'The Balance of Red & Blue': Color Symbolism in context of Fate & Free Will in Season Five

[zimshan]

So, apparently I’ve been out of school for too long and had the urge to write a paper? Who knows…

This thing got ridiculously massive very quickly, I blame it all on Serge Ladouceur for making me all thinky. I want my brain back, Serge

Comments

[dotfic]

This is brilliant and I'm so glad you waded in to try to figure out *why* blue and red because it's definitely been eating my brain and this is a lot more coherent than what I would've been able to come up with

[zimshan]

Oh, I'm so glad you thought this worked for you! Your posts really are half the reason I haven't been able to let this go the last couple weeks, and definitely helped me to sort this out

[zimshan]

Glad to hear you could enjoy this! Colors can definitely be lots of fun to work with because they're just so deeply rooted in so much history and culture. But it also makes it kinda difficult to unwind. And yes, I had had a whole section of specific cultural interpretations of red and blue that I took out which included Christian associations, but yes, blue has been highly associated with heavenly grace and Mary. And that red was associated with power and importance and the Holy Spirit? But I had not known about green! That IS interesting! All I had ever known about green was the pervasive idea that it symbolized hope and rebirth. I wonder how that change happened?

[the_grynne]

I love how you've made a show based on Judeo-Christian theology all about Yin/Yang harmony. :) Seriously awesome photo-essay. And I love your list of potential allies at the end: I have high hopes that we'll see both Gabriel and Patrick again.

[zimshan]

I love how you've made a show based on Judeo-Christian theology all about Yin/Yang harmony. :)

Ha, I admit I got a chuckle out of that a few times myself while making this. But hey, Kripke's made this show all about different cultures and mythologies, why not some Eastern philosophy too? ;)

And I love your list of potential allies at the end: I have high hopes that we'll see both Gabriel and Patrick again.
I'm sure we'll see Gabriel pop up again, but I'll admit Patrick's kinda a pickle. It's interesting to see he was shown with the red/blue like he was (especially the blue shirt), because he does seem to be the odd one out in that picture. So I guess we'll see.

But anyway, glad you could enjoy the post! :)

[singingrl]

Really interesting post, I don't think I really paid attention to the use of red and blue in this season until you pointed it out and now it's all I can notice lol. I still have to question whether every use is intentional, but you make a compelling argument that blue + red = survival. It's almost like the convergence of those colors spells redemption for the Winchesters. I guess we'll see, I'm comfortable saying that Gabriel and Patrick will be on the side of the Winchesters at the "final showdown", but I guess only time will tell.

[zimshan]

Haha! It's funny how once you notice it, you can't stop! It's like a disease, I tell you! I'm all hyperaware about red and blue now! XD

But yes, I do wonder just how intentional it all really is, it kinda seems strange to me that it would be so intentional. I tend to be the girl thinking analyzing colors for content is tenuous at best. Yet you gotta wonder, why not green and yellow rock salt shakers, props people? At any rate, it's still a mystery to me, but I figured I'd take a stab at what it could mean. So glad you found the argument feasible!

[palatina]

Awesome meta. I had just started to wonder about the whole red and blue thing as well, especially since I noticed quite a few occurrences of red where it didn't necessarily seem to have negative connotations (and wasn't life so much simpler when red was simply danger/evil/demons/hell? ;-)), but not coming to any conclusions as to what it could mean instead. Your theories sound eminently plausible to me, and have given me lots of food for thought. Thank you so much for posting this!

[zimshan]

Ah, you had noticed it too then! Yes, life was much simpler when red was evil, but I'm glad it's contributing to such a pretty color palette of the show this season. *g*

At any rate, glad you found the theories plausible and could enjoy the post! :)