Light is good. Dark is bad.

[the last son]

Anyone else getting tired of this? From the media, TV, movies and art, heaven/good is always light and representing the color white and evil is always dark and the color black. When I'm watching a movie and heaven/good guys represent light and demons are black I'm automatically turned off by it. Just look at the dictionary and how the words are represented especially the word black. I try not to let it bother me, but it gets old sometimes. I was hoping someone can explain to me why that is.

 

[Airwings]

What if they make an "original story" with connections to the bible. Angels all dressed in black, even their whings are dark.
Lucifer and demons white, or other pure colors.

Heaven as a loomy place and hell as a peaceful place.

What then?

 

[webhead9707]

Ever since Star Wars I thought blue was good and red was bad.. I'm a Christian and black is my favorite color, so I think it's a bit silly for media to say black is bad and white is good. True, black represents darkness, but darkness isn't always a bad thing. I think it'll change eventually. If it makes you feel better, the KKK wears all white and they're definitely bad.

 

[KevanG]

It is a bit tiresome but some attempt to have fun with it. Like in Death Note where the main character is a mass murdering god wannabe and his name is Light.

 

[Soapy]

I have no idea if this is true or not, but I would suspect that dark is considered "bad" because early in human history we would hide in our caves and huddle around our campfires at night because scary, unpredictable, and dangerous **** lurks in the dark.

 

[Teelie]

In some cultures it is reversed. It's mostly in European-based culture you see such a stark difference in light/dark, good/bad.

 

[Destructus86]

Lately in films the good guys have been wearing black....(leather)

 

[Breogan]

In some cultures it is reversed. It's mostly in European-based culture you see such a stark difference in light/dark, good/bad.

Exactly others see neither as inherently good or bad, just balance.

When I'm watching a movie and heaven/good guys represent light and demons are black

It's not always the case ...
It's just a matter of perspective.

Zorro, The Shadow, Batman, Miss Fury, Diabolik, Black Panther, SnakeEyes, proto-suit DareDevil, V, all dark themed good guys, all wear black.

Luke dons all black, embraces both halves within himself, in doing so knowingly walks his own path, finding redemption for himself and his father and a new path for the Jedi to return.

All white can be negative, as in the absence of anything, erased, white-washed etc...
Black-belt is the highest degree in martial arts white-belt the lowest.

Two of the most popular and recognizable icons in fiction, the villain Clown Price is bleached all white, the hero in black is the Dark Knight

The trope is flipped or subverted all the time in fiction:

So it's just whatever attributes you ascribe to it, mostly stemming from some basic primal and childlike fear of the dark and what you can't see.
It's why we harnessed fire, and created candles and flashlights, and hurled ourselves into space, to see the unknown what was on the dark-side of the moon etc.... to expose that neither one by nature is just good or bad. They just are, and the fear we bring to them is our own. (again Luke in recognizing this saves his father)

The trope maker Zorro subverted (the Hero) who wore dark colors all black, and rode a black horse, and embodies a black fox, All as power totems towards good.
His main antagonist the villain wore the white and bright colors, and rode the white horse.

Batman continues this to the day...
The flipped color trope, heroes black and villains white probably goes even further back, it's not new.

It just a problem when morons still look for and ridiculously ascribe good/evil attributes to skin color.

 

[webhead9707]

Lately in films the good guys have been wearing black....(leather)

Men In Black
Batman
Sons of Anarchy
Justified
Even Luke wore black in RotJ.

 

[Pink Ranger]

If it makes you feel better, the KKK wears all white and they're definitely bad.

If I found out where they did their laundry, I'd throw a red scarf in with their robes, so they're stuck with pink outfits from then on.

 

[webhead9707]

If I found out where they did their laundry, I'd throw a red scarf in with their robes, so they're stuck with pink outfits from then on.

 

[Teelie]

Men In Black
Batman
Sons of Anarchy
Justified
Even Luke wore black in RotJ.

Black can also mean the anti-hero or the hero who is on the face bad but underneath is good.

In Batman, he wears black but it's for intimidation making him more anti-hero in that regard. He wants to scare the criminal element and he wants to be unseen, the hidden force.
In Justified, he's not good or bad so much as somewhere inbetween. His is a struggle between the darkness of his family's history and his desire to do right by the law, or more specifically, justice.
In ROTJ, Luke wore white underneath, symbolizing he was good the entire time (something that was pointed out recently in a related article I'd read).
Men In Black, they wear white shirts underneath their black suits. It's similar to Luke. They also kind of mimic Batman in that it's to be unseen and a hidden force.

 

[webhead9707]

Black can also mean the anti-hero or the hero who is on the face bad but underneath is good.

In Batman, he wears black but it's for intimidation making him more anti-hero in that regard.
In Justified, he's not good or bad so much as somewhere inbetween. His is a struggle between the darkness of his family's history and his desire to do right by the law, or more specifically, justice.
In ROTJ, Luke wore white underneath, symbolizing he was good the entire time (something that was pointed out recently in a related article I'd read).

Now that you mention it, I think it was on Cracked Photoplasty, I think I actually remember that article.

 

[Teelie]

Cracked was probably it. Despite their status as a comedy site and irreverence they do make valid and important points sometimes.

 

[The Question]

Anyone else getting tired of this? From the media, TV, movies and art, heaven/good is always light and representing the color white and evil is always dark and the color black. When I'm watching a movie and heaven/good guys represent light and demons are black I'm automatically turned off by it. Just look at the dictionary and how the words are represented especially the word black. I try not to let it bother me, but it gets old sometimes. I was hoping someone can explain to me why that is.

Because, in most places in the world, when the sun is out and it's bright and everything is well lit you can see what's happening around you and a lot of the large predators are asleep, but at night a lot of the large predators are awake and the lack of light puts humans, who mostly navigate the world through sight, at a severe disadvantage when it comes to avoiding predatory animals and environmental hazzards. So, the cultures that developed in those places came to associate light with everything warm and familiar and safe, and darkness with everything mysterious and dangerous and scary. And since those cultures tend to be the ones that dominate global popular media, well there you have it.

 

[Victarion]

I look at things in the scope of Law and Chaos. Light and Dark can vascilate between the two.

 

[TheBat812]

Anyone else getting tired of this? From the media, TV, movies and art, heaven/good is always light and representing the color white and evil is always dark and the color black. When I'm watching a movie and heaven/good guys represent light and demons are black I'm automatically turned off by it. Just look at the dictionary and how the words are represented especially the word black. I try not to let it bother me, but it gets old sometimes. I was hoping someone can explain to me why that is.

Human beings have always used symbolism in culture to easily decipher what they were talking about. In many cultures, especially Western (which dominates American and European culture), white has always represented purity and good while blackness/darkness has always been used to represent the things we don't understand and fear. This is also transferred to art for the same reasons - it's easily identifiable, therefore allowing the audience to more easily make the connection to what is intended. Many DO attempt to subvert those conventions and expectations by turning it on its head, but primarily, convention is there for a reason.

 

[Breogan]

Many DO attempt to subvert those conventions and expectations by turning it on its head, ...

Exactly, the trope is often subverted in allot of fun ways in pop culture, just watch for them...

Another popular one Snake Eyes vs. Storm Shadow...

Proto Superhero Zorro again all in Black had an evil recurring villain double all in White.
Who goes way back to the original 1930s-40s McCulley pulps, and reappeared in the 80s Filmation's cartoon and in 90s WB Zorro cartoon.

Again as mentioned above the hero is the Dark Knight. The villain Clown Price in all white...

And again - Black Panther good vs White Wolf (Hunter) bad...

Another somewhat is Daredevil Dark Demonic imagery vs The Kinkpin all in White.

In the Godfather the evil Don Fanucci wore all White to contrast young Vito Corleone and inevitably Michael(no angel) comes into his own in black.

When Maximus final battle vs Commodus. The color "coding" is Maximus in black armor Commodus in white.
[YT]

It's subverted all the time in movies and pop culture, just look for it.

 

[Piper Maru]

Why do villains always have red eyes?

 

[Pink Ranger]

Why do villains always have red eyes?

Weed.

 

[Ant-manic]

Men In Black

scary government agency that erases people's memories

Batman

he's the good guy disguised as something scary.

Sons of Anarchy

there are no good guys on Sons of Anarchy. they are all criminals. but the protagonists are a white biker gang; who often come into conflict with rival mexican and black gangs.

"Juice is targeted by AUSA Potter and Sheriff Roosevelt as a potential weak link in the club, as they discover his father is African-American, making Juice half-black instead of Puerto Rican as he claimed. Roosevelt confronts Juice with this fact, pointing out that if this became common knowledge Juice would be expelled from SAMCRO. Because of this fear, Juice begins to work with Roosevelt. Roosevelt tells Juice that he wants a sample of the cocaine that SAMCRO is trafficking so he can begin to build his case."

Justified

white hat
http://shannynschroeder.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/justified1.jpg

Even Luke wore black in RotJ.

and Vader was covered entirely by black; while Obi Wan wore white. and they called it the friggin Dark side.

 

[Ant-manic]

Exactly, the trope is often subverted in allot of fun ways in pop culture, just watch for them...


Another somewhat is Daredevil Dark Demonic imagery vs The Kinkpin all in White.

it subverts it. but the underlying message is still the same; white = good and black = bad. Fisk wears white because his public image is that of a legitimate businessman. Murdock dresses up as a devil because the image he is projecting is for the benefit of criminals ("i'm scary and will hurt you"). Bullseye wears black; as does Bullet.

 

[Victarion]

Why do villains always have red eyes?

Here's a red-eyed hero:

Elric sort of subverts the OP's trope. He made a Faustian bargain with one of the Dukes of Hell (ie a demon), finds solace in butchering people who antagonize him, and chopped up a Nazi (while the Nazi was alive) and fed him bit by bit to the demon he'd bargained with. However, Elric did prevent a nihilist from poisoning the dragon at the base of the World Tree (upon which our world and an infinity of other realities are contained). Elric also started a civil uprising among the people living under the rule of Granbretan's evil empire, thus overthrowing a tyrannical God-King.

 

[Kane52630]

Reading the first post...all I thought was this.

[YT]kE84dHl5Nr0[/YT]

 

[the last son]

Good scene. Good movie.