minds. When this chakra is observed when highly active, a yellow (Auric pair) halo appears around it, surrounding the entire head. Yellow thought indicates a moment of joy and contentment. (source: http://www.thiaoouba.com/see_aura_color.htm)
That sure is a huge dose of yellow trivia. Nice you related it to how we can use it to describe and add color to our emotions. But remember, “Never eat Yellow snow.”
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow
I was just talking to the students about yellow yesterday! We were watching “The Last Emperor”. Nobody but the emperor was allowed to wear “imperial yellow”.
Great information about the symbolism of color. I think we often take color for granted without realizing that we have subscribed so many qualities to colors–often pigeon holing them. Nice post.
It’s interesting to note how the same colour can convey different meanings in other cultures – white for purity in the west, white for mourning in China, for example. Once we start thinking about it, we find many examples. Fascinating!
In Malaysia, yellow is the colour of royalty! =) Thought you might wanna know that.
Just returning your visit.
Really interesting post, I love reading about this kind of stuff. I’m going to look for the Smith book, I know I’d love it.
Loved the factmonster.com list.
I love color. Sometime last year I did a series of posts on colors. And I learned this, “Yellow gemstones enhance a writer’s and a public speaker’s expression and articulation.” AND that was way before I even considered doing my gemstone series.
Oh, and Jules has the best advice on yellow.;)
Amazing all the things one can learn with every different post. The challenge definitely has been interesting. Meeting lots of nice people….including you!
Yellow gives out mixed messages, it seems. In one instance cowardice, in another a symbol of bravery. Regardless, it is bright and noticeable. So, it makes sense to use it on caution signs. Thanks for all your research. I feel like I should learn more about color symbolism.
Very colorful and interesting post! I like screaming orange, grim gray, and monkish brown!
Fascinating. I was aware of some of these color associations. I love yellow. It makes me think of sunlight and warmth.