Misused: Blue Is Heroic

I say "misused" though really the issue at hand is that the trope isn't being used as a trope.

We've been discussing this trope at Color Tropes Cleanup. While we all agree there's some tropeworthy ideas here, the actual wicks, well... see them for yourself:

Of all 50 wicks checked, 40 of them are some sort of ZCE, and lack any meaning beyond "hero wears blue", "heroic team wears blue" or even "non-evil character wears blue".

Now, we've been talking about where exactly this discussion should take place. The cleanup thread is small and not very well known, so I figured it'd make more sense to go here. Mods, if you guys think the cleanup thread is the better place, just say so. But there's a massive issue with this trope and we need to fix it somehow, somewhere.

Opening.

Merging it into Good Colors, Evil Colors sounds okay to me.

Is this meant to be a Trope in Aggregate? Am I even using that correctly by mentioning it?

Maybe we could TLP "blue is calm".

I agree with Twiddler’s post in the cleanup. There is a heroism trope to be found in blue, but in its current state this ain’t it. I think this is is closer to Red Is Violent rather than any direct hero/villain connotations. Blue Is Peaceful/Represents Freedom/Passive or something like that...

Edited by Synchronicity on Jan 11th 2021 at 12:14:07 PM

In the Color Tropes cleanup thread, I noticed that the main problem with this trope is that, like many “trait+trait” tropes, attracts tons of examples that are just “hero wears blue”, despite that color choice having no actual meaning in relation to their morality. While there does seem to be a genuine association of blue with heroism, this trope is missing some aspect that’s causing it to become filled with ZCEs and “hero wears blue” examples.

I like the idea of reshaping the trope into something else by focusing on something more specific, such as “calm”, “peace”, or “freedom”. Making the definition more precise should help get rid of meaningless “hero wears blue” examples.

Edited by jandn2014 on Jan 11th 2021 at 2:24:34 PM

I think a Blue Is Calm trope is a good idea. FWIW, I do think there a few reasons behind Blue Is Heroic that make it more of a Trope in Aggregate and less of a random coincidence.

• In an American context, there's a lot of history of the "real life good guys" wearing blue uniforms. According to Hollywood History, the "good guys" (as generally portrayed in textbooks and media) in The American Revolution^note the Patriots/revolutionaries and The American Civil War^note the Union are said to have worn blue uniforms. And due to red being the color of Communism, during the Cold War blue was more likely to be the color of the heroic Americans fighting the Dirty Commies. Also, "The Boys in Blue" (police) are portrayed as the good guys most of the time.
• In Spanish and Italian, the term for Prince Charming literally means "Blue Prince"

For convenience, a link to my post in the cleanup where I analyze/sum up some of the legit associations behind Blue Is Heroic.

Regardless of what is done with Blue Is Heroic, I agree that a Blue Is Calm trope should be made. I'd start a draft myself, but I'm not the greatest with writing lengthy trope descriptions, and a trope like this will need a longer description. I do have a few examples, though.

Issue is, any actual associations to things like calmness, patriotism, and peace don't seem to be reflected in the examples. I'm good with a TLP anyway, but I had to address the elephant in the room here.

Oh yeah. I'm down to cut Blue Is Heroic. Just agreeing that there are positive associations of the color blue we can work with.

Absolutely. I just wanted to be clear that the current state of Blue Is Heroic reflects none of the meanings we've discussed so far. I'm good with making it a disambig for any tropes we come up with, if we have multiple.

Bump. So are we going ahead with a Blue Is Calm draft?

Let's see, related tropes (for the eventual draft)... Blue Means Cold, Colour-Coded Emotions, Icy Blue Eyes, Red Oni, Blue Oni, True Blue Femininity (the description mentions gentleness/peacefulness)

So, uh...what do?

Anyone have other ideas besides cutting Blue Is Heroic?

~Unicorndance claimed on the Color thread the other day that they think the issue is people not realizing that Blue Is Heroic might actually have criteria beyond "hero wears blue". I'll go one step further and say the trope itself has no other criteria, and thus barely counts as a trope.

The trope doesn’t actually have criteria and because it’s not really defined we have examples all across the board. There’s no emphasis on personality either. I am ok with turning it into a disambig or cutting

Edited by MacronNotes on Feb 4th 2021 at 7:45:21 AM

I'll support a disambig.

Disambig works if we have things to disambig it with. Besides the proposed "Blue Is Calm" draft, what is there? Good Colors, Evil Colors?

Heavenly Blue and Innocent Blue Eyes perhaps?

Not sure if I said this already, but I'm in favor of disambiguating.

I'm willing to sponsor Blue Is Calm (although I'd prefer to go with Blue Is Peaceful, so it evokes both 'calm' and the various heroic associations mentioned previously, and more naturally contrasts Red Is Violent). The problem is I can't...actually think of examples to start.

Hmmm...well there's one on the wick check.

Seconding Blue is Peaceful for the name.

I think Blue Is Calm is better. 'Calm' can encompass not just peacefulness, but also being composed/in control and coldness of personality, as in Red Oni, Blue Oni, Icy Blue Eyes, and the cold Lancer types.

Here's a few more examples:

Literature

• The Wish List: When Meg first wakes up in the afterlife, she initially thinks she might be in a hospital because of all the blue, since hospitals use it for a calming effect.
  Her initial impression was blue. A lot of blue. Still, don't panic. You get blue in hospitals. A soothing colour.

Video Games

• Animal Restaurant: In "Hamster's Diary 3", the hamster wishes to knit a scarf for Tate, and considers making it in blue, as "it's a gentle and quiet color, and it seems like it would fit Tate very well."
• Enchanted Arms: Toya wears blue, uses water magic, and is calm, composed, and intellectual. For bonus points, he contrasts against Atsuma, a passionate, red-clad fire-user.

Western Animation

• Avatar: The Last Airbender: Azula firebends with uniquely blue flames instead of the usual orange, emphasizing her status as a prodigy and her cold, in-control demeanour.