TAGS:  Color psychology, Color symbolism, Red

‘Color psychology talks about a fact that different colors have different effect and meaning for human behaviors and personal reactions.’ (Wikipedia/Color psychology)   Human beings associate colors that occur in nature to the relevant behavioral mood or state of mind. Consequently the main source of the color symbolism is veiled in the nature .The color blue, for example, is the color of sky and therefore naturally evokes a sense of calmness in the viewer. There is another source of color symbolism which is psychological or cultural symbolism. This type of association has its roots less in the nature and more in the culture and behavioral experience. For instance, color black in most cultures is to symbolize sadness and grief and therefore is dominantly used in funerals.

Colors possess many different feelings and interpretations across the universe.  Nevertheless, there is a unifying scheme that connects different principles and facts on colors. One can use colors in an artifact and elicit a universal meaning among the audience. Physical or aesthetic properties of objects give a character to the color of the objects. The universality of objects translates into a general meaning for colors of the common objects.  The perceived properties of these objects create a subconscious meaning for specific colors.

Societies make ample use of color symbolism in many different ways. Commercial advertisement and marketing has consistently used the power of color symbolism. Trademarks and logos use a combination of colors that suits their purposes and these colors are systematically advertised. Signs use colors in combination of letters and pictures to fully convey their intended meaning. For instance, in a traffic light, color red is used to indicate a required stop to warn the viewer. Each color has its own emotional effect due to the natural or psychological association as mentioned previously. The color symbolism uses this emotional effect to better communicate a meaning to the audience.

According to the color symbolism, each color has a different meaning and effect on human behaviors and emotions. Without necessarily needing to explain some certain facts, using a color can easily communicate the desired concept with the audiences. The color symbolism extensively is employed in movies; facilitate directors to communicate more comfortably in manipulating the realities for viewers. As to investigate the effect of colors in Films and architectural spaces, one color is selected. The color Red is chosen since it has the most effects and relations to personal behavior than any other color. The role of Red in manipulating the viewers perception of feelings, illusions and realities in two of the films viewed for this course is also discussed.

Why Red?!  Because ‘RED is Hot!‘

The color RED is one of the few colors that have gained valuable attention in almost all nations and cultures.  It stimulates wide range of contradictory emotions from love to anger and violence. ‘Red is both the Cupid and the Devil.’ (http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/red.htm)

There have been many different perceptions in different areas, cultures and field from the color RED.  In color symbolism, RED is dedicated to variety of purposes.

Generally the color Red symbolizes:

• Importance - Blood & fire … they both are vital for survival of human beings but at the same time they have associated with danger as well.
  
  
• Passion, love, romance, lust, sex, fertility and sin … the color red is used in valentine’s ceremony all over the world which is the symbol of love and passion. The famous ‘RED light district’ is also a good example where Red symbolizes sex, lust and sin.
  
  
• Danger, Warning, alert  ... Stop signs in almost all countries are RED. The flashing RED lights are used everywhere to alert people from danger or show emergency situations.
  
  
• Risk and Gamble ... Las Vegas is the city of red neon. People gamble more and feeling riskier under the pressure of the red light.
  
  
• Happiness, wealth
  
  
• Energy , Excitement, speed
  
  
• life and health
  
  
• Courage, strength, bravery, sacrifice, Respect, martyrs … the color RED in Christianity and Islam is a symbol of sacrifice of soul and body for the faith.
  
  
• Revolution,defiance, war  

RED is the most widely used color in flags of countries around the world. In politics the color RED symbolizes different parties and thoughts. The RED flag is associated with the communism and usually used at the socialist rallies. The RED army was the revolutionary army for the soviet government. In Europe RED is associated with social democracy parties and labor movements.

The color RED is a very passionate color which brings up extreme emotions. It is used to draw attention to a subject and makes people take an action. It is so strong that whenever it’s used, stands out wherever it is and never falls into the background. RED has been carefully used by film directors to induce certain concepts and means. It’s been used to manipulate approaches to certain facts and means throughout the scenes.

The films film studied in support of the color symbolism, specified in color Red are:
THE SHINING and THE WALL