Forum - View topicblack-good white-evil
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Sarene
 Posts: 79 |
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Ha, sorry, I really couldn't think of a better title for this thread.
Anyways, my question is: does anyone know why that, in a lot of anime/manga series where there is good vs evil, the good guy wears black and the bad guy wears white? It seems to be the exact opposite of how we would decorate the good guys and bad guys. For a couple of examples: DNAngel: Dark Mousy is the good guy [kind of] dressed all in black, and Krad is the bad guy dressed all in white. 
Bleach: Shinigamis wear black, Arrancar wear white. As well as spoiler[Ichigo vs Hichigo, Ichigo wears black in Shinigami form, Hichigo is all white, including his version of Zangetsu]  
Yami no Matsuei: Tsuzuki, the good guy, wears a black trenchcoat and black suits, Muraki, the bad guy, wears pure white and has white/silver hair.  
So ya, there are plenty of other anime/manga series that do this theme. Does anyone have any insight as to why this is done this way? |
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LydiaDianne
 Posts: 5634 Location: Southern California |
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Just so everyone knows, I'm very willing to be corrected if I'm wrong.
Traditionally, white is a Funeral/death color in Japan (I think). Only until the West had it's own Traditions encroach on Japanese ones, did you start seeing white wedding dresses etc. So, I think that Japanese animators are using ingrained Traditions to let viewers know who is evil. |
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10円
Posts: 605 |
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If I understand correctly, light colors and (even white rice) long been associated with the power of the upper classes while dark colors have sometimes been associated with the 'common man,' not unlike how we call executive positions "white collar" jobs and working class positions "blue collar" here in the US. But if I'm wrong then I'm sure I'll be corrected soon enough.
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Supersonic Master
 Posts: 20 |
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Yes, I noticed that on Trinity Blood as well. Cain wears a white outfit, yet Abel wears an identicle black outfit.
But, yes, colors for life and death are often inverted from western nations in Japanese culture. So it kind of makes sense to anyone from Japanese and maybe other Eastern cultures. |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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Also, the Yin-Yang, Yin is the white side, typically associated with negative traits, Yang is the black, and is typically associated with good traits.
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Sarene
Posts: 79 |
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Thanks for your input guys. The Yin and Yang things makes a lot of sense, I never knew that the white side was the negative side. And that white was funeral attire, that's pretty interesting too.
It's just so ingrained on us American/European peoples that white is pure and black is tainted. Angels wear white and glow while devils wear black and red. It actually is really interesting to me that cultural differences such as this can be so completely opposite of each other. Anyways, thanks again. |
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UtenaAnthy
 Posts: 694 |
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In summary, it's the same crappy superstition with the colours changed about.
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Moros
Posts: 369 |
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XVII
Last edited by Moros on Mon Jun 25, 2007 10:33 am; edited 3 times in total |
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riccardo
 Posts: 136 Location: Melbourne, Australia |
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In Final Fantasy: Unlimited it is there, too. The "good guy", Kaze, is all in black, but Makenshi, who is defined as a villain, however loosley, is in white.
It is the exact oposite of the tradition in Westerns, incidently. |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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Personally I find that take a bit ridiculous. For one thing, "white" people aren't white, and "black" people aren't black, they're pinkish and brownish respectively, so the idea that positive attitudes towards the causasian race would result in positive attitudes towards the color white is a bit revisionist. It would also assume that the opposite would be believe by Africans, which is not the case. Also, when the concepts of "black and white" had their basis, very few Europeans had significant contact with ANYONE of color, and their enemies were almost certainly other white people. The Western white/black thing came about for many reasons, most notable that black is associated with the darkness and night, while white is associated with brightness and light. the Eastern take on the situation isn't wrong either, it just comes from a different place, associating white wtih bones and ashes, for example. |
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DuelLadyS
 Posts: 1705 Location: WA state |
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Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong , but I recall reading that nighttime in the early paegan/wiccan religion was/is regarded as a sacred time, full of spirits and magic.
The idea that night was when evil came to prowl was brought by early Christians, and emphasized to stamp out the old beliefs. If you think about it, most of the western world's ideas of good/bad can be traced to Christianity. Since most of Asia didn't deal with Christains early on, it seems pretty sensible that there good/bad definitions would be very different, having developed without that influence. |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Any anime fans here familiar with Christian history? I can't confirm your recollection but I think it was many early pagan and wiccan groups who became interested in the teachings of Christianity and were the ones who were responsible for the style of fellowship and worship that exists among Christians today. This is the reason why Halloween is seen as a positive celebration, even by most Christians, even though it was a celebration of the time when pagan saints could consult with spirits from the world of the dead. |
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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To add another example to the mix there is also Aion from Chrono Crusade. Although in the case of Chrono Crusade the good guys wore reds and blues so the "black=good" component is missing. I liked it though, it sort of added to his character. In the case of Aion it mirrored the fact that he was so charismatic and convincing that he could often play his obviously evil plans off as the "good" choice. The white outfit mirrored that masquerade quite effectively.
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Moros
Posts: 369 |
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XVII
Last edited by Moros on Mon Jun 25, 2007 10:30 am; edited 3 times in total |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Its pretty straightforward. neither color actually is good/bad/etc. Therefore its simply a matter of cultural background which determines what way colors are interepreted.
Also keep in mind, just because in Japan Black = good and White = bad, doesnt mean every bad guy must wear white and all good guys must wear black. If its a fairly obvious symbolism then always doing so would be quite cliche like Moros said. I think we ought to give the directors a little credit. Theyre not gonna use a symbolism that often if its cliche. |
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