Colours — without which one’s life is incomplete — have influenced our stories, folklore, dramas and emotions for aeons. The ability to distinguish between them is a boon not granted to many with sight. Though some colour interpretations have been uprooted to be planted with new perspectives, most of them have remained fixed irrespective of the changing times. The concept of colours to signify and depict emotions when words fail us is widely used in media.
One such film to do justice to this concept is the 2015 one, Inside Out. Directed by Pete Docter with the screenplay woven by him and Ronnie del Carmen, the film serves as a refreshing take on the emotions that play out in the mind of a preteen, Riley. Its judicious usage of colours to paint the emotions, aids young children to easily identify them.
Sadness – the one emotion we wish we could part ways with – is represented by the colour blue. Blue in this context doesn’t only paint an image of loneliness and pessimism but also of empathy and comfort with Sadness wearing a turtleneck sweater to indicate the same.
Anger – often hidden under the façade of love – is portrayed with the colour red. Red, the intense primary colour on the colour spectrum signifies that anger stems from a place of misplaced love. It also brings along with it a sense of justice.
Disgust – an emotion that can’t be left unleashed – represented with the colour green is a clever play on Riley’s distaste towards broccoli.
Fear – an emotion that is often misunderstood to be an obstacle for us – finds itself painted purple. Though purple is commonly linked to royalty, one may also note its origins stem from mixing red and blue together. Therefore its portrayal of being scared without Joy in control and slight irritation towards Anger and Disgust for poor handling of situations was brought out in the film.
Finally, the emotion that we wish would never leave our side but occasionally does go on long strolls thereby allowing us to experience the various other ones is Joy. Illustrated with a burst of yellow which stands for hopeful fresh starts and new beginnings.
Assigning the correct colours to their respective emotions must have been a task to ponder a lot about for the filmmakers. Imagine if Anger was chosen to be showcased in yellow – what a peculiar sight it would have been!
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