www.artsy.net: Pink has always been a spectacular contradiction. It’s simultaneously fresh-faced and sophisticated, alien (the Chinese word for pink means “foreign color”) and internal (from our mouths to musculature), and at home in both high and low culture. In Japan, it serves as wistful symbol of the slain samurai; in Korea, it’s interpreted as a sign of trustworthiness.
5 comments:
I never knew that pink has such a long and storied past. Though other articles I've read on this blog discuss color and its relationships on a macro level, this is the first I've seen that dives deep to extensively discuss a single hue: Pink. What really stood out to me in this article was the 'Politics of Pink' section, as though I'd known that pink had become hyper-feminized post World War II, I did not know what its connotation was in the past, and frankly, the present. The author explains that "today’s so-called 'millennial pink' positions itself as a gender-neutral color." This in itself sounds fantastic, as it implies that our society is beginning to move past the strictures of gender norms and into a more free paradigm of identity. However, the author continues on to seemingly contradict themself, describing this 'millennial pink' as both "soft, sensitive and vulnerable," but also as "unapproachable." So, which is it? Is millennial pink merely a less gendered version of the pinks of the past, or is it isolated and new? It can't really be both.
I love color and the histories and different associations that various cultures have with different colors. Pink is such an interesting case of culture changing the meanings of a color because it started off as a very hypermasculine color. Representing young fallen men in Japan it becomes a color of war, in a sense, and of a powerful emotion of grief that comes along with their deaths. In it's first forays into Euroupe is was also masculine, even suggested to men as a way to calm their minds and ground them for business endeavours. The contrast of its past with it's hyperfeminine status now (one that's trying to be broken) shows just how powerful not only cultural ideals are for a color, but also how even things like color can evolve over time to mean and represent different things. Pink in Japanese pop culture is now used very similarly to in Western cultures, as a way to represent the cute, girlish, youthful, and harmless. This contrast to it's rather violent origins lead to questions about cultural diffusion and to a point the domination of Western ideas ans cultural values, even down to the meanings and connotations of colors like pink, over other cultures around the world. Western globalism has such power to change these mental associations, and now that punk is becoming more accepted as a genre neutral color I'm hoping to see that influence spread and help other cultures reclaim their traditional color meanings, too. The depth of different cultural ties to color is something that I really hope isn't lost and continues on despite American influences.
First of all, I think it is interesting that there is a word for pink at all. Pink is more or less just light red, but red is the only color we have a special name for the light version of. I also think it is interesting how different cultures/times ascribe meaning to colors in general, and the fact that as someone who existing within one of those cultures, those meanings can end up seeming almost inherent. I think it makes a lot of sense that pink transitioned from being a color that enforced gender roles and stereotypes to a color that was reclaimed and used to fight back against those ideas. That being said, while I have noticed “rose gold” products, I haven’t seen this idea of “millennial pink” as a gender neutral color in my day to day life. As far as I can tell, pink is far from ditching its gendered connotation in the United States.
Exploration of color is something that has always fascinated me. The relationships between multiple colors and the creation and discovery of pigments is an interesting topic. Perhaps equally interesting is the interdisciplinary thread of the histories of different colors. The meanings of color in different societies, cultures, and religions can be very powerful, and hold deep meaning to the members of those groups. The journey of pink through the ages is a very interesting one. It was explicitly discussed beginning in the Renaissance and since then it as been applied to explorations of fantasy and femininity in art. Pink as it has appeared in the political scene is another topic entirely. It was “the color of…the oppressed”. It carried through from the fantastical and delicate meaning it had in art, and appeared in our society as a symbol of the fantasy world that women were said to exist in. It is interesting that it has grown to be a symbol for millennials, and I am curious to see where it grows from here.
The color pink is really a perfect example of what is so cool about colors and how they relate to culture. Not many other colors have been overhauled and given new meaning as often as pink. Even just in moving between cultures it has changed more and more. This article was the first time that I had heard people call pink the “millennials” color, although it seems rather fitting. The differing opinions on millennials seems almost as varied as the meaning of pink itself. Sometimes we party too much; think of the 1960s pop art pink. Sometimes we spend money on overpriced things we don’t need; think of rose gold, and rose quartz. Sometimes we are told that we think of ourselves as better than others; think of the pastel pinks of the bourgeoisie. Whatever the case is I don’t think that this is pink’s final resting place. I think pink has a more correct meaning somewhere else and we just haven’t found what it is yet.
Post a Comment